Related to the aforementioned "design fiction" project, but much more successful, has been Fulfillment Fitness.
http://fulfillmentfitness.com
Video link if the above is down
http://fulfillmentfitness.com
Video link if the above is down
A reflection on the fulfillment centers that drive all your online purchases. Not really trying to be all exposing-cruelty about it, because it's hard to say how bad it is. News articles (one, two, three) would have you believe it's terrible, but people who work there (one two three four five six) seem more sanguine about it. Regardless, it is weird: people become basically robots stuck in a video game all day. (you could imagine SimFactory, where you manage a group of "workers", or a ripoff of Starcraft.) At the same time, sometimes people want to be robots stuck in a video game, like at the gym.
Anyway, it's been fun. Working with Angela and John has been great; they're both wizards, in their own ways. I'm learning how it's hard to get across a point, both to distill the point and to technically get it done. (I've learned to make many kinds of things, but they tend not to be the kind of things that tell stories or stir people's emotions.)
