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Can You Make Ends Meet?
Unified Field designed and developed the interactive software for the Brooklyn
Historical Society exhibition, Brooklyn Work: 400 Years of Making a Living
in Brooklyn. The application, "Can you make ends meet in Brooklyn?"
provides museum visitors with an experiential set of choices that replicate
those made by immigrants to Brooklyn in the 1920's.
Visitors select occupations, and learn about what will be required of them
at their jobs on a daily basis, and how much compensation they can expect
to receive. Based on what they earn, they then construct a living allowance
or budget, and make a series of selections such as where they will live,
where they will get their food, how they will get to work, and if there
is anything left over, what recreation they can look forward to for a Sunday
outing.
The game calculates and the financial impact of their choices, indicating
an ongoing tally of what has been spent and what is left in their monthly
income. Within only a few moments, visitors have a clear understanding of
the impact of each of their choices as the game proceeds, and at the end
understand the promise, consequence or praise for their choices.
The exhibit will open in May 2003, and to coincide with the opening we are
creating an online version of the Making Ends Meet, which will be hosted
on the site of the Brooklyn Public Library.
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