To recap: The <a href="http://pbskids.org/designsquad/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Design Squad</a>
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!)
<br>
<br>
> Hi Mel,<br>
> <br>
> I feel that the main two are that it is challenging and interesting. <br>
> Most of the challenges I'm surprised that we can even <span style="font-weight: bold;">finish in two days</span> <br>
> - they are significantly hard and that makes them exciting.<br>
> <br>
> We try to remain <span style="font-weight: bold;">eco friendly</span> - both in process and materials...<br>
> We like the ability to present larger topics so that the teams have room <br>
> to make their own design choices.<br>
> <br>
> And of course our production staff is always looking for how to make the <br>
> <span style="font-weight: bold;">finale interesting. The target audience is like 9 - 12 yrs of age.</span> Of <br>
> course the audience is larger than that - kindergarden on up to adults. <br>
> So like creating a PB&J maker is more interesting than writing a program <br>
> that makes lights blink....<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> Hope that helps a bit. There's no solid criteria besides that.<br>
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 6/3/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Mel Chua</b> <<a href="mailto:metamel@gmail.com">metamel@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>The <a href="http://pbskids.org/designsquad/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Design Squad</a>
TV show (think junkyard wars but with high school students) is
interested in doing an episode with OLPC. This would kick off some
professional <span id="st" name="st" class="st">documentary</span>
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.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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...."
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.)
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>-mel</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Here's a couple to kick off:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>- 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)</div>
<div> </div>
<div>- 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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>- 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).
</div>
</blockquote></div><br>