Black Box
Larisa Sitorus, Sarah Hardung, Hans-Ulrik Grunth
Fall 2003

What if you can't see what your hands are doing? During this project we worked how to tear down boundaries between users in a company setting. Collaboration in project work can be though. Maybe you meet new people that you have not worked with before. In this example of a game we seek to optimize collaboration between people in an interesting way and "constructive" way.

The Blackbox game is for three players and one observer each person is sitting on their side of the black box. The observer picks up a theme card and shows the others the card they now have to construct the theme with their hands and within the time limit. The constructing must be done inside the box so each player places their hands in the holes and together they will start building.

"Communication with your eyes is the only way to talk."

The meaning with this game is that you need to sense and feel. Do not be afraid of touching the other builders' hands. Communication with your eyes is the only way to talk. All of builders need to be aware of where in box are we going to build, perhaps you even need to take the other persons hands and let them feel where the construction is placed inside the box, so that you don't start building different places.

During the game the observer watches the time and also notating down what is going on inside the box how are hands working. When time has run out it's time to tell the others how your experienced the building process. Finally the observer can mention what has been noticed during the construction.

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