Proposal and Pitch

I'm asking my Digital Culture class to formalize their project ideas with a "proposal and pitch" assignment.

Students must join a team and create a pitch video and blog post. The video is a two-minute pitch to bring clarity to their project, build enthusiasm and gain further social proof. It is also a kind of initial prototype for the proposed project. Here are a couple of examples from a Shakespeare class:



This video should be embedded in a blog post which includes the following components. The pitch video and proposal material can appear on any of the team members' blogs or on a project-specific blog if you wish to start one. Here are the things to include in the proposal:

1. Project Title (Try to be specific: "Badges Project" or "Remix Project" are not)
2. Description (One or two sentences, including reference to relevance)
3. Project Members (optionally, you may also include a list of "Advisory Members")
4. Social Proof
1. Evidence of informal social proof (from classmates, peers)
2. Evidence of outside social proof (from enthusiasts, experts)
3. Annotated list of potential sources of further social proof (see three examples linked to at the top of this blog post)
5. Literature Review 
1. Links to blog posts exploring the topic from group members 
2. At least three books that establish the relevance and importance of the topic. These can be trade book nonfiction titles or scholarly studies.
6. Literary Component
   How might literary works provide content or insight for the project (draw from group members' literary works studied)
7. Format(s) and Audience(s)
   How will the project be formalized? How will it be distributed and to whom?
8. Success Criteria
   How will this be measured?
9. Prototype
   Show evidence of brainstorming, sketching, storyboard, mockup etc. that has been used to gain clarity and get social proof.