MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2014



Making a TV Show Without the TV

Dazza Greenwood, Visiting Scientist

Enrollment: Come to 1st session or please contact project lead to join later
Limited to 10 participants
Attendance: Attend relevant sessions and we can schedule flexibly in advance.

This project is to create a web-based participatory "show" in the style of a television variety show. The content focus is "Social Physics and the New Field of Data Science"  featuring ideas of Media Lab Professor Sandy Pentland's new Social Physics site and book.  The show will be made of short segments, including mini interviews with experts, fun segments like "person on the street views on big data" and a design challenge engaging participants in design and innovation. 

The IAP project will be led by Dazza Greenwood of the MIT Media Lab and co-led by Stephanie Rowe of the Sloan School. In-person sessions will be hosted at the Media Lab but most sessions will be conducted online.

Participatory functions and features of the show will be melded with the content and the intended user experience path. The collaborative services and tools initially expected include Google Hangouts, TouchCast, Twitter, GitHub and a CMS such as Wordpress or Drupal to act as a front end frame for the show. The design challenge will focus on the process of innovation and exploring methods and mechanisms that catalyze creativity. 

This project is appropriate for people interested in developing a) web-based tv production and online engagement, b) the topic of data science and "Social Physics", which is the substantive content of the show, or c) engaging people in design and innovation.

For more information on this project, see: ecitizen.mit.edu/TheShow

Sponsor(s): Media Arts and Sciences
Contact: Daniel "Dazza" Greenwood, JD, E15-384b, 617-500-3644, dazza@media.mit.edu


Project Planning/Review Standup Meetings

Jan/08 Wed 01:30PM-02:30PM E15-384b / Lounge, Bring laptop
Jan/14 Tue 03:30PM-04:15PM Online, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/21 Tue 03:30PM-04:15PM Online, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/28 Tue 03:30PM-04:15PM E15-384b / Lounge, Bring laptop

The weekly project standup meetings focus on production planning and review.  The kickoff meeting is for introductions, questions/ideas/discussion, selection of project roles and we will demo an ultra-fast example of a complete production cycle showing how a segment is created, published and managed in a minimal prototype format. Our workflow enables project and production work to happen mostly online.

Stephanie Rowe - Sloan Fellow, Dazza Greenwood - Visiting Scientist


Video/Web Content Production Sessions

Jan/10 Fri 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/17 Fri 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/24 Fri 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/29 Wed 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/30 Thu 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready
Jan/31 Fri 01:30PM-02:30PM Online Session, Have High bandwidth, mic/headphones & apps ready

The Video/Web Content Production Sessions focus on a) producing, post-producing and provisioning video and other media assets for the show, b) managing participant questions/contributions and c) administering/managing the online sites, apps and services comprising the show.  The show workflow enables all these activities to be conducted online allowing participants to be physically dispersed.  

Stephanie Rowe - Sloan Fellow, Dazza Greenwood - Visiting Scientist