3. History of the Issue (continued)

3. Ask the team to conduct some Internet research on the issue. Note: although this exercise is designed to be accomplished in a single setting, it is possible to assign targeted research tasks to participants prior to coming together to complete this exercise. There are numerous types of online research you can conduct, including the following:

» Broad - Start with general resources like Wikipedia to understand the issue or issues.

» News - Try to understand what has been written about the issue in the past, but also look at news stories that have been written over time (sort by recent stories). Headlines and stories will give you angles that have been used in the past.

» Images - Look at images around the issue and understand how this issue has been portrayed over time.

» Social Media - Look at what has been published in the past about the issue. What are people saying about it? Who is saying it? Where has the public been particularly responsive or disapproving of a given approach to this issue?

» Interviews - Reach out to people who are affected by the issue, who advocate regarding the issue, or those who are representative of the population experiencing the issue to learn about their experiences.

4. As the team is conducting the research, ask them to provide stickies of historical elements (one per sticky note) on the appropriate colored sticky note. Sometimes it is helpful to have a chart of the colors and meanings displayed for quick reference. As they fill out stickies, place them on the timeline in an appropriate location.

5. Capture the work completed with a series of photos.