[Olpc-open] Need ideas for Design Squad (tv show) episode on OLPC

[Mel Chua]

To recap: The Design Squad <http://pbskids.org/designsquad/> TV show (think
junkyard wars but with high school students) is interested in doing an
episode with OLPC. I just heard back from them and here are the project
criteria we're aiming for - we need to come up with cool ideas to convince
them to film us (or more accurately, the teenage contestants developing
something interesting for us!)

> Hi Mel,
>
> I feel that the main two are that it is challenging and interesting.
> Most of the challenges I'm surprised that we can even finish in two days
> - they are significantly hard and that makes them exciting.
>
> We try to remain eco friendly - both in process and materials...
> We like the ability to present larger topics so that the teams have room
> to make their own design choices.
>
> And of course our production staff is always looking for how to make the
> finale interesting. The target audience is like 9 - 12 yrs of age. Of
> course the audience is larger than that - kindergarden on up to adults.
> So like creating a PB&J maker is more interesting than writing a program
> that makes lights blink....
>
>
> Hope that helps a bit. There's no solid criteria besides that.


On 6/3/07, Mel Chua <metamel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The Design Squad <http://pbskids.org/designsquad/> TV show (think junkyard
> wars but with high school students) is interested in doing an episode with
> OLPC. This would kick off some professional documentary work on at least
> one aspect of the project (whatever the design squads work on), be great
> media exposure to a younger age group (and a good entry point for us to plug
> that students can get involved in making their own stuff for the XO), and
> generally just be cool.
>
> The catch? We need to pitch project ideas to them to convince them
> to actually do the episode. From an email: "Basically the quesiton everyone
> had about OLPC is what exactly could the teams make - and that it would be
> interesting to film and air...."
>
> So... it's brainstorming time. Shoot off as many ideas as you can - design
> challenges that can be built by teams of high school kids in less than a
> week and would look real exciting on public tv. People they could talk to,
> places they could build at, anything. I'll compile the results on Wed.
> night. (I've asked for more specific criteria to aim for while making a
> design challenge and will let you know when they respond.)
>
> -mel
>
> Here's a couple to kick off:
>
> - gaming peripherals (give them the innards of a joystick, have them
> design the mechanical part... maybe even specify that it be a full-body
> controller)
>
> - simply hand each team a laptop and say here, take this group of local
> ESL 6th graders and make something with and for them involving the laptop.
>
> - chargers (I know they're already being worked on by everyone, but...)
> Build a human-powered device that can be used by an elementary school kid to
> get max wattage into a laptop in the minimum amount of time (and use a
> couple of local kids from different age groups as testers - make the teams
> explain how to use their devices to someone else). This could be quite
> entertaining to film - students pulling frantically on ripcords, pedaling
> like crazy, using lab equipment to figure out the strength and energy
> generated from various muscle groups and their range of motion, etc. Score
> would be based on total wattage generated from all the tester kids, on
> compact size, and on ease of manufacture (not sure how to quickly score that
> one, though).
>
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