Whooping Cough the Story of BPDesign DocumentationJob Aid Makeover Chris ThomasILT 6710 - J. DunlapOct. 18, 2009

1. Overview: This project is a tutorial on immunity and how vaccines work against disease.

2. Audience. The audience is primarily middle school kids.

3. learning objectives. The primary learning objective is:Learner will understand the problem Whooping Cough presents and how the vaccine triggers the immune system response.

4. Problem/solution: The middle school student needs to have a basic understanding of how the immune system functions and with it, why immunization is so important. Telling the whole story of how the Whooping Cough vaccine became so controversial will help them understand and weigh all the different aspects of the decision to get vaccinated, a new mandate of most school systems.

5. Evidence: This is basically a causal argument designed to focus middle school kids on the problems that have been associated with the Whooping Cough vaccine. Most of the information comes from: the website: textbookofbacteriology.net/pertussis, and the National Institute of Health/medline: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/pertussis/in-short-both.htm. I also used a website focused on teen health: http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/pertussis.html

6. Anecdotes: There arent any anecdotes like one would include in a corporate presentation. However, the whole piece is anecdotal in that it is a teenager telling her story and what she discovered about the Whooping Cough.

7. Format : I choose the comic book format because I think it will allow me to couch a great deal of information in a non-threatening manner. As adolescents, the audience doesnt want to be told what to do. They are looking for empowerment, and although they dont have the power over the medical aspects of their life, this piece can help them start laying a baseline for their knowledge base.

8. Sequencing. 1. The development of a story. I choose to use a story format for the entire piece primarily for its entertainment value. Early in his book, Abela says, Sequence your entire presentation so that it tells a story. [Abela, 2008, p.10]. This works well for a teenaged audience, in that it allows them to absorb more information in a non-threatening context.2. The creation of tension and resolution. The tension I chose was the fact that the narrator had been sick with Whooping Cough. A little later on, I mentioned that it is possible to die from Whooping Cough. Both of these elements find resolution in getting vaccinated. Abela says, the fundamental truth about all good stories is that they repeatedly create tensions and resolve them. [Abela, 2008, p.77]. 3. The Choice of the Moment, as described by Scott McCloud, [McCloud 2006, pg. 10], had a great deal to do with my sequencing. Often that choice was impacted by the phrasing of the pages and with finding the most impactful images.

9. Graphics. Most of graphic decisions I made were made in reference to Scott McClouds work. 1. The opening image was chosen primarily for its top point-of-view and the attitude it conveyed. According to McCloud, the right distance and angle to view those moments (supports the storytelling.) (parens, mine). [McCloud 2006, pg. 10] Since most of my images were lacking in the perspective and detail he shows, I felt I had to grab my opportunity to make this a little more visually appealing.2. Choice of flow was a big issue here. Where should I tell the proteins on the cell wall story? It could go several places. Quite a bit of that was determined by the shape of the spaces and how they moved from one to the next. McCloud says, all thats left is your choice of flow; how you guide your audience through your work from beginning to end. [McCloud 2006, pg. 32].3. Palette is a topic that is important to a young audience and I tried to keep it bright. I was not overly impressed with Abelas perspective on the use of color. In advertising, we consider it to be important to the art of persuasion, and with that, Abela seems to agree. Perhaps the most useful guidance on the role of color is provided by a study of print advertising, which concluded that when your audience is not very motivated, color helps persuade [Abela, 2008, pg. 104.]

I do think, however, that a Medina quote works well here in reference to the use of color. Brain Rule#9 says: Stimulate more of the senses at the same time. [Medina, 2008, ch. 22, pg 2]. Color certainly relates to emotion and involves more emotional attention.

10. Text. 1. The audience determined the tone of the copy. I guess I have to go with McClouds quote, which I think is great. But for now, suffice it to say that the secret of communicating clearly with words is just to let words do what words do best. [McCloud 2006, pg. 31]. I would add that the words may be a bit obtuse or part of a cultural set of imagery, such as OMG, but it is language, nonetheless and carries the cultural passkey that admits a particular group of learners.2. My choice was to keep the vocabulary basic. Even though I wanted the students to learn, Im more interested in them understanding the concepts. I think Medinas whole chapter 4 that discusses Meaning before Details, comes into play here. [Medina, 2008, ch. 4,]. 3. Throughout the piece, anthropomorphizing takes place. (Gasp!) BP (Bordetella pertussis) is a snarky villian, although not as evil-appearing as he probably should be. At any rate, he talks; as do a few other organelleslike the phagocyte pretending to be a shark. I love that sort of stuff which probably doesnt say much for my maturity, but it does create humor and I think that humor relates to Medinas references about emotion.

