Concept Statement:

I am developing a set of interactive tools that can be used as a medium of communication and discussions between adults and children regarding sexuality education and good touch bad touch, in different socio-economic backgrounds in India. These would be based on the content of the Olakh Sparshachi (Introduction to Touch) program by Jnana Prabodhini Samvadini.

Child sexual abuse is a huge problem in India, especially when there is a greater probability of a child getting victimized due to their socio economic status. There is a lot of taboo, stigma and superstitions around conversations regarding sexual health. It is important that in such communities children know how to notice and address these taboos, understand different types of human relationships and what it means when someone is behaving inappropriately towards them and how they can seek the appropriate help.

Process:

After the initial crits and discussions, I went forward with the first prototype which was a research based. In this, I spoke to John Sharp, Colleen Macklin and Kyle Li on their suggestions, inputs and experience designing playful experiences for social impact or education. The most common advice that came out of these conversations was that I needed to narrow down my scope for every prototype as much as I can, especially the age and sub-topics. Colleen suggested decentralizing the children from the active role and try to approach the conversations that puts the children in a third person point of view. An example she gave was about her work with the US holocaust memoriam museum where they created a text based interactive game while maintaining the sensitivity of the subject. John also recommended adapting to the existing curriculum as the first step to prototyping since I already have all the context. Kyle also mentioned how educational games need to be facilitated by discussions (before/ after) by the teachers/ parents, and can not be as effective to introduce completely new ideas. Another important takeaway for me was to understand the children’s lives outside of school including their interactions with their parents or other family members, friends, activities that they do and so on.

All three of them also provided several references, which I looked into as a part of my second research based prototype. While these are not directly related to sex education or good touch bad touch, they do have different ways of expressing different sensitive issues. These references were a great way to start thinking about how games can take different forms.

For the conceptual and technical prototypes, I started thinking about the physical and digital forms the projects can take. I found a 3D model of a uterus online which I then 3D printed. This was meant to explore physical objects and toys as a way of teaching. When I showed the 3D print to my mother, she was particularly excited about the idea of having physical toys as teaching elements, especially for the schools for girls with blindness. Currently, the only model they had found was a pathological one which included details and physiological issues that are not required for students of age 11-12.

I then thought about 3D puzzles as an addition to the 3D model which can be distributed to the students to complete in groups which can be a way to initiate discussions among the students as well as a way to revise what has been taught to them by their teachers/ instructors.

Another extension to the idea of the 3D model was creating a digital interface where children can place the different parts in the right place in body and be able to view the different functions of those parts. This would also aid the teaching and communication process and can be facilitated and moderated by the teachers.

Lastly, as a way to build on the the existing curriculum which includes a 10 minute video story, I thought about whether that can be made interactive by creating a choice based story that can be a class activity as well. I envisioned the output to be an interactive video but I started with creating a Twine text based narrative using that story as a reference where children can make different choices and discover ways to be safe and aware. Using Colleen’s input on not putting the children at the center of the narrative, the story is about “Your friend” and how the children can help her.

Conclusion and next steps:

As Colleen mentioned in our discussions, games, not matter how we define them, exist in the fictional world and that is where they can be at a disadvantage when they are used to teach. An important part of this project would be to keep the people at the center while creating solutions. It is possible that I would get diverged either in terms of the topics or the technology. At this stage, I didn’t focus as much on how accessible this technology would be to every group or school but just tried to focus on how these tools can be created. For the next part of the project, I would want to start small testing activities or feedback rounds with the organization as well to gain better insights on how the projects fit into their contexts. I still visualize this project as a series of mini tools/ games than one big project. I also don’t view my role as the “teacher” nor my games as entirely independent. I would also want to explore the area of online abuse and how can different interactions can fit into those spaces. Something that really helped while doing the 6 prototypes was making it very specific and I would want to continue to do that.

OVERALL COMMENTS

Rama: it’s good that you have been exploring widely with your talks with the group you are working with, faculty here with expertise designing play (as John and Colleen say), and getting the feel of making work in your chosen area of study: preventing child sex abuse as a subset of sex education. These initial explorations will be of value as you continue to focus your energy on a chosen audience, topic, and results you aim for with the learning experience you design. See some additional comments on your Crit Response.