Supporting the Mobile In-situ Authoring of Locative Media in Rural Places: Design and Expert Evaluation of the SMAT app

Providing users with carefully authored Locative media experiences (which can be consumed via their GPS equipped smartphones or tablets) has significant potential for fostering a strong engagement with their current surroundings. However, the availability of mobile tools to support the authoring of locative media experiences in-situ, and by non-technical users, remains scarce. In this article we present the design and field-trial expert evaluation of a mobile app developed under the SHARC project (Investigating Technology Support for the Shared Curation of Local History in a Rural Community). The app is named SMAT (SHARC Mobile Authoring Tool) and supports the authoring of Locative Media experiences with a focus on the creation of POIs (Points of Interest) and associated geo-fences which trigger the pushed delivery of media items such as photos, audio clips, etc. One important requirement of SMAT is the ability to support authoring in places where connectivity is intermittent or unavailable, e.g. many rural areas

Negotiating Reality

Our understanding of research through design is demonstrated by a close examination of the methods used in the project lifeClipper2. This design research project investigates the applicability of immersive outdoor Augmented Reality (AR). lifeClipper2 offers an audiovisual walking experience in a virtually extended public space and focuses on audiovisual perception as well as on the development of the appropriate technology. The project involves contributions of partners from different fields of research. Thus, lifeClipper2 is able to test the potential of AR for visualizing architecture and archaeological information and to challenge our understanding of perception and interaction. Using examples from our research, the paper reflects on how scenario design contributes to the production of design knowledge and explores the possibilities and variations of AR. Finally, the paper drafts our approach to design research. The three tenets of our work are: the use of scenarios as a tool of interdisciplinary research, the experimental exploration of media and the intention to make design knowledge explicit. Keywords: augmented reality; locative media; hybrid environment; immersion; perception; experience design; research through design; scenario design</p

The Playeur and Pokémon Go: Examining the effects of locative play on spatiality and sociability

Pokémon Go is a hugely popular hybrid reality game (HRG) that enables players to occupy a space that is simultaneously physical and digital. The general aim of Pokémon Go is to discover and then capture Pokémon. This article reports on an original research project designed to explore the impact of Pokémon Go on spatiality and sociability. The project was conducted between May 2017 and July 2017, using an online survey which received 375 responses from users of Pokémon Go geographically spread across the globe. Drawing on the concept of the ‘playeur’ as an established approach to understanding the effects of locative play on spatiality and sociability, this research follows three lines of enquiry. First, the research examines whether the intermingling of play and ordinary life might encourage players to spend more time outside in public spaces, and how this mode of play is experienced. Second, the research explores whether the game mechanics of Pokémon Go might lead players to traverse their environment using modified routes, as well as frequent new places. Third, the research examines whether the praxis of Pokémon Go might enable new forms of sociability to emerge that extend beyond earlier HRGs

The Construction of Locative Situations: the Production of Agency in Locative Media Art Practice

This thesis is a practice led enquiry into Locative Media (LM) which argues that this emergent art practice has played an influential role in the shaping of locative technologies in their progression from new to everyday technologies. The research traces LM to its origins at the Karosta workshops, reviews the stated objectives of early practitioners and the ambitions of early projects, establishing it as a coherent art movement located within established traditions of technological art and of situated art practice. Based on a prescient analysis of the potential for ubiquitous networked location-awareness, LM developed an ambitious program aimed at repositioning emergent locative technologies as tools which enhance and augment space rather than surveil and control. Drawing on Krzysztof Ziarek\u27s treatment of avant-garde art and technology in The Force of Art , theories of technology drawn from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and software studies, the thesis builds an argument for the agency of Locative Media. LM is positioned as an interface layer which in connecting the user to the underlying functionality of locative technologies offers alternative interpretations, introduces new usage modes, and ultimately shifts the understanding and meaning of the technology. Building on the Situationist concept of the constructed situation, with reference to an ongoing body of practice, an experimental practice-based framework for LM art is advanced which accounts for its agency and, it is proposed, preserves this agency in a rapidly developing field