11. Layout. I struggled with layout and drew this out many times both on paper and in the computer before opting to use Comic Life. 1. I let the material dictate the flow and therefore the layout as much as possible. I liked McClouds advice, The easiest way to avoid panel-to-panel confusion is to just keep it simple. [McCloud 2006, pg. 33] It was my mantra and relates to the next two items.2. I was concerned about having too much activity so I made my frames bigger, with fewer on a page.3. I decided I had to give my text room to live and be read, so I have frames that are all text. I noticed that McCloud used that as an occasional tool, so I felt comfortable doing it.

12. Measurement: I dont think there is any real way of tracking results of this piece since its not happening in the real world, however, I would suppose that if it were actually given out in a school, the level of compliance would be the best measurement.

13. Peer review results - Over all, the comments were good. One reviewer really liked and understood it; the other thought it jumped around a bit too much. I adjusted my layout based on this comment, but I think I will go back in and change it back.

14. Bibliography. McCloud, Scott (2006). Making Comics, Harper.Medina, John, (2008) Brain Rules, PearAbela, Andrew, (2008) Advanced Presentations by Design, PfeifferTextbookofbacteriology.net/pertussis, The National Institute of Health/medline http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd- vac/pertussis/in-short-both.htm. http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/pertussis.html

Appendix A Worksheets:

A.1.a Audience personality typeAudience: teenagers, aged 12-14, middle school. Personality type: Extroverted/intuitors/perceivers/feelers.

A.1.b Audience Personality ImplicationsPersonality Implications: Plan for discussion: I would like this handout to be the basis for an in-class discussion of the issues surrounding vaccinations. Relevant facts are included in the handout, however, the websites will be included and students who are interested can follow the links to more information. The upfront overview is a girl who is recounting the story of getting whooping cough. Its hard, however, to get across the serious nature of this illness, so she takes the learner along for her discovery ride. The implications relate to the understanding the pros and cons of the vaccine. Presumably, an informed person is empowered in some regard--on one side or the other.

A-2. The From-To Think-Do Matrix for adolescents

The determination of whether or not a teen understands a topic should not necessarily be predicated on his taking right action. In fact, its likely that the opposite can be expected. Additionally, in this case, since the Whooping Cough vaccination is required by most school districts, there isnt a clear action to be taken; no decision to be made.

At best, the student moves from being uninformed and not caring about the importance of the vaccine to understanding and wanting the vaccine. At this age, however, their health decisions are generally not in their control.

A.3. The Audience ProblemThe Audience problem has primarily to do with understanding the importance of this vaccine. In general, teens do not feel vulnerable and dont make decisions based on their own health and security. This is a matter of maturation. They dont, however, like to be sick and, for the most part, dont want to feel they have made their friends sick. As the designer, I dont harbor any illusions that this piece will change wholesale attitudes, but it will lay the groundwork for understanding how vaccines and the immune system work.

A.4 The Spectrum of Solution ContributionsThe problem in the handout is how a student should take responsibility for their own health decisions. In an effort to get the student to do so, a partial solution is for them to understand the background of how vaccines work and how the immune system works so that they feel more informed. The cartoon format puts the issue in a more lighthearted perspective, so there is less resistance to changing behavior and the student can more easily integrate it into his thinking. The whole problem wont be solved until the student is well into their twenties -- at the earliest, although this is a highly individual progression.

A.5 Solution EvaluationThe solution in the handout, on the simplest level, is to get the vaccination. There are five options which are pretty interrelated since the student is generally not empowered.1. Ask for/get the vaccination2. Ask for/dont get the vaccination3. Acquiesce to a parents authority in getting the vaccination4. Acquiesce to a parents authority in not getting the vaccination.5. Not asking or caringThe students understanding may or may not have anything to do with the outcome or solution to this problem.

A.6 Evidence1. Website: textbookofbacteriology.net/pertussis, and 2. The National Institute of Health/medline website: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/pertussis/in-short-both.htm. 3. Website focused on teen health: http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/pertussis.html

A.7 Stakeholder AnalysisThe stakeholder is the student. 1. Whose help will we need for our recommendations to be implemented? Kids need to take this handout home to parents so that they can be alerted to the issue and make the decision to get their child innoculated.2. What must each of them think or do for our recommendations to be successful?Both the parent and the child must think that getting innoculated is a good idea.3. Where do they stand on this? This is a highly personal and somewhat volatile issue. Many parents oppose vaccinations and will opt out of the process.4. What do we need to do to close the gap? The gap is one that relates to the general mistrust of the medical and the pharmaceutical industries. All we can do is present evidence of a new vaccine formulation and let them make informed decisions.