--- title: VERGE Framework description: A primer on the VERGE framework, an ethnographic futures tool examining change through human experience and agency, as an alternative to STEEP. doc_version: '1.0' last_updated: 06-May-26 canonical_url: https://garden.johanneskleske.com/verge-framework --- # VERGE Framework ## Overview The VERGE framework is an ethnographic futures tool designed as a human-centered alternative to the STEEP framework for environmental scanning and futures research. Rather than focusing on external macro-environmental drivers, VERGE examines change through the lens of human experience and agency[^1][^2][^3]. ## The Six Domains VERGE organizes exploration around six fundamental domains of human experience: - **Define:** How people define themselves, their communities, and their environment - covering identity, boundaries, and meaning-making - **Relate:** How people relate to one another through social structures, relationships, and networks - **Connect:** How people connect physically, virtually, and emotionally - including communication, transportation, and digital connectivity - **Create:** How people create value, products, and systems - addressing innovation, production, and rule-making - **Consume:** How people acquire and use goods, services, and experiences - covering consumption patterns and exchange modes - **Destroy:** How people destroy value, resources, or norms - examining waste, violence, obsolescence, and system breakdown ## When to Use VERGE Instead of STEEP ### Use VERGE when: **Human-centered perspective needed:** When your project requires understanding how change is experienced and enacted by people rather than analyzing external forces[^1][^4] **STEEP feels too abstract:** When traditional macro-environmental categories feel disconnected from lived experience or too rigid for nuanced exploration[^3][^5] **Exploring agency and interaction:** When you need to understand how people actively shape and respond to change rather than simply being acted upon by external forces[^3][^6] **Cross-domain analysis required:** When investigating how changes cascade across different aspects of human experience and create interconnected effects[^2][^7] **Scenario development focus:** When building scenarios that emphasize human behavior, social dynamics, and the ripple effects of change through human systems[^8][^9] ### Continue using STEEP when: **Macro-level scanning needed:** When conducting broad environmental scans of external drivers affecting organizations or systems[^1][^3] **Stakeholder familiarity required:** When working with audiences comfortable with traditional business or policy analysis frameworks[^3][^5] **Regulatory/demographic focus:** When specific external factors like legal changes or demographic shifts are central to your analysis[^1][^3] The VERGE framework represents a shift toward more anthropocentric futures thinking, making it particularly valuable for organizations seeking to understand not just what might change, but how people will experience and shape that change[^2][^3][^6][^5][^7].
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[^1]: https://salman.io/notes/digital-gardens/ [^2]: https://thereadwellpodcast.com/blog/make-notes-in-a-digital-garden/ [^3]: https://refinedmind.co/digital-garden [^4]: https://brainsteam.co.uk/2022/04/03/03-04-digital-gardening/ [^5]: https://nesslabs.com/digital-garden-set-up [^6]: https://timrodenbroeker.de/digital-garden/ [^7]: https://nickang.com/2021-08-29-types-of-notes-in-a-pkm-explained-with-a-gardening-analogy-part-i/ [^8]: https://www.webdong.dev/en/post/blog-like-gardening/ [^9]: https://www.chadly.net/Digital-Gardening [^10]: https://www.thejeo.com/archive/2023_20_4/marruju_et_al%3C/ [^11]: https://www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA/article/view/9629 [^12]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-021-00555-9 [^13]: https://journal.unj.ac.id/unj/index.php/stairs/article/view/50157 [^14]: http://journal-app.uzhnu.edu.ua/article/view/303017 [^15]: https://journals.uran.ua/journal-vjhr/article/view/303302 [^16]: https://www.business-inform.net/export_pdf/business-inform-2024-8_0-pages-141_150.pdf [^17]: https://vestnik.socio.msu.ru/jour/article/view/1309 [^18]: https://www.dsebastien.net/personal-knowledge-management-at-scale-analyzing-8-000-notes-and-64-000-links/ [^19]: http://scholararticles.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2_4_20p_Jauniskyte_Kvaraciejute.pdf [^20]: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/LHTN-07-2024-0122/full/html [^21]: http://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2022.07.28.22278137 [^22]: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/DTS-11-2022-0057/full/html [^23]: https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/83/7_Supplement/986/723986/Abstract-986-A-BioPharma-best-practices-framework [^24]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10473 [^25]: https://proceedings.ageditor.ar/index.php/piii/article/view/112 [^26]: https://journals.lww.com/10.1097/QAI.0000000000003637 [^27]: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.929473/full [^28]: https://fransfieldnotes.substack.com/p/how-to-make-a-digital-garden-a-beginners [^29]: https://www.nickang.com/2021-12-04-labeling-things-properly-in-a-digital-garden/ [^30]: http://peer.asee.org/43448 [^31]: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10935-023-00754-y [^32]: https://www.notion.com/templates/digital-garden-notes [^33]: https://strikingloo.github.io/reflections-digital-gardening [^34]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/wmroi1/making_notes_work_for_me_reflections_after_2/ [^35]: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10502-021-09378-9 [^36]: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4574c6f2d8ba28e4959a0e6e23db63344b51ab0c [^37]: https://www.govwebworks.com/2025/03/25/tending-your-digital-garden/ ## Sitemap - [Notes Index](https://garden.johanneskleske.com/notes-index) - [Futures Terminology](https://garden.johanneskleske.com/futures-terminology.md) - [Sitemap](https://garden.johanneskleske.com/sitemap.md)