Practices of place-making through locative media artworks

Peer-reviewedIn recent years, the vast increase in information flows has made it possible to instantly connect location-dependent information with physical spaces. These technologies have provided new forms of the representation of space as much as new forms of perception through tools and techniques used in land surveying, remote sensing, etc. From a critical point of view, pervasive computing, location-based applications, or, in other words, "locative media" provide an interesting framework to understand how these technologies relate to our understanding of space and place. Concretely, we want to examine how the uses of locative media in social-oriented artworks interact with people's sense of place. This article therefore discusses contemporary theories on space related to media and technology with a specific focus on the conceptualization of the notion of place. It also relates these theories to the study of different locative media artworks: Canal Accessible (2006), Bio Mapping (2004), Disappearing Places (2007), and Coffee Deposits (2010). We contend that locative media artworks act upon distinctive ways to understand the mediation of technology in current placemaking practices.En los últimos años, el aumento de los flujos de información ha hecho posible conectar instantáneamente la información dependiente de ubicación con los espacios físicos. Estas tecnologías han facilitado tanto nuevas formas de representación del espacio como nuevas formas de percepción a través de herramientas y técnicas usadas en topografía, teledetección, etc. Desde un punto de vista crítico, la computación ubicua, las aplicaciones de localización, o en otras palabras, los "medios locativos" proporcionan un marco interesante para entender cómo estas tecnologías se relacionan con nuestra comprensión del espacio y el lugar. Concretamente, queremos examinar cómo los usos de los medios locativos en la vida social orientados a obras de arte interactuan con el sentimiento de lugar. En este artículo se analizan tanto las teorías contemporáneas sobre el espacio en relación con los medios de comunicación y la tecnología con un enfoque específico en la conceptualización de la noción de lugar. Estas teorías se refieren también al estudio de diferentes obras de arte de medios locativos: Canal Accesible (2006), Bio Mapping (2004), Lugares Disappearing (2007), y los restos de café (2010). Sostenemos que las obras de arte de medios locativos actuan de maneras distintas para entender la mediación de la tecnología en las prácticas de Placemaking actuales.En els últims anys, l'augment dels fluxos d'informació ha fet possible connectar instantàniament la informació dependent d'ubicació amb els espais físics. Aquestes tecnologies han facilitat tant noves formes de representació de l'espai com noves formes de percepció a través d'eines i tècniques utilitzades en topografia, teledetecció, etc. Des d'un punt de vista crític, la computació ubiqua, les aplicacions de localització o, en altres paraules, els "mitjans locatius" proporcionen un marc interessant per entendre com aquestes tecnologies es relacionen amb la nostra comprensió de l'espai i el lloc. Concretament, volem examinar com els usos dels mitjans locatius en la vida social orientats a obres d'art interactuen amb el sentiment de lloc. En aquest article s'analitzen tant les teories contemporànies sobre l'espai en relació amb els mitjans de comunicació i la tecnologia amb un enfocament específic en la conceptualització de la noció de lloc. Aquestes teories es refereixen també a l'estudi de diferents obres d'art de mitjans locatius: Canal Accessible (2006), Bio Mapping (2004), Llocs Disappearing (2007), i les restes de cafè (2010). Sostenim que les obres d'art de mitjans locatius actuen de maneres diferents per entendre la mediació de la tecnologia en les pràctiques de Placemaking actuals

Locative Histories: exploring the continued influence of early Locative Media Art

This paper, which draws on aspects of my doctoral research, traces the influence of early Locative Media Art on the current form and application of location-aware technologies. The mechanisms and impulse for this influence are introduced and analyzed and it is proposed that they point to new approaches in the consideration of the agency of Locative Media art. I return to the origins of Locative Media at the Karosta workshop and the ambitions of early practitioners to argue that the practice was based on a prescient analysis of the potential for ubiquitous networked location-awareness. From this analysis was developed an ambitious program aimed at repositioning emergent locative technologies as tools which enhance and augment space rather than surveil and control. It is demonstrated that Locative Media art projects have foreshadowed all of the key categories of current location-aware applications and services. This is not co-incidental but is, I suggest, the result of an intentional desire and associated actions to shift the meaning of these technologies. As location- awareness has become part of the everyday I advance that the forms it takes and the ways in which it is employed are co-constructed by Locative Media art practice and that this continued influence represents the agency of Locative Media Art. Drawing on Krzysztof Ziarek\u27s treatment of avant-garde art and technology in The Force of Art (2004), STS, software studies and their surrounding debates, I build an argument for this agency and explore the mechanism for this influence. While this influence is historical I contend that once its pathways are fully understood it can be sustained or renewed with future emergent technologies and propose that this approach offers new paths for the consideration of media art