(The Engagement Lab supports the following: Chrome 57+ (70+ on mobile), Firefox 53+, Safari 10+, Edge 16+, iOS 10.3+.)
The Tech Explorer's workbook turns daily neighborhood walks into an exploration of how smart city technology and data can be used to improve communities, maintaining equity through community-based design principles.
With our mediascape changing by the day, we need tools that help us adapt and put trust over transactions. Engagement journalism builds trust in communities by reporting with communities rather than "on" them. Meetr measures the value of community engagement during and after a project through two easy steps.
Port(land) of Opportunity is a game for immigrants and refugees living in Portland, Maine to learn about services available to them in Portland. The player takes on the role of an immigrant or refugee who has just arrived in Portland and must navigate the city's services in order to reach their goals. All of the locations and services within the game are real and offer a variety of opportunities to players
Broken up into 5 sections (Embrace Smart Cities, Cultivate Local Innovation Ecosystems, Invite Public Influence, Question Data, Design for Play and Civic Imagination) the playbook describes actions that can be taken by actors involved in the design and implementation of the smart city.
Since librarians are in the business of helping people find the information they need, they were the perfect students for the Civic Data Ambassadors Program, a six-week interactive online course that taught the basics of data literacy for a variety of use cases.
With @Stake, players are provided a deeper understanding of community needs by considering different perspectives before making collective decisions. 3/5 players introduce their characters & perspectives, jump into think mode to invent creative solutions to the issue, and take turns proposing their ideas and arguing from their character's point of view, including the character's secret agenda
Hygiene with Chhota Bheem is a play-based curriculum designed to raise awareness of and encourage best practices for health and hygiene among young children. The game is centered around characters from Chhota Bheem, a popular children's television show in India, working to defeat an evil Germ Wizard.
DataBasic is a free suite of easy-to-use web tools for beginners that introduce concepts of working with data. These simple tools make it easy to work with data in fun ways, so you can learn how to find great stories to tell. Classroom activity guides and introductory videos are also available to use in classrooms, workshops, or other learning environments
Handwashing with Ananse is a modular, four-week game-based curriculum for 7-11 year old children that teaches children why, how, and when to wash their hands with water and soap. The curriculum is organized by an overarching narrative that incorporates traditional Ghanaian storytelling, song, dance, and games.
The game takes players through the cycle of designing, implementing, monitoring, iterating, and evaluating an RBF program from start to finish. Through immersion in a narrative-driven and character-rich fictional environment (Zariba) that is anchored by the real world challenges, players take on the role of World Bank RBF consultants.
Players use the risk management tools of knowledge, protection, and insurance to guide the development of an alien world and survive increasingly powerful comet strikes. The game's design goals were to reinforce these concepts and let users understand them in an experiential way while remaining accessible to a wide audience with a variety of learning styles.
The Roadmap to Public Engagement is a printable board game for government stakeholders to plan and conceptualize their public engagement prior to beginning a new project. It was played by officials from New Orleans, Seattle, Albequerque, Atlanta and Baltimore as part of the City Accelator project in partnership with Citi Foundation.
Through play, participants are introduced to Basin Health Report Cards as an important tool to help inform policy decisions, bring a multitude of stakeholders together to define how they value their river basin, and galvanize public support to improve the overall health of a river.
Civic IDEA provides a comprehensive program for facilitators to build capacity of youth to inform themselves, think critically and take civic actions online. This toolkit incorporates freely accessible digital tools to illustrate learning goals, move learners from digital literacy to digital expression, and provide detailed lesson plans for facilitators outside of the classroom. The tools include: Databasic, @Stake, MediaBreaker, and Emerging Citizens.