Archive
A collection of internal creative and planning documents. To read a PDF, click on the underlined link.
Early Statement of Key Workshop Ideas - January 2011
A brief document with one-line statements about what we want to accomplish. Examples: “Improve citizen interaction, civic engagement” and “Promote a higher level of civic discourse.” A touchstone document for the whole project.
Very early attempt at structuring a MiNDWORKS ("MW") approach. Based upon R&D work with Professor Oliver Goodenough. Includes early outline (November 2010) of characters presenting ideas (Founding Fathers, Fat Cats, other early concepts). Our first outline.
A reasonably comprehensive early presentation of the whole concept. Includes brief analysis of current public media industry, and the emerging need for this type of project, and for a workshop. Initial exploration of issues includes considerations of leadership, aging, population growth, the boundaries of our legal system, obesity, global climate, crime and terrorism. Includes first version of a curriculum framework designed by Kristy Graybill (page 14). Also: early versions of presentation ideas. Good explanation of “They Stole Our Land!” (page 24), thanks to writer McPaul Smith.
Academic and Creative Dimensions - 11-4-11
Very early development. Begins with a breakdown of the day’s New York Times by content category (“protest for religious freedom,” “different nations, different interests,” “community helps children,” etc.), then organizes 20 categories in a simpler form, and breaks the concept down into smaller topics (example: Corporate Personhood) for creative and editorial approaches that could become the basis for what we will soon called MiNDWORKS. Also includes an early character concept board.
Joint Workshop with MIT Media Lab 2-22-12
Notes on early MiNDWORKS development workshop at the Center for Civic Engagement at MIT Media Lab. Includes high concept discussions: relationship between engagement and education, use of stories, what works on TV and why, role of troubadours and their successors, simple storytelling forms, changes in storytelling resulting from social media, the value of scalable and measurable media.Important ideas about placing the viewer / participant in control, pulling together concentric circles of understanding, making use of all available screen real estate. Also: media diets.
Very briefly, we called the project Easy Street (which turned out to be too similar to Sesame Street, so the name was discarded). Another step toward structuring curriculum, this one includes brief outlines for seventeen topics including election of leaders, taxation and public good, health and fitness, retirement, land ownership, water, peace and violence, how the government works, and more. Each topic is then broken down into possible segments.
Curriculum in 16 categories, with details. Styles of presentation including characters in continuing roles, special guests, puppets, animated characters, Very Smart Whiteboard. Also: basic structures for segments and elements: original intent (by, for example, Founding Fathers), Expert Testimony, Time Machine, a parallel animated world, home base sketches, meta-rings around linear conversations; Unexpected Connections. Also: quick bios of creative and academic advisors from this phase of development.
A simple two-page rundown on possible characteristics for subsequent use in character development. We have used this chart over and over again, mostly integrated with our MBTI tools.
A useful connected view of categories that attempts, perhaps foolishly, to impose logical form on knowledge domains. Here, there are 26 categorizes in the curriculum, one for each letter in the alphabet. These have since been reorganized in a simpler form.
Various applications of structure to a range of imaginary worlds, including some interesting ideas about navigation and experiencing the imaginary space. Also: first thoughts about use of data as a constructive learning experience, here considered as a virtual/physical system.
(MW abbreviates MiNDWORKS, 4 indicates a step in the R&D cycle). Lengthy (60 page) slide show begins with quick analysis of public television in the US and in the Philadelphia region, then explains the basics of MiNDWORKS (the concept that has evolved into the descriptions on this website). Detailed explanation of storyline and story space includes a teacher, Greg, who has come too close to the future and is drawn into a discovery cycle that involves Public Good, Knowledge, Behavior, and Connections. Includes detailed High-Level Map View leading to Global Citizenship. Also includes Hero’s Journey, timeline, and other business planning.
At this stage, we were working with sixteen distinct categories. This document breaks each topic into a progression through time and space. Categories include Ecosystem; Children, Family and Aging; Infrastructure and Technology; Laws and Governance; more. Example: Ecosystem. Time axis begins 4.5 billion years ago with formation of solar system and earth; space axis begins with cellular and multicellular life forms.
