Enhancing South Asian Folktales through Mixed Reality: Exploring Accessibility, Contextualization, and Discovery

The rich cultural heritage of South Asian folktales gets shared across generations through various storytelling styles and channels, such as oral traditions, books, cartoons, comics, and blogs. However, with the rapid evolution of new media, there is a growing need to adapt these traditional stories to modern formats to ensure their continued accessibility, contextualization, and discovery. This project aims to explore the potential of Mixed Reality (MR) in enhancing the experience of South Asian folktales by creating immersive and engaging story environments that connect to their geographical roots. Using Research Through Design (RTD) methodology, I iteratively developed and evaluated prototype setups to identify critical design decisions that shape the user experience. The findings from this study will provide insights into the design of MR applications for storytelling and contribute to the preservation and dissemination of South Asian folklore in the digital age