The Experiment Sequence
For this class, we pick an origin piece and develop three different experiments based on that origin piece. We’re allowed to take our experiments in any direction we’d like and have a lot of creative freedom.
My origin piece is an op-ed I wrote for my Introduction to Public Policy course last year titled “It’s Time to Abolish Mandatory Minimums for Drug Offenses.” This was a 750-word piece and while I don’t remember the exact instructions for the assignment, I know it was something along the lines of “argue for or against a policy of your choice.” I decided that in this class, I wanted to try three new ways to argue the same claim that I argued in the original op-ed. Below are my three experiments, the third of which I turned into my fully realized project.
Experiment 1
In my first experiment, I wanted to make an Instagram carousel in the style you often see on different activism accounts. I focused this experiment on educating people who may not know about the issues with mandatory minimums, so I selected facts that I thought were impactful and would help show people why the issue was so important.
Experiment 2
For my second experiment, I decided I wanted to do something that focused more on the impacts of mandatory minimums on specific, real people. My original plan was to make a documentary pitch, but I decided that I actually wanted to work backward. I wrote a documentary review for an imaginary documentary — the one I initially planned on pitching — that discussed the impacts of the documentary and the stories told within it. The individuals mentioned are real people, and while I didn't interview them for this project, they have been in the news on the issue of mandatory minimums.
Experiment 3
For my final experiment, which is the one I chose to turn into my fully realized project, I decided to write a TV script loosely inspired by the crime shows I’ve always enjoyed watching like Law & Order. I wanted to try to depict what the abolition of mandatory minimums would do for the criminal justice system. I don’t want to spoil too much, but for the experiment, I wrote the concluding scene in what has become my fully realized project. I am not including this experiment here as the conclusion is an important part of the final project and I don’t want to reveal it without the entire script. An updated version of this experiment is included in my fully realized project, which you can read on another tab.