“I Am Alfred” An Exercise in Mapping, and Designing Suitable Scenarios

Pieces to play with

Roles

There are six roles to play with in mapping, each in three binary sets. As we are focusing on controversies within a challenge, each binary set in itself invites to think in terms of ways to dive into these controversies.

Stages to play on

Alfred is doing chores to fulfill his personal needs. In doing so he meets others involved in the same. There is a group. There is also a neighbourhood community, as well as pri-vate persons who opt for focusing on their private lives rather than being involves in communal mat- ters. There is also the that which exceeds the personal and communal interests. In Alfred’s case it is not just how he is judged by the community or private citizens, there is also the law as an interesting source of abstraction of citizens’ stance towards Alfred.
In this case we add a fourth stage on which the performance in engaging in a challenge takes place. It is about us all –us and them added up—within the space we call Earth.

Passages

The actors in the story are connected in different ways. Again a limited array of possible links between them. Consider them as passages within the map that is drawn. It is all about travelling from the personal to the social, from the social to the public, and from the public into a new domain.
Our title quoting a 73 year old man: “I learned to walk on the beach.” It is his answer to the question put to him by an academically trained civil engineer: “What is the source of your knowledge?” It is all about whether it is wise to build on sand near to the sea.