Vanishing Leaves: A Study of Walt Whitman Through Location-Based Mobile Technologies

Vanishing Leaves is a location-based mobile experience (LBME), which employs mobile devices equipped with GPS and high-speed wireless internet capabilities to take users to Brooklyn Heights to learn about the poet Walt Whitman and his connection to the neighborhood where he lived, worked, and published the first edition of his masterwork Leaves of Grass. Through this active first-person immersive learning experience, Vanishing Leaves embraces experimental scholarly methods that extend outside the classroom and off the page in order to engage learners and invite them to create meaningful, personal connections to writers and their literary works. The following white paper details the core concepts and inspiration underlying the development of Vanishing Leaves, including Whitman’s mobile composing practices and the importance influence of walking on his work, as well as ecocomposition theory and its exploration of the dynamic relationship between the writer, their discourse, and the environment. Following this groundwork, a detailed examination of the capabilities of mobile devices relevant to this project is offered. This analysis highlights important research, concepts, and existing projects that illuminate the potential for LBMEs to help us better understand cultural figures, their historical contexts, and the important connection between place and discourse surrounding cultural texts. Finally, an overview of the development of Vanishing Leaves will provide details regarding its methods and objectives, as well as some of the major challenges and lessons learned throughout the process. This white paper, instructions for playing Vanishing Leaves, and access to supplemental materials will be made available online at: http://vanishingleaves.com

GeoCoin:supporting ideation and collaborative design with location-based smart contracts

Design and HCI researchers are increasingly working with complex digital infrastructures, such as cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers and smart contracts. These technologies will have a profound impact on digital systems and their audiences. However, given their emergent nature and technical complexity, involving non-specialists in the design of applications that employ these technologies is challenging. In this paper, we discuss these challenges and present GeoCoin, a location-based platform for embodied learning and speculative ideating with smart contracts. In collaborative workshops with GeoCoin, participants engaged with location-based smart contracts, using the platform to explore digital `debit' and `credit' zones in the city. These exercises led to the design of diverse distributed-ledger applications, for time-limited financial unions, participatory budgeting, and humanitarian aid. These results contribute to the HCI community by demonstrating how an experiential prototype can support understanding of the complexities behind new digital infrastructures and facilitate participant engagement in ideation and design processes

Tesis doctoral: Narrativas Móviles – estrategias discursivas y modos de participación en el Arte Locativo

This thesis investigates the design process of mobile-based narratives to verify whether the affordances and constraints of the supporting medium have contributed to shaping specific discursive strategies and particular participation modes. Have properties such as connectivity, location-awareness, portability, and multimodality