Synthetic Interview Studio
Charles Darwin Synthetic Interview
Client
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and one of the top ten Catholic universities in the nation.
Challenge
February 12th, 2009 will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of English naturalist Charles Darwin, the original proponent of evolutionary theory. As one of several special events celebrating this historic year, Duquesne University wants to make a Synthetic Interview of Charles Darwin publicly available at the Carnegie Science Center, giving visitors the opportunity to virtually “converse” with Darwin about his life and theories.
Solution
In addition to our own research, we attended several local “Darwin Days” events in January and February to learn more about Charles Darwin. We have also conducted surveys at local schools and at the Carnegie Science Center, collecting hundreds of results. This groundwork allowed us to determine our audience’s familiarity with Darwin and learn what questions they would want to ask if they were able to have a conversation with him.
Based on our survey results and research, we supplied Duquesne University with several hundred questions to be used in the development of the Charles Darwin SI. These questions are designed to provide openings for historical anecdotes and hightlight the most interesting details of Darwin’s life and work.
Here are just a few of the questions we suggested:
- What do you you want to be remembered for?
- Define evolution for me.
- What were the Galapagos Islands like?
- What do you say to the skeptics?
- Why did you grow a long beard?