| {Game 1} Superhero survey |
pages 1 & 2 of the
superhero survey – dowload the entire survey as a PDF |
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one participant response,
superhero name 'SUPERBOWL' |
superhero 'Chubacabre' |
evidence provided by superhero 'R-L
Finder' |
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Game 1 is an activity format
for involving players emotionally and imaginatively through
creating a superhero version of themselves.
Setting the stage
for subsequent games, players create their superhero identity
and evolve a scenario of their hidden abilities and aspirations
for personal, societal and urban transformation.
As a paper
format accompanying players through a day in their life, the
survey was distributed and completed by correspondence by
11 players internationally in November 2002. |
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| The worksheet format of
the uses fiction to engage suspension of disbelief. As a fictional
'superhero survey', comic book style graphics, language, and
storyboard techniques structure participant responses. Through
the course of a day, participants create a superhero identity
and fill in blank spaces to tell the story of their transformation
into a superhero and how they save the day. At the end, they
are asked to provide physical proof of their superhero personality
– a mechanism that enforces that participants actively
take the format out in their own, real world to create their
identity. |
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| Collected
results revealed personal aspirations, transforming situations,
and potential means of empowerment in public space. For example,
the superpower of a participant with the identity 'Chubacabre'
is actually their superhero disguise, which aided personal
relaxation and comfort. Other participant responses included
'Real Life Finder', who has the power to see latent healing
power in natural objects, and Superbowl, a football with the
power to free fellow balls from evil and emancipate the wrongly
accused. Participants freely appropriated the worksheet format,
imaginatively manipulating the boxes and storyline, carefully
crafting and, in one case, coloring their responses. |
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An excerpt
from the designed storyline in from Game 1:“Our expert
equipment has indicated that you are a being with extraordinary
powers. We would like to ask you some questions to advance
scientific thinking in the field.”
The process of
identity-creation effectively set the context and mood for
subsequent games and initializing the Underdogs and Superheroes
narrative, and became a preparatory mechanism for entering
the fictional space in subsequent games.
go to {Game 2} |
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