The transferability of ideas (Day 27 of Brianna at OASiS)

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sea and skySea and Sky

I was up at 5:30AM, sat on the rocks and watched fishing boats glide purposefully by as the sun rose. I had gotten up earlier than the sunrise. I got up earlier than Pradeep, as well, who had been up late again doing this thing people call “work” (I wouldn’t know very much about it).

Today the “meat” of the conference was tossed in our faces. A lot of us didn’t know what hit us. We had a talk from Steven from OECD and Clair from HP about how we can integrate evaluation into our daily practice as leaders of innovative projects.

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Surprise can change mindsets

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Surprise can change mindsets or soften viewpoints.

In his TED Talk on The beauty of data visualization, David McCandless offers illustrations of how data visualizations can alter perspectives by placing information in context. His examples startle by meaningfully juxtaposing data or by showing relative figures where absolute figures are usually employed.

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization

Evenly distributing the future (Day 26 of Brianna of OASiS)

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rockybeach-gandhistatueRocky beach. That’s a Gandhi statue in the distance.

I woke up at 6AM. I had promised to wake Pradeep up so we could go for a walk as the sun rose. We had been up late the night before preparing for a presentation he was slated to give the next day. I was his spell check and prodder (someone had to keep him awake, after all). When he opened the door, begrudgingly, I could tell he had stayed up even after I left.

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Things that words can’t say (Day 23 of Brianna at OASiS)

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getting ready for dancingGetting ready for dancing (on the theme of the life of a girl)

I went upstairs to settle my accounts with Mrs. Mukerji and found a little package waiting for me. Inside was tea from the “tea garden” (tea plantation) that her son manages, a book of poetry by Rabindranath Tagore (an Indian Nobel Laureate) and a biography of a Polish poet (in honour of my Slavic heritage). I was touched by the thoughtful gifts. It’s hard to believe that in two days I won’t be having breakfast with her or her daughter, at least not for a very long while.

An early morning walk, a huge breakfast and some frenzied writing occupied my morning.

You keep talking about writing but you never let us see any of it!” You say. Well, kind stranger, you’re in luck. I’ve finished drafting and formatting the two ‘guides’ I wanted to write (or rather, realized I wanted to write) in the course of my time here.

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Negative brainstorming and drilling the problem down (Day 22 of Brianna at OASiS)

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cakesmearingtradition_670Cake smearing tradition: “Explain this to me like I’m a person from a country where there isn’t X”

I woke up still full from the birthday party meal the night before. “This is my last Monday in Bhopal,” I thought. On July 25 I will be flying to Chennai, and then making my way to Pondicherry for a workshop on the Rural Education pilot projects OASiS is helping organize.

After a walk and breakfast, I launched into some more writing. I now have alllllllmost all of my internship ‘deliverables’. What I define as a deliverable is changing even as I speak, but so long as I put in a good effort for the next two days I’ll have written and shareable versions of what I came here to get.
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Kudos 2 Simulation Game — Simulation Game Evaluation

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We have been evaluating policy simulation games, both for design ideas, and for a sense of whether they might be useful for real world policy processes. Kudos 2 allows the player to play out the life of of a twenty-something from the ages of 20–30. The modding facilities in Kudos 2 should allow, with weeks to months of development time, playing out the life of someone with a particular challenge (e.g., blindness), set of circumstances (e.g., foster-parenthood), or life-goal (e.g., socially-relevant employment).

Game learning Curve: 10–20 mins.
Development Curve (to modify for specialized applications): weeks to months.

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Toss out the structure and make something new (Day 20 of Brianna at OASiS)

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I want to tell you about the swing that swings itself. For two days Pradeep had me wondering and drawing diagrams, scratching my head and making my arms move like swings. I must have been funny to watch but I couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t figure out any way to stop the energy of the swing from going into the ground.

I finished off my last pitiful drawing and pushed it towards him. He shook his head and said “Do you want me to tell you how I did it?”

I was weak and gave up. “Yes.”

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