futurePerfect lab has partnered with Media Impact Project (MIP) at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center to prototype and pilot the Narrative Engine, conceived as an open-source tool that will enable the storytellers and social movements to:

1. Better understand their target audiences and responses to content that seeks to promote the authentic voice(s) of their constituencies;
2. Encourage well-developed pop culture depictions of people of color, immigrants, and Muslims that can more reliably affect the way various communities are perceived.

For more information, visit the website.

“Most assessment research on the impact of films, TV, games, web-based interactive, virtual reality and other pop culture draws upon outdated media effects and edutainment research from communication studies, which is often not evidence-based. Combining social science with real-time empirical research will enable us to translate ‘hunches’ about the role that communication and mass media strategies play in social change processes into quantifiable insights and a new media effects model based on bio-data-driven inquiry.” —Heidi Boisvert

“This project builds upon ten years of Lear Center survey research that tracks the intimate connection between personal values, world view and entertainment and media preferences. Adding biometric data to this research will help us better understand the physiological effects of storytelling, providing a stronger evidence base for strategic efforts to achieve culture change. — Johanna Blakley