CSI for engineers? Workshop explores prime-time appeal of engineering drama

Abstract

Every week, millions of viewers watch forensic scientists use their skills to solve mysteries on the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation television shows. The show portrays forensic professionals as interesting people with interesting jobs and interesting lives. What if a television drama could do the same for engineers? This is one of the questions that a group of science, engineering, media, and technology professionals considered at an exploratory Engineering and the Media workshop in October. The workshop was organized by Norman Fortenberry, founding director of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE), which is dedicated to achieving excellence in engineering education. The exploratory workshop allowed participants to discuss the possibilities of developing both a prime-time drama series for network television and an interactive game. This dual approach would allow fans to both see the possibilities of engineering and to act like virtual engineers themselves. For both the show and the game, workshop participants agreed that a strong narrative would be the key to success. “I watch CSI, and it’s the affairs and the murders—the human drama—that really drive the show,” said Fortenberry. “Sitting in the lab is secondary, tertiary, even quaternary to a strong story.” In addition to holding the audience’s attention, a strong storyline could also help to make the life of an engineer more appealing to viewers. A television show that portrayed scientists and engineers who had families and other outside interests in addition to interesting careers could be especially helpful in attracting females to science and engineering, according to Leslie Sue Lieberman, director of the Women’s Research Center at the University of Central Florida. “You have to have characters who are engaging and important and who have interesting jobs, but they also have friends and families and kids and ex-husbands and problems with lovers,” said Lieberman, who participated in the workshop. “They have all those things that they cope with. It’s very realizable and realistic.” At the exploratory workshop, participants brainstormed for possible formats for a television show. Fortenberry went into the workshop with the idea of a show based on the National Transportation Safety Board, because transportation involves almost every engineering discipline. The engineers would be called in to clean up after a failure or to find a solution to a problem in a short amount of time with resource constraints. Other possibilities, such as a show based in an engineering design firm or following a globe-trotting group of engineers, also emerged during the discussion. Randy Hinrichs, who participated in the workshop, proposed a different way to develop a television show: start with a game and develop plotlines based on user inputs from the virtual world. Hinrichs, president and founder of 2b3d, a company that designs and develops three-dimensional simulations, gaming, and virtual technologies, is currently working on a project called Blue Mars that does just that. Blue Mars is a virtual world, in which players have the objective of colonizing Mars. In doing so, the users must decide how they are going to structure their new society. The project will feed into a television show that will be based on user input from the game, making it a user-generated television show. The game is scheduled to launch in October; more information can be found at www.avatar-reality.com. “I think kids need to be pro-sumers, not just consumers,” said Hinrichs. “Through games, they are able to immerse themselves in worlds where they can collaborate to solve real-world problems. Virtual worlds are more dynamic because they allow users to create their own worlds.” The next step for the CASEE group is to involve students in the project, through a contest for television series ideas. Engineering students will be asked to develop short narrative videos that highlight engineering in the solution of human problems. A winner will be selected, and the videos will serve as a source pool of ideas for CASEE and other groups as they continue efforts to develop an engaging and effective drama series. Though the contest is not yet open to accept submissions, interested students can contact Fortenberry at nfortenb@nae.edu. To track the progress of the CASEE media projects, visit www.nae.edu/CASEE.