Client: This American Life / WBEZ
Project: Interactive message decoder
Online demo: demo

This American Life is a weekly, hour long radio show broadcast on over 370 public radio stations across the United States. Its mission is to document everyday life in America.

During the months of November and December 2000, the show hosted a contest requiring its listeners to decode secret messages delivered during the show - as well as on the show's Web site. The messages are decoded using a special 'decoder ring' which was developed for the contest and mailed out to all listeners of the show.

Article 19 developed an interactive version of the 'decoder ring' which has been made available on the This American Life Web site as a Shockwave file, as well as downloadable Windows and Macintosh stand-alone applications.