One of the most effective approaches I have learned is called SCIPAB, a technique developed by Steve Mandel and now spread by the company he founded, Mandel Communications. I was lucky enough to be trained in SCIPAB by Mandel Communications as part of a more general “presentation skills“ training. I don’t want to steal their thunder (or their business!), but I do want to share some of the insights that I carry with me and use regularly. SCIPAB is an acronym, which stands for the phases of a story: Situation Complication Implication Proposal1 Action Benefit

We argue that the reason so little progress has been made against obesity and type 2 diabetes is because the field has been laboring, quite literally, in the sense intended by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, under the wrong paradigm. This energy-in-energy-out conception of weight regulation, we argue, is fatally, tragically flawed: Obesity is not an energy balance disorder, but a hormonal or constitutional disorder, a dysregulation of fat storage and metabolism, a disorder of fuel-partitioning. Because these hormonal responses are dominated by the insulin signaling system, which in turn responds primarily (although not entirely) to the carbohydrate content of the diet, this thinking is now known as the carbohydrate-insulin model. Its implications are simple and profound: People don’t get fat because they eat too much, consuming more calories than they expend, but because the carbohydrates in their diets — both the quantity of carbohydrates and their quality — establish a hormonal milieu that fosters the accumulation of excess fat.

Design fiction is one of the tools the students learn to prototype the future of business. Designers often use this strategy to help stakeholders envision divergent scenarios for their organization in the context of uncertainty. We asked the students to consider the forces at play in today’s fast-changing society, such as artificial intelligence and decentralized governance models, and write a story about the future. Zooming out of this aspirational story, they mapped out what would have to be true from a technological and business standpoint to bring positive aspects of that future to fruition, while calling attention to factors or decisions that could negatively impact our world years from now. At its core, design fiction is a strategic exercise that connects the dots between vision and execution, transitioning teams from imagining the future to taking action.

Subtitle: Case Studies for Theory and Practice Author: Lauren B. Frank, Ed. Paul Falzone, Ed.

The Journey Chart is an overview of the different elements of a project juxtaposed to show how they work together over the duration of the player/audience/reader experience. I’m sharing the Journey Chart Method because I’ve found it to be a nifty way to externalise, discover, inspire, unify, direct, and communicate the various elements of a project and how they are all connected.

Many TV/movie script resources

Why is it important to make sure that emerging media and communications technologies are created by people from a wide variety of backgrounds and identities? The media we consume has an enormous impact on our perception of reality. With this toolkit, we are trying to achieve something that humans have not yet achieved in the history of mass media — fair and equitable representation of the world’s stories and images.

alternatives to the standard “closed ending“

article link is at top, bonus content below

a digital festival celebrating narrative games

Augmented and virtual reality can be an incredible tool when it comes to practicing certain skills that may not be safe or realistic in real life. AR and VR technologies are radically changing L&D as an industry. This research report, Augmented and Virtual Reality for Behavior Change, by Julie Dirksen, Dustin DiTommaso, and Cindy Plunkett explores how AR and VR can be a great resource for behavior change. The report examines key research on this, centered on the following themes: Enabling the Behavior Empathy Building Experiencing Consequences Future Projection Feedback Emotional Self-Regulation Download this report to discover how AR and VR solutions are a useful investment for behavior change.

In its first episode, the series presents the universe of New York's immersive theater from the standpoint of actors, dancers, and other performers who have become the biggest names in the genre. Focusing on the mega hit “Sleep No More” and the groundbreaking “Here”, the episode explores the artists' relationship with the audience and the mystery behind the immersive productions.

Every research paper tells a story, but the pressure to provide ‘clean’ narratives is harmful for the scientific endeavour.