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Revision of Table 4 -
Multimedia Kiosk Treatment
Draft 2: 6/14/00
Introduction
Many Twin Cities residents who visit the current WaterShed exhibit
walk away from their experience without a clear understanding that polluted
runoff from their household flows directly, untreated, to the Mississippi
River. The multimedia kiosk program described in this treatment, which
will be included in the WaterShed exhibit, is intended to effectively
deliver this message while empowering visitors to engage in stewardship
activities that will reduce non-point pollution.
Target Audience
The kiosk will be developed for Twin Cities residents of all ages
and backgrounds. It is assumed that visitors may have little or no previous
understanding of non-point source pollution (NPS), how a storm-sewer
watershed functions, and important roles that citizens can play in reducing
NPS. Users may also be non-English speaking or have hearing impairments.
Project Goals
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For visitors to understand that their street flows
to the Mississippi River
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For visitors to understand that surface runoff impairs
water quality
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For visitors to understand several important practices
that reduce NPS
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For visitors to be motivated to engage in NPS reduction
practices
Program Treatment
The program plays an attraction loop that gets the attention of WaterShed
visitors and draws them to the kiosk. The loop (which is automatically
activated whenever there has been no user responses after a specified
length of time) consists of a variety of visual effects and corresponding
auditory messages (accompanied by text) delivered by several characters
who appear in the program. These characters include an actor portraying
Alex the Frog, Kelly Schmiedt (a high school student who has completed
an exemplary water-quality monitoring project) and a male Hmong actor.
Text on the screen (in English, Somali, Hmong, and Spanish) invites
visitors to click anywhere to begin.
The attraction loop will combine very short video clips
with music and sound effects that move about the screen in a visually
interesting manner. The messages conveyed will be humorous illustrated
sound-bites that allude engagingly to the topics addressed by the program.
Attraction loop elements:
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QuickTime video clip showing Alex floundering miserably
in shallow water covered with a mat of floating grass clippings. Narrator
exclaims solemnly over dirge-like music, "Death by grass clippings-what
a way to go!"
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QuickTime video clip showing Kelly at water's edge
wearing a white lab coat and a black doctor's bag with a red cross
on it. She listens through her stethoscope to a rock barely protruding
from the water before saying to the camera, "Hmmm…pulse is a little
weak. This creek is due for a checkup!"
-
QuickTime video clip showing adult home owner adding
motor oil to his car, and saying (first in Hmong) while holding up
the can of oil "This stuff belongs in the engine, not on the ground!"
(then in English,) "Didn't get that? I said, this stuff belongs in
the engine, not on the ground!"
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QuickTime video clip showing Alex hopping across
a vast parking lot. He approaches two hand-made signs (one in Spanish
and one in English) that both say: "Wetland Ahead," except that the
word "Wetland" has been crossed out and the word "Parking Lot" has
been written in above it. Alex shakes his head playfully dispirited
and hops out of frame.
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QuickTime video clip from the raindrop movie showing
the raindrop hitting a puddle of pollution on the driveway and saying
(In English and Somali), "Yuck! I've been slimed!"
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QuickTime video clip of a segment of Alex's rap.
When a visitor clicks on the screen the following words
pop out of the lily pad and remain on the screen as links:
| English |
Somali |
Hmong |
Espanol |
The user clicks on one of these words, and all subsequent
content is delivered in that language (non-English content will be presented
as dubbed audio and/or subtitles). Next, a main menu screen appears
that provides links to the four segments of the program, which are described
below:
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The Water Doctor
The Water Doctor screen plays a QuickTime video of Kelly Schmeidt
describing her water quality monitoring project. Narration will emphasize
how land use practices in the area have contributed to pollution problems
in the creek.
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Journey of a Raindrop
This segment involves a video of a raindrop's journey from a housetop
to the river and an interactive segment exploring eight different
kinds of non-point source pollution common to urban residential lots
and how they can be addressed. Note: this segment will exactly duplicate
the Journey of a Raindrop segment on the Waters to the Sea CD ROM.
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Wasteland to Wetland
The Waste to Wasteland screen plays a QuickTime video introduced by
the Hmong narrator that chronicles the restoration of a wetland from
what had become a shopping center parking lot.
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Rappin' with Alex
The Rappin' with Alex screen plays a QuickTime video of Alex doing
a froggy rap that emphasizes the importance of reducing NPS for all
creatures-including humans-whose lives are linked to the Mississippi
River.
Return to the WaterShed Exhibit
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