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First Group

 

Your Group's Name: NAFTI (North American Free Trade of Ideas)

 

Group Members: Sarah Springer, Mike Fry, Joe Fahs, Bob Cole, Mark Morton

 

Name of "Play" Activity: "The Contravenors; or, Embacing the Back Channel"

 

A variation on the classic debate: two debaters -- as one speaks, the other twitters and comments on what his/her opponent is saying (kind of like Stephen Colbert's "The Word"); these twitter comments are projected, so that the audience/students can hear the words of the one debater while reading the reactions of his/her opponent (known as the "contravenor"). Moreover, the audience/students could be doing a "meta-twitter" in which they (in another Twitter group) are twittering about what they are hearing and seeing. The roles that are played (by the two debaters) could be assigned randomly; or, as a further variation, there could be two "contravenors" who are responding with twitters to the debater who is speaking: one of them could be responding with "logic" and the other with "laughter" -- i.e. with humorous badinage. We also talked a bit about how this whole process could be tied to the notion of social capital, which Bob can elaborate on.

 

1. What topics might be appropriate for this type of distributed game?  What educational goals do you hope to achieve?

 

Any topic that can be debated.

 

2. What steps would be necessary in the planning and implementation of the game?

 

Establishing a twitter group(s) Assigning roles.

 

3. How will you ensure that the game is playful, engaging, and achieves its educational goals?

 

Set up and communicate the parameters and protocols: e.g. the goal of the "contravenors" is not to engage in ad hominem attacks, but to engage the audience with thoughtful reactions.

 

4. What challenges and opportunities do you imagine you will encounter in the development and implementation process?

 

[insert your group's notes here]

 

5. What resources do you anticipate needing?

 

Projector, people with quick minds.