Projects in the Works


MaX's Room

MaX's Room is a project that allowed us to explore how the learning framework created for Zoey's Room could work for boys and a slightly younger age group as well as a different subject matter like health and nutrition. The aim is to develop an ed module on making good choices for eating healthy. If you are interested in our framework or viewing this demo, please don't hesitate to contact us.

This development stage was done in collaboration with the Kids Club at the Penbay YMCA.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s. Poor nutrition and physical inactivity has been attributed to this growth. Additionally, a 2003 National Survey of Children's Health report found that that children living in rural areas are more likely to be overweight or obese than their urban peers. Particularly in Maine, where 30% of our children between 10 and 17 are overweight or obese, we wanted to attract kids to a cool-looking mini-site on health and nutrition and participate based on our trademarked educational framework, the Tec-Trek through both an online and offline challenge so they would learn in a fun way about the four food groups and how to avoid too much quantities non-nutritional ingredients (i.e junk food). The Tec-Trek's physical challenge required them to walk a mile and record their activity.

When the YMCA of the USA announced a multi-year plan to address the nation's declining health and its rise in obesity and chronic diseases with a program called "Activate America," their goal aimed to help all Americans make lasting changes to improve their health and lives. With this shared goal, Platform Shoes Forum collaborated with Penobscot Bay YMCA in Rockport, Maine, to design the first health-related Tec-Trek titled: "You Like Fast Food--Does It Like You?" With a dedicated focus group of kids (ages 8 to 12) who spent several months with us to determine our topic, characters, technology and delivery - we now have a demo that could potentially encourage teens across the to take part in boosting their own healthy habits.

The below space is reserved for our focus groups:

Comic Strips
Using this comic strip generator, Bitstrips, MaX laments about how many commercials for fast food he was bombarded with in one afternoon. [This is a direct commentary on the way the media overtly influences the obesity rates of kids in the U.S. and would function as a good plotline for a secondary Tec-Trek on this topic] The "comic reverse" is introduced at the end when MaX's mother announces she bought a KFC family meal for supper. [Again, this is another indictment of the media in that a KFC commercial currently airing tries equate a "nutritious and affordable" sit-down meal with a KFC family bucket. Obviously processed fast food dressed up as a balanced supper is nothing close to nutritious---but it overtly influences the purchasing decision of a cash-strapped parent by making her feel as if she is doing the right thing.] Using this second comic strip generator, we created a graphic novel–type story using MaX and another character to convey the metaphor that kids will eat whatever they are taught to-whatever they are exposed to at home. The way to change eating habits is to elevate their awareness, to go from an automatic diet to a conscious diet.


Video Clips
MaX The Robot:
This was a talking customizable video character that can say up to 30 words of anything programmed into it simply by calling a toll-free number and uploading audio or by typing in text to the site. At frist we introduced to the focus group this robot, but later turned this character into our own "Zoey" from Zoey's Room to introduce MaX and the Tec-Trek.


MaX as a Meez Character:
After creating the character of MaX in a Meez avatar and backgrounds, we created an original video using iMovie. This video depicts the choices this rather clueless "MaX" made after eating as much fast food (hamburgers, pizza) as he can stomach in an afternoon, washing it down with a liter of Cola followed by a fizzy "energy" soda. Subsequently he feels sick and his energy levels plummet. This character was the favorite among the focus group and their choice for the character of MaX.



MaX as a Second Life Character:
This wolf-fox character was created in Second Life and captured in iMovie. The video depicts MaX making choices at a virtual fast food counter (adapted from Ohio University's Nutrition Game in Second Life.) We wanted to give the kids an option of two non-human characters and this was one. The kids were open to the idea of MaX as an animal, but observing them, they identified more with the human MaX. However, they're more open to the idea of MaX's friends being non-human.