Narod Network Project - Activity I

Instructions for Activity III

Activity III is about families moving from one country to another. Some do it because they are forced to, while others travel in search of opportunities or a different kind of life. We will try to find out some of the reasons behind migration and some of its effects on the lives of families.

The first tasks: We will work on Activity III in the same color groups that we used for the Identity Game. Now that you know a little more about the other teams in your group, it should be easy to collaborate.

Click here to find the schools
in your color group

Here is what I want you to do during the next couple of weeks:

Choose a family - Choose one family in your city for the interview, take their picture, and send the picture to each of the other teams in your group as an email attachment. In your email, let them know why you chose that particular family.
Design an interview - Collaborate with the teams in your color group to put together a set of short but smart interview questions which you think apply to all families who have migrated. Each of you will later use those questions as the first part of your interview.
Build a photo album - While your team is working on tasks 1 and 2, you can collect old and newphotographs of the family, or shoot some photographs yourself, and build an album to capture visual insights about them.

Some details: Here is how I would like you to go about the interview design, the choice of family and building the album.

1. Choice of family - Obviously, you have to choose a family that has migrated to your city and that is willing to participate in the interview. Preferably, it will have two or three generations living together or close to each other. Start looking for the family as soon as possible. Take their picture, or borrow a family photograph, scan it, and email it to the other teams in your group. And make sure you send a copy to me too (aren@narod.org).

NOTE: Try to take a picture that includes most or all of the family members. If you can get them to pause for the photograph, then I suggest you do it outdoors, in natural light and, if possible, in front of their house. Include the name of the family, the location and date of the photograph, and why you chose that family.

2. Interview design - Come up with four general questions that you would ask the members of any family that has migrated. Then email those questions to each of the teams in your group as well as to me. As soon as we all have each other's questions, we will come up with ways of combining and condensing them into the first part of a short interview. Your team will then have to build the second part of the interview by adding some questions which are specific to the family you have chosen and the circumstances of their migration.

NOTE: Remember, we are trying to find out some reasons behind the family's decision to migrate, and some of the results of their move. But let's not ask those questions directly ("Why did you migrate?"…) Try to come up with some smart questions that deal with those issues indirectly. Try to make at least two of your four questions as original as possible.

3. Building the album- While you are working on tasks 1 and 2, you can also start a parallel effort to ask the family if they can let you borrow some of their old and new photographs that you will then scan into the album. Explain to them that these will become part of the Narod Network Project Web site as an educational exercise on migration. You could also shoot some photos yourself in order to complete the picture.

Great ideas for the photo album

OK, let's start!

- Aren

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