“Playable” Products for Reacting to Populism
For the past three weeks at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, I worked with fellow graduate assistants, Artina Dawkins and Kamila Navrátilová, to assist undergraduate students in the completion of five “plays,” each with a mission of responding and reacting to populism. One of six groups at the academy, our group’s projects are unique in that they take on a product-based approach to how an audience might learn about, understand, or respond to populist rhetoric and regimes.
Why a Product-based Approach?
With a variety of interests, the students in my group, decided to focus on the issues and effects of populism, rather than on populist regimes and leaders. This was a result from a group brainstorming process, during which we went around the room crowdsourcing ideas so that every member’s voice was heard. From our list, we then selected the top four concepts that connected with our group’s personal stories and experiences around populism. After breaking up into groups, it was easier to think about what could be made, written or designed as a reaction or “play.”
Getting to work on their particular topic areas, students wrote a research-based narrative, using examples from the media and current populist regimes as case studies. Focusing on the issues associated with populism provided for a smooth transition to thinking about a product or process that would help a group of young people and peers to learn more about the topic of populism and how to react to it.
Once the ideas started flowing, all of the small groups within our larger group started to design digital products, some downloadable and some playable, that could be used as “plays” against populism. Different from some other projects, our group seemed drawn to the act of creating something that could be actually used, played, listened to, or downloaded by their audience. This process was so fun to watch; all of our students were actively engaged in designing and making their products a reality.
*Special thanks to our group faculty (stephen reese, Chris Harris, and Jamie Cohen) for their insightful leadership and assistance.
All of our products (below), as well as those of the other five groups at the academy, have been published in the digital publication, Re:Action: A D.I.Y. playbook for building a better world.
List of Group Products:
- A comic book illustrating the “Us” family’s struggle to understand populism in their community (“Them”)
- A Spotify playlist of political action-themed songs, with an analysis of powerful populism-related lyrics
- An interactive game called Populism_G@me, created on Twine, that engages student journalists in active decision-making scenarios around media literacy and populism in the U.S.-context
- A zine that utilizes sports analogies and games to communicate about populist leaders and rhetoric
- A downloadable monopoly-inspired game called “Populopoly,” that incentivizes players’ selfless decisions and punishes populist actions, specific to Lebanon
