{"id":24286,"date":"2020-02-07T08:32:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T14:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/?p=24286"},"modified":"2020-02-10T14:13:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T20:13:06","slug":"memes-graphic-novellas-instagram-oh-my-northwestern-students-help-cub-rethink-its-educational-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/07\/memes-graphic-novellas-instagram-oh-my-northwestern-students-help-cub-rethink-its-educational-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Memes, graphic novellas, Instagram, oh my! — Northwestern students help CUB rethink its educational tools\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who knew that memes, social media and graphic novellas could be used to break down and simplify utility concepts like capacity markets and legislation like the Clean Energy Jobs Act?<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to a partnership with PhD and Masters students in the \u201cIntroduction to Design in Learning Sciences\u201d course at Northwestern University, CUB now has new and improved messaging and educational tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The course <\/span>was taught by Matt<\/span> Easterday, an associate professor in the <\/span>School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern<\/span><\/a>. Matt Harvey, CUB\u2019s Program Coordinator, worked closely with the students and advised them on their projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was informative, interesting, and a lot of fun working with the students,\u201d Matt said. \u201cCUB learned a lot, and our social media platforms are better off. We hope the students will continue to have an interest in working with nonprofits like CUB. Who knows, maybe there\u2019s a future consumer advocate or two among the students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Below are summaries of each of the projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instagram: Shai Moore and Sarah Lee<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After consulting with CUB\u2019s Deputy Director Sarah Moskowitz, Shai and Sarah focused their project on CUB\u2019s social media accounts, particularly improving the Instagram page.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The two ran several tests to determine the ideal content for CUB\u2019s Instagram posts. Their tests found that positive posts with clean, affordable energy messaging were most successful with the consumer group\u2019s typical Instagram audience (people aged 25-34).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Instagram post designed by Shai and Sarah. It reads: “Dirty power could cost you $864m more in 2020. Here’s how you can support cleaner, affordable energy: tinyurl.com\/support_ceja”<\/p><\/div>\n

To test their findings, they created a sample post, which has served as a model for CUB Instagram content since the culmination of their project. Shai and Sarah also provided tangible next steps for CUB\u2019s communications team, offering ways to increase the account\u2019s engagement and CUB\u2019s reach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Graphic Novella: Kimberly Chapman and Vanessa Stewart<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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To read the novella, click on Mark!<\/p><\/div>\n

If you poll the CUB staff about how to explain a complex subject like the capacity market, a comic book is not the first thing that comes to mind. But Kim and Vanessa set out to help CUB better educate consumers about that very topic– what is a capacity market, how consumers pay dearly for it (whether they know it or not), and how the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) seeks to fix a big problem with capacity market rules. To do this, the two created a graphic novella, starring a wide-eyed, square-headed robot named \u201cCapacity Market,\u201d or \u201cMark\u201d for short.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark explains that the capacity market is how the power grid arranges to have adequate, long-term electricity available for times when demand suddenly spikes, such as a hot summer afternoon. The price consumers pay for this long-term power supply is embedded in the supply charge on their electric bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

He adds that capacity markets are rigged to favor <\/span>out-of-state fossil fuel generators<\/a><\/strong> and that people are often overcharged. But CEJA can help — it will bring control of the capacity market back to Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea behind the project is that the novella\u2019s easy-to-understand visuals and narrative elements could help CUB reduce misunderstanding of capacity markets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Memes: Forrest Bruce, Katarzyna Pomian Bogdanov, and Dustin Tran<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Like Shai and Sarah, this trio aimed to improve CUB\u2019s messaging on social media platforms–and that\u2019s how SpongeBob Squarepants became a CUB spokesman. They set out to specifically engage younger audiences, and what better way to do that than with memes.<\/span><\/p>\n

A meme is usually <\/span>a humorous image, video, or text that is copied with slight variations and spread rapidly by Internet users. Applying information about the Clean Energy Jobs Act or expensive utility bills to popular memes (right) and sharing on CUB\u2019s Twitter account is a way of connecting with a previously-untapped group of potential CUB supporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the memes, Forrest, Kasia and Dustin also worked on a stop-motion video that explains the capacity market while also encouraging viewers to reach out to their representatives. Although the video is silent now, the team provided CUB with a voice over script to record and add to the video.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n