Welcome to Week Two_

Welcome to Sherlock Holmes and the Internet of Things—we're excited that you've joined us in this experimental Massive Online/Offline Collaboration (MOOC). 

The Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things MOOC is designed to be conducted over 6 weeks starting on August 23, 2016 to October 6th, 2016.

This is Week Two and the MOOC is gaining steam. 

THE GOAL OF THE MOOC
Over the course of 6 weeks you and your teammates will ideate, design and prototype a 21st Century adaption of Sherlock Holmes that embraces a set of core principles. A prototype could be a game, an immersive storytelling experience, an enchanted object powered by IoT, a Sherlock AI bot, an AR or VR project, a learning program for youth and/or an experience that makes social impact. The choice is up to you.

NEW TO THE MOOC? 
We're experimenting with letting people into the MOOC at any point in the 6 weeks. So if you're just seeing this for the first time or if you need a refresher we recommend you start here. 

MAKE SURE TO JOIN THE MOOC's FACEBOOK GROUP
The "Baker Street Irregulars" is the back channel for the MOOC. It's where you'll find help, can ask questions and share resources. Click here to join. 

CHALLENGES FROM WEEK ZERO, ONE & TWO 
Please post challenge submissions for Sherlock Storytime, 5x Why, Appreciative Inquiry and Shaping a Design Question on the Baker Street Irregulars Facebook Group.   

SPECIAL NOTE FOR THOSE USING GMAIL
For those using gmail the emails from the MOOC will show up in your "promotions" folder until you add us to your contacts. Read more about it here. 

AN EXPERIMENT 
*We're experimenting with a decentralized open MOOC format. An area of particular interest is enabling participants to join at anytime - meaning that people can join throughout the 6 week duration of the MOOC. So if you're seeing this for first time checkout the Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things quickstart guide to help you get up to speed. 

 

WEEK TWO stats
Focus: Design Principles & Questions  
Estimated time to complete: 120 minutes 
Number of Challenges: 2
Number of Lecture Videos: 3
Number of Sherlock Videos: 1
Number of Podcasts: 1
+ A Playlist on Storytelling with Data: a look at Watson, IoT & the Cloud
+ Story & Code Bonus: Stories that Respond to Emotions + Scarcity & Abundance in the Digital World.


WEEK ONE forensics - take a moment to reflect on the previous week.  


EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Special Event - hangout with MOOC instructors via uber conference Sunday, September 4th at 3pm - 4pm EST click here to RSVP


FOLLOW THE SHERLOCK STREAM


The hashtag for the MOOC is #SherlockIoT - Click here to view activity across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Vine and more via the MOOCs Sherlock Stream.


Social accounts for the MOOC
Twitter - @SherlockIoT 
Instagram - SherlockIoT
hashtag - #SherlockIoT
Facebook Group
 

  MOOC weekly hangout _

+ LISTEN



On Sunday afternoons from 3pm - 4pm EST we hold a MOOC hangout via uber conference. In our first session Nick and Lance sit down for a conversation about week zero, one and beyond. Topics covered include: 1. Update on MOOC & weekly challenges, 2. A look into the prototyping process for the upcoming event at Lincoln Center, 3. Scoping for immersive projects that mix story and code, 4. Considerations when staging a hackathon. 5. Q&A from MOOC participants 

Click here to listen to the SherlockIoT hangout for WEEK ONE. 

 

 Design/Play/Story/Code_

+ WATCH





Define is the second step in the EDIT process. This week we'll be taking a deep dive into the "WHY." Jorgen briefly setups up what to expect this week in the MOOC. Click here to watch. 




Nick provides an overview of MDA (Mechanic Dynamic Aesthetic) theory and how it helps to shape aesthetics within games and its potential within immersive storytelling experiences. Click here to watch. 




Lance shares the design principles that have emerged through the extensive prototyping of Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things. These four principles will serve as a core foundation for the MOOC - helping to guide each team's design and prototyping.  Click here to watch. 


Bonus Viewing

 



The focus of this week's playlist is "Storytelling with Data: Watson, IoT & the Cloud." As Lance, Nick and the NYC team prepare to take their prototype live at Lincoln Center on Oct 1st, they've been experimenting with a number of Watson APIs via the Bluemix platform. You can read about their prototyping here. 

This playlist provides an overview to cognitive computing plus tutorials and how-to's that can get you started with some Watson experimentation. To view the playlist click here.

Also if you know of some interesting videos or resources on the subject please share them at the "Baker Street Irregulars" Facebook Group so that we can add them. Thanks!
 

