Year One
As global population breaks historic records, scientists wonder how the planet can keep up its resources. The good news is it might not be true of every country.
In fact, what we might see in the future is the exact opposite — population decline. It imposes threats to a society’s development and leaves unredeemable harm to one of the most vulnerable groups — students.
Q1: Have you noticed any signs of closure when you were in school?
There was fewer students every year. People immigrated to big cities, decided not to have children, or didn’t have money.
Q2: What did you feel seeing classmates left? Are you still in contact with them?
I felt very much abandoned. Everyone in the town left. Why was I the only one left?
Q3: What did school mean to you?
I don’t look back now. There’s nothing to miss. Everyone left.
There was fewer students every year. People immigrated to big cities, decided not to have children, or didn’t have money.
Q2: What did you feel seeing classmates left? Are you still in contact with them?
I felt very much abandoned. Everyone in the town left. Why was I the only one left?
Q3: What did school mean to you?
I don’t look back now. There’s nothing to miss. Everyone left.
The Making of “Year One”
Inspired by the interview with Kai, this project uses a voice-activated program to raise awareness on the school’s struggle with low admission rate. It invites the audience to join from a first-person perspective and experiments with interactive stroytelling’s capability as a tool for educational training.
An Analysis of Components
Welcome! This is your first official introduction to our school. Please take a seat1!
1Participant is represented as the orangle circle, whereas the rest of the students are represented as black cell in a grid.
...
Have you noticed the empty seats2 around you? Are you familiar with the term “population decline”? Students disappear3 every minute when I am talking.
...
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Have you noticed the empty seats2 around you? Are you familiar with the term “population decline”? Students disappear3 every minute when I am talking.
...
2
A list of population-decline-related keywords are selected and randomly displayed by the program.
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select keywords
3
The grid responds to the keywords by removing a cell to represent a student absence.
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voice recognition test w/ p5.js
A list of population-decline-related keywords are selected and randomly displayed by the program.
select keywords
3
The grid responds to the keywords by removing a cell to represent a student absence.
voice recognition test w/ p5.js
...
Now. I would like to read some population policy4 excerpts from 5 countries.
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The U.S. does not endorse population “stabilization” or “control.”
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Excerpts from Singapore5 family planning project:
Two is enough.
Have three or more if you can afford it.
...
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Sample display with my narration
Now. I would like to read some population policy4 excerpts from 5 countries.
...
The U.S. does not endorse population “stabilization” or “control.”
...
Excerpts from Singapore5 family planning project:
Two is enough.
Have three or more if you can afford it.
...
Sample display with my narration
4 By comparing population policies from 5 countries, including United States, Sweden, Singapore, China, and Tunisia, it reveals how policies contribute to demographics shift.
population policy display
5 Similar to the grid, the program responds to the keyword by displaying the corresponding policy on screen.
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Policy affect people’s decisions on education and family, whereas people’s decision affect policy. We complete each other.6
Students leave here for a reason that cannot simply be concluded as “personal”. If all of your friends leave one day, what will you do?7
...
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Policy affect people’s decisions on education and family, whereas people’s decision affect policy. We complete each other.6
Students leave here for a reason that cannot simply be concluded as “personal”. If all of your friends leave one day, what will you do?7
...
6 In the first iteration, I used physical interaction to highlight the relationship between people’s decision and its consequences. When the button is pushed, the program removes a cell in the grid.
7 Students’ feeling of powerlessness is expressed with an emptying grid.
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We are here when population decline happens. We will be here when population decline takes away things we cherish.
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As much as I want your first year8 to be as exiciting as it supposed to be, I can’t guarantee the school will be here ten years9 from now.
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We are here when population decline happens. We will be here when population decline takes away things we cherish.
...
As much as I want your first year8 to be as exiciting as it supposed to be, I can’t guarantee the school will be here ten years9 from now.
8
The project is deliberately titled as “year one” to establish a stark contrast and emphasize the school’s responsibility to prepare students for the crisis.
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9
School closure has serious consequences to both students and the local community.
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9
School closure has serious consequences to both students and the local community.
Welcome to the Class of 2062!10 We are honored to have you. And we are looking forward to the year 2062.
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10
By the end, the participant is left alone to portray the feeling of loss and absolute loneliness. The text “Class of 2062” questions if this is the future we want to have for the children.
Afterwords
︎︎︎ Click here for source code.
︎︎︎ Click here to watch the full video.
︎︎︎ Click here to view previous iterations of the project.
︎︎︎ Click here to watch the full video.
︎︎︎ Click here to view previous iterations of the project.
