My Sky Is Falling is an immersive storyworld that aims to raise awareness about the challenges American foster children face before they age out of the foster care system.  It is a Reboot Stories purposeful storytelling open design made with Columbia University, Orange Duffle Bag Initiative and the Harmony Institute. Released under a Creative Commons sharealike, non-commercial license, My Sky is Falling is available to those wishing to engage in purposeful storytelling and social good. The framework of the project is open and is intended to be shared and remixed.

Elements of the storyline for My Sky is Falling were drawn from the life of Lydia Joyner. Lydia sits down with Thinkr to tell her amazing and heartbreaking story.

NEW WHITEPAPER

We recently collaborated with the Harmony Institute on a whitepaper entitled A NEW STORY: Purposeful Storytelling & Designing with Data that details the initial releases of MSiF.

Collaborators and designers

LYDIA JOYNER: Elements of the storyline were drawn from the life of Lydia Joyner, who was once a foster child. She is the co-founder of Walla Walla Bing Bang Productions and writer/director/producer of the film Sunny Lane.

DEDRICK: Close to aging out of the foster care system, Dedrick shared his story and insights in a design session with the Columbia Students.

As the project continues, additional foster care children who are within or who have aged out of the system will be part of the on going design process.

Partners
Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, Board Chair/Co-Founder Echo Garrett
The Harmony Institute
Columbia University
Affectiva Q Sensors, Founder and Director Professor Rosalind Picard, Sc.D.
Moveable Feast Mobile Media, Founder and CEO Steve Schultz

Team
Executive Producer: Lance Weiler
Creative Director: Atley Loughridge
Producer: Reka Posta

Design Team
Design Director: Laura Arena
Sound Design: Darryl Montgomery
Aesthetic Design: Tessa Mauclere
Installation Design: Jennifer Cox
Interactive Sound Design: Mikhail Iliatov

Social Advocacy
Writer and Social Impact Lead from Orange Duffel Bag: Lydia Joyner
Social Impact from You Gotta Believe: Heather Henderson
Consultant and Musician from You Gotta Believe: Fekri Kram

Tech Team
Technical Design, Columbia University student: Paul (Binyan) Chen
Senior Creative Technologist from the Harmony Institute: Clint Beharry
Research Analyst from the Harmony Institute: Sarah Henry
Intern from the Harmony Institute: Sol Jorgensen
Data Visualization: Mini Kim

Columbia University Students
Writer and Theatre Director: Lena Rudnick
Theatre Director: Vyasar Ganesan
Sensory Experience Design and Debriefing: Toyin Adeyemi
Experimental Film Projections: Hannah Bisewski
Story and Animation: Munire Bozdemir
Documentation: Kathy Zhang

Actors
Maggie Herskowitz
Abigail Pechman
Victoria Miller
Danielle Brewer
Mei-Lin Campbell
Clarence Leonard
Kenny Govea
Cayley Waldo
Paolo Solis
Paul Krasner
Holly Crane

Links
myskyisfalling.com
rebootstories.com
harmony-institute.org
orangeduffelbagfoundation.org
diydays.com
envisionfilm.org

Twitter
#MSiF
@HInstitute

First design team of Columbia University Students from Lance Weiler’s New Media Producing class, who created the beta of MSiF in the fall of 2012. 

Community design: Olutoyin Adeyemi, Julie Begey Seureau, Kathy Zhang
Tech design: Binyan Chen
Experience design: Jarmar Banks, Vyasar Ganesan, Michael Nardone, Yinuo Wang
Production: Caroline Taylor, Laura Lamansky
Story: Munire Bozdemir, Joyce Fan, Hannah Bisewski
TA: Jing Wang

About Reboot Stories

Reboot Stories harnesses storytelling, technology and design science to form an innovation engine for digital literacy, cross-generational learning and social change. Co-founded by Lance Weiler and Janine Saunders in 2011, Reboot Stories has partnered with the UN, the World Economic Forum, Columbia University and others to design and run innovative global cross-generational learning projects. In 2012, Reboot Stories was awarded the prestigious Tribeca New Media Fund award. Mashable recently named Reboot Stories “one of the top five social good / educational startups to watch.”