Today’s Plan:
- Just One Thing Project
- Informed Consent
- Team Formation
Project Three: Just One Thing
Today we officially start our third project, what I term the “Just One Thing” project. This is a longitudinal project that we will be working on, in parts, from now until the end of the semester.
Outline of the stages of the project:
- Element One: Advocacy Video
- Element Two: Develop Data Collection Form and Logs
- Element Three: User Test Phase and Logs
- Element Four: Collect User Feedback via the Data Collection Form with Memo
- Element Five: Advocacy Video Reshoot
Advocacy Video
As we’ve previously discussed, the first part of the project asks that you develop a short, let’s say 45 seconds to one minute, video advocating for how a small change to someone’s daily routine can have a major impact on their individual life and/or our collective world.
Because we are working on a short timeline, I am going to keep my expectations for the advocacy video pretty low. Here’s my idea:
- Sign out the library media room for a couple days next week
- “Green Screen” a video shoot in the library
- Record audio in the library
- Shoot about 3 minutes of video to use as cutaway (establishing shot, wide shot of campus, shots of where your One Thing happens)
- Mix that stuff together, with a title screen, some text on screen,
and some quick end credits
By shooting in the library we control environmental variables.
Develop Data Collection Form / User Test Phase
Once you develop videos, it will be time to recruit research subjects. Surprise–you are all each others’ research subjects. This means that every person will test the “Just One Thing” recommendation suggested by the other groups.
In order for this test to be meaningful, groups will need a way of collecting information. Keep this in mind as you choose and design your topic–how can we collect information and demonstrate potential progress. For instance, I gave the example of the lights in the bathroom. One way to test that is to use electricity bills. Obviously, we want to protect people’s personal information, so the proposed measurements cannot be too intrusive.
Next week you will prepare a Google Form to distribute to those folks not in your group–the form should collect this information. It might request supporting documents, like electricity bills. It should also ask for some kind of “log” that follows progress. Finally, it should have some open-ended questions to solicit attitudes and feedback.
User Feedback Memo
Users will test your proposed “Just One Thing” for 30 days, filling out your Google Form and providing any necessary documentation. At the end of 30 days, your team will synthesize all the data the other 6 users provide into a memo (holy crap, you will actually write words in a professional writing class). The memo will also lay out your ideas for the the final element of the project, the Advocacy Video Reshoot
Advocacy Video Reshoot
The final stage of the project. You will develop storyboards for your video and present them to the class. The class will critique the proposed plan and provide feedback. You will then write a memo discussing how the creative presentation influenced your approach to the reshoot. You will then reshoot the video, pulling out all the stops!
Just One Thing Topics
As I mentioned last class, the Joe Smith TED video can serve as a guide for thinking about your first advocacy video. Not necessarily the form (you should do something more interesting than just standing on a stage and talking), but the content. Your first video should reflect some research on your part–give us some quantitative justification for why your proposed change would matter.
That’s what I would like each group to have worked out for Friday’s class. I think the easiest way to do this is for each group to set up a Google Doc with team members, and to share that document with my gmail address: insignificantwrangler at gmail dot com. Have that set up by the end of class today.
But before we get into teams, I want to give everyone time to think of a proposed change. I’ll give you ten minutes to work on this, then we will gather and talk.
- Lifehacker: Ten Small Ways to Make the World a Better Place
- 50 Ways to Help the Planet
- EPA “Home Helps” recommendations
- Bored Panda’s “10 Tips for a Healthier Life”
