We are whatwe tell - Narrative Intelligence - page 124

Figure 4. The temple of feeling better.
Zora engaged young people in the design of spaces and dynamic artifacts
representing aspects of their complex selves. Kids used the Zora environment to
explore personal identity and values in a community self-organized by demo-
cratic principles. For example, they held weekly meetings in the virtual City
Hall and experimented with different on-line voting systems. As time went by
they realized the need of laws to organize the social life of the virtual commu-
nity. They agreed on basic laws such as “ no putting things in people's personal
rooms ”, “set the properties of the objects placed in public spaces so others can use
them if they like ”, “ fess up to what you do ”, a n d “ there will be no jail” .
By providing a social context for the development of self-government, Zora
engaged young people in the creation of a participatory community in which
values were discussed and put to test through behaviors. As time went by kids
started to drop “cases” they wanted to talk about in the City Hall. Cases are
special types of objects representing events or circumstances to be discussed
and agreed upon. They require community members to take action to resolve
them. During the summer camp experience most of the cases dealt with set-
ting up the social organization of the virtual city. Examples of those cases are
“I think that people should not change or put things in other peoples rooms. Un-
less they have permission.” or “Anyone should be able to drop anything anywhere,
but with a consequence”. Other cases were to discuss and raise awareness about