Begins with explanation of Eras, Zones and Wormhole imaginary universe (with diagrams). Then, an explanation of the relationship between Greg (ordinary person being brought into universe of knowledge) and Pacha (a dog, his guide, connected to mother nature and similar spirits). Explains role of puppets and animated characters. Includes the Characteristics chart of behaviors that will be used for future character development as well as some MBTI basics.
A 90-plus page presentation, three months after the previous version, more refined in its approach to knowledge acquisition, connecting ideas, learning styles, focus on understanding. This is the most complete version of Greg as a TV host who is approached by Pacha the dog, who leads him into the wormhole universe. Interesting visuals. Good explanation of Zones and Eras, an active concept at this stage of R&D. Also good on Connectome—connecting ideas, sketches of cognitive science and advanced imaging. Pre-scripting example of what might be done to explain aspects of life in Uganda. Some detail on each of the 16 Eras and 16 Zones. Also includes pre-character development Characteristics, notes on providing tours of the virtual (wormhole) universe, early thinking on gamification.
MW HRE 1925-1950 Summary 7-25-13
A breakdown of the HRE (Human Rights & Equality) segment of a much larger curriculum undertaking. Included: economic inequality, health and wellbeing, quality of life, persecution, more. The Park concept—our virtual World’s Fair—includes interactive exhibits and historical perspective on a wide range of ideas including Ethnic Humor, Apartheid, Show Boat, Gunnar Myrdal, Negro Leagues, Nazism, demonizing the enemy, Four Freedoms, Social Security, more. Includes many short descriptions of possible lessons.
Character / Animal Research - Summer, 2013
As part of our effort to look at issues from many points of view, we often consider the perspective of animals (we share much of our lives, and our environment, with animals). A series of research papers by Steve Blumenthal about the use of animals as characters for storytelling. For example, the Owl paper discusses owls in nature, owls in storytelling, owls in popular culture, as well as recommendations for use of owls in our particular learning environment. Also: Cat, Dog, Dolphin, Pigeon, Squirrel, Turtle, Ant, Bee.
In this phase of development, we were committed to a kind of virtual World’s Fair, navigable online. This sketch is an early example of a MiNDWORKS script involving puppets, music, and some interactivity.
MW “Our Town” Concept Script 9-10-13
In search of a format and a physical place to be, and inspired by Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” script includes imagined segments with Albert Einstein (a statue come to life) and NYU Professor Clay Shirky, plus an early version of man-animal interaction.
A handy one-page map of the topics that we hoped to cover during that stage of R&D. The core is Global Citizenship, but this map is centered by the interaction between Public Good, Human Behavior, Knowledge and the Connections between people throughout the world.
Considerably evolved, this Board and Advisor document was initially confidential (numbers have been removed). It includes a detailed explanation of the concept, the market opportunity, the workshop, the game, questions, creative use of data, and the beginnings of an operating plan (staffing, budget, release schedules, marketing, timetable, comparables, risks, rewards), as well as future initiatives.
Unadorned presentation deck is a step-by-step explanation of meta-game play. This basic structure informed the entire script development process (see on this website). Earlier version of the game concept here.
Scholarly Response to Game and Project, April 2014
A scholarly perspective on the game, the interaction, the participation, contextual learning, more. The author is Emlen Metz, a Ph.D. candidate at UPenn Dept. of Psychology.
MW Script (first attempt) - All Year School - Spring, 2014
One of our first attempts to structure a complete episode. Includes one of the first Merriam-Webster sketches (defining “attend” as more than just physically being in place—the word requires a degree of stretching and effort, closer to “heed” and also “to care for”). Suggests segments with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and with Comedy Central duo Key & Peele, critical thinking, more. Note: at this stage, we were not yet developing characters, so we see only “puppet” in the character lines.
Workshop Progress Report - 5-27-14
Useful overview describes R&D process, creative approaches. Then, a more detailed explanation of the editorial process, beginning with 100 questions solicited from scholars, students, history books, etc. and resulting in four scripts and videos (seen on this website). Also includes notes on possible setting (Philadelphia’s iconic Independence Hall, but upstairs in the back), and some early versions of meta-game in play.