LESSON TEN:
Your World Without Oil

Introduction
Communication is a vital skill for life in general, but it is even more critical in a crisis. Inside the World Without Oil game, people are using text, voice, images and video to communicate the realities of the oil crisis, to pool information about complex problems and collaborate on solutions. Outside the game, these new media communications are a meaningful (and engaging) way for people to express their ideas and insights about a possible future and the consequences of choices we make in the present.

Part 1: Set the Stage

• Listen to Anna_Matter's Week 21 podcast: http://dessum9.hipcast.com/deluge/70ceba90-df01-ab77-623e-2c5f9fbf5e66.mp3

Part 2: Take Action

1. What are some of the choices and techniques used by Anna? Notice for example how she interweaves her own stories with those of the WWO players and events she is reporting on. Are you able to visualize the building she lives in and the other people who live there?
   
2. Quickly script a short broadcast narrative like Anna's that includes a summary mention of at least 5 WWO stories that you remember from prior lessons. (The videos by Kalwithoutoil would be examples.) The summary mention should communicate in a sentence or two what happens (and what you learned) in each story.
   
3. Make sure to include personal story, as Anna's did, that communicates your own perspective on your life within a World Without Oil.
   
4. The narrative should not be more than 3 minutes long.

Part 3: Lesson Activity

1. Effectiveness of the narratives will be rated based upon the level at which you achieve these goals:
   • Communicate the essence of the 5 WWO stories.
   • Communicate the essence of your life within the oil crisis.
   • Convey what the oil crisis is like.
   • Make the oil crisis seem real.
     

Part 4: Reflect
Reflect on the elements that go into a citizen report and the role of each element in achieving the report's goals. Does a citizen report differ from a newscaster's? What makes a citizen report more believable and trustworthy? What makes it more memorable and communicative?

Part 5: Take It Further
Draft and record longer podcasts, or even script and shoot videos that are entirely "inside" the alternate reality of World Without OIl.


Additional Resources

• Educational Podcasting http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/
  podcasting.html
  
• Audacity - A free, cross-platform sound editor
  http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
  
• Podomatic - A podcasting community site with the ability to directly record and publish podcasts through your browser
  http://www.podomatic.com/