La Fresque du Numérique: How It Works and Its Best Alternatives

La Fresque du Numérique (the Digital Collage workshop) is a half-day awareness workshop (3 to 3.5 hours). Inspired by the famous Fresque du Climat (Climate Fresk), it helps participants understand the ecological stakes of how we use digital technology. Backed by an army of independent facilitators, the format has become a natural next step for raising employee awareness of green IT (also called responsible digital).

However, other alternatives are emerging, offering new approaches to educate your employees and encourage them to take action. This article looks closely at La Fresque du Numérique and explores the alternatives best suited to your company's context.

1. What is La Fresque du Numérique?

La Fresque du Numérique is a collaborative workshop that helps participants visualize and understand the environmental impact of digital technologies. During this half day, participants discover how digital devices, data infrastructure and internet use affect our planet. The goal is to raise awareness of a more responsible use of digital technology.

2. The principles of La Fresque du Numérique

In this green IT workshop, participants work together to create a "fresco" (a "fresque"), a graphic representation linking the different aspects of digital's environmental impact (such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, resource extraction and electronic waste management ...). La Fresque du Numérique has four steps:

1. Understanding: participants arrange the different theme cards and identify the cause-and-effect links between them to build a "fresco" of responsible digital;
2. Creativity: each team chooses key messages and a title to express how they feel and make what they just learned their own;
3. Presentation: each group presents its fresco and its key messages;
4. Action: participants discover the "Action" cards and discuss them together to settle on concrete measures to adopt.

3. How do you plan La Fresque du Numérique in your company?

Organizing a Fresque du Numérique in a professional setting requires careful planning and qualified facilitators. This process guarantees a quality experience, but it can be long and demanding.

For companies, there are two main options:

• The turnkey offer: you can call on a consulting firm or independent professional facilitators. These experts, trained in the method and in the environmental stakes of digital technology, come to your organization to run the workshop.
• In-house facilitation: if you want to bring the workshop in-house, you can train one or more employees as facilitators. This path demands a significant investment: future facilitators must complete a series of trainings, co-facilitate workshops, and receive positive evaluations from participants before being fully autonomous. This approach makes the initiative last internally, but it requires a considerable commitment of time and resources.

Both options guarantee facilitation quality in line with the association's standards, but they involve tedious preparation (especially for companies that want to train their own facilitators) or a higher cost when the workshop is run by professionals.

4. La Fresque du Numérique: what are the limits?

The format of La Fresque du Numérique relies on collaboration and collective thinking. Thanks to a visual fresco co-built by the participants, the workshop gives a systemic view of the issues, which makes it a powerful awareness tool.

However, rolling it out in a professional setting can be restrictive depending on your company's context. Here are a few limits mentioned by companies.

In short: pros and cons of La Fresque du Numérique

Strengths:

• Immersive learning: the participatory format encourages employee involvement.
• A systemic view: it covers all the issues linked to responsible digital.

A few limits:

• A demanding rollout: training internal facilitators or hiring outside speakers is often necessary.
• A significant time commitment: at 3 to 3.5 hours, the workshop can be a constraint for companies with busy calendars.

While these characteristics meet the needs of some organizations well, other companies may benefit from more flexible or targeted solutions.

5. Alternatives to La Fresque du Numérique

Although La Fresque du Numérique is a powerful tool, other initiatives exist to raise awareness of responsible digital.

1. Online serious escape game: fun and immediate

The online serious escape game is an innovative way to raise your employees' awareness of responsible digital. Designed to be fun and collaborative, it offers an engaging experience while relying on reliable data and a global view of the issues linked to digital technology.

Advantages:

• Easy to deploy: no training needed, ideal for multi-site teams at the office or working remotely, with up to 250 simultaneous participants.
• Short, practical format: a 1h30 session, perfectly suited to the constraints of modern companies.
• Immersive, interactive experience: participants collaborate in a stimulating universe, which strengthens their engagement.
• Customization possible: your company's specific issues can be built into the scenario for even more relevant awareness.
• Sourced content: based on the concepts and key figures from reports by ADEME, the Institut du Numérique Responsable, the IPCC, The Shift Project, GreenIT and Carbone 4, the game lets learners discover the hidden side of digital technology.

The online serious escape game combines learning and fun, and is easy to fit into an awareness program.

2. Themed talks: accessible and targeted

Themed talks led by experts offer a direct, informative way to raise your employees' awareness. They can cover general topics such as the overall impact of digital technology, or more specific themes such as eco-design or the carbon footprint of emails.

Advantages:

• Very easy to deploy: one talk can reach a large number of participants in a single session.
• Adaptable: the content can be customized to meet specific needs.
• Short format: usually between 45 minutes and 1 hour, so they take little time.

To consider:

• Less interactive: these formats are often top-down, which limits exchanges between participants and speakers.
• Upfront organization: some logistics are still needed (booking a virtual or physical room, coordinating with the speaker).

Talks are ideal for quick awareness or to kick off a collective discussion in your organization.

3. MOOCs on responsible digital: flexible and self-paced

MOOCs (online courses) developed by recognized institutions such as INRIA or the Institut du Numérique Responsable allow remote awareness at your own pace.

Advantages:

• Great flexibility: employees can follow the modules when they are available.
• Easy to deploy: accessible online, with no complex logistics.
• Quality content: often designed by experts, it covers the essential basics of responsible digital.

Limits:

• Little interactivity: the lack of collaboration or live facilitation can reduce participant engagement.
• Self-discipline required: employees must be motivated and independent to finish the modules.

MOOCs are particularly suited to broad awareness, especially as a complement to more interactive tools.

These three options offer different ways to raise your employees' awareness of responsible digital. If you are looking for an immersive and fun solution, the serious escape game stands out as a powerful and simple tool to deploy. For broader or more targeted needs, talks and MOOCs remain effective complements to include in an overall awareness strategy.

6. Which solution for your needs?

La Fresque du Numérique is an educational tool for understanding the environmental impact of how we use digital technology. However, the alternatives to this method also play a crucial role in raising employee awareness in companies.

A variety of approaches is crucial for effective awareness. The choice of tool will depend on your goals, your organizational constraints and the level of interactivity you want. Each method has its advantages and can reach different audiences. By combining these approaches, you can hope for a broader and deeper understanding of the environmental issues linked to digital technology.

If you are looking for an immersive, fast approach that is easy to organize, the online serious escape game stands out as a perfectly suited solution.

Ready to make an informed choice?

Contact us to find out how our serious escape game can turn your employees into responsible digital champions.