Assignment4Thom

From: Thom
Subject: Assignment 4
Date: March 31, 2006 5:36:46 PM EST
To: Lisa, Dan

Dan and Lisa,

My proposal for assignment 4 is "Where do you stand"

After delving into the Gallup information, I couldn't help but think about the actual event of gathering the data. It is a very controlled phone call, where large and complicated concepts are neatly parsed into easy to answer questions. I am interested in the way political ideas are really formed: over time in relation to others and the unfolding of events. Since the data seems to have a static, finished, hermetic feel to it, I want to bring some life back to it.

My initial idea for this takes to form of a game. This game would be much like twister, allowing people to entangle themselves physically based on their political leanings. Or perhaps avoid one another based on their differences. This way people become the data visualization in real space and time. Perhpas playing on the interface of the telephone that was used to orinially gather the data, the questions could be asked over the phone, the players could dial in numbers that correspond to their answers and the response would be spoken back to them.

I am excited to know what you guys think....

Thanks,
Thom