 Sherlock Holmes _


+ WATCH





Maria Konnikova author of the New York Times best-seller, "Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes," discusses what it means to go beyond seeing to actually observing. In our fast paced ditigial landscape what can we learn from the mindfulness found in the character of Sherlock Holmes 

Click here to listen

+  READ





It should have been an impossible task, or at least one that veered dangerously towards clichéd retread: taking one of the most iconic and reincarnated characters in literary history and contemporizing him in a way that felt both daring and faithful. And yet that’s precisely what writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have done with Sherlock, the updated version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved sleuth on PBS’s Masterpiece.

Click here to read. 

 

  Appreciative  Inquiry _

+ CHALLENGE



PLEASE COMPLETE THIS CHALLENGE FIRST



In this challenge you'll be taking turns interviewing a partner. You can continue with your partner from WEEK ONE or you're welcome to find someone new. We suggest that you reference the pairing spreadsheet and/or look through the members of the Baker Street Irregulars' Facebook Group and reach out to someone.

Unlike the 5 x Why challenge - last week which utilized a self reflective technique designed to give you time to surface answers on your own - the Appreciative Inquiry is an opportunity for the interviewer to help dig for insight.

We're giving you the first question and then after that the follow up questions you ask are up to you. 

"Share an enchanted moment from your life that was transformative and why?" 

Please make sure to take notes as you interview each other. 

For detailed challenge instructions click here. 

Once you've completed the challenge please add your shared "characteristics" as a series of keywords to the "WEEK TWO CHALLENGE - Appreciative Inquiry" post in the Baker Street Irregulars Facebook Group. 


DEADLINE: Please complete by Tuesday, September 6th 

 

  Shaping Design Questions _

+ CHALLENGE



IMPORTANT: PLEASE COMPLETE THE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY CHALLENGE FIRST



After you've completed the Appreciative Inquiry take some time to sit with the design principles. This is an individual challenge, meaning that you're going to Shape a Design question on your own. Don't worry in part two of this challenge we'll be helping each other to improve them. 

Think about how you could create a prototype (an immersive experience, game, story, app, enchanted object, educational program, social impact project or something else) that embraces the design principles. How could you build something that was enchanted and transformative? Consider the following Design Challenge which is for the whole Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things project. 

"Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things explores new forms and functions of storytelling in an effort to drive innovation, collaboration, learning, doing & sharing."

This step is critical and we ask that you take some time to reflect. Consider the design principles and the overall design challenge for the project. You're going to craft a design question that starts with the words "How could we..."  Click here to watch Jorgen explain how to shape a design question. 
 
Once you've completed the challenge please add your design question to the "WEEK TWO CHALLENGE - Shaping a Design Question" post in the Baker Street Irregulars Facebook Group. 


DEADLINE: Please complete by Tuesday, September 6th 

Join the Baker Street Irregular Facebook Group to get the inside scoop on the MOOC. Introduce yourself and get comfortable. This is where things are asked and answered. A special group of consulting detectives helping each other out while sharing knowledge and skills. 


 Collaborator Spotlight_

Each week we look to feature some collaborators from the MOOC who are documenting their learning and prototyping journey on Medium.

Sherlock Holmes and the Immersive Storytelling Adventure 

"As the “Sherlocks” were animatedly discussing exactly which theory of time travel was at work in the case they were trying to solve, my nerd-self did a little skip of joy: this was just the kind of debate my colleague and I had envisioned while designing the User Journey for this particular iteration..." Click here to read more

 

 
An alumni of the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, Lance Weiler is recognized as a pioneer because of the way he mixes storytelling and technology. WIRED magazine named him “one of 25 people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” He sits on two World Economic Forum steering committees; one focused on the Future of Content Creation and the other examines the role of Digital Media in Shaping Culture and Governance. He is a founding member and Director of the Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab and a professor at the School of the Arts. His newest immersive storytelling project is entitled Where There's Smoke, an autobiographical immersive experience that mixes theater, storytelling, machine learning, game mechanics and fire.  @lanceweiler



Nick Fortugno is a designer of digital and real-world games and co-founder of the game company Playmatics. Fortugno has been the designer, writer, and project manager on dozens of games, serving as lead designer on the downloadable blockbuster Diner Dash, award-winning serious game Ayiti: The Cost of Life, CableFAX award winning Breaking Bad: The Interrogation and MUSE award winner Body/Mind/Change, as well as games with Red Bull, Disney, AMC, the Red Cross/Crescent, PBS and USAID. Nick is the co-founder of the Come Out & Play street games festival and teaches game design and interactive narrative at The New School – Parsons School of Design. @nickfortugno


In addition to your core instructors there will be a number of guest speakers who drop into the MOOC over the next 6 weeks.  This presents a rare opportunity to hear from leading practitioners working in the immersive storytelling/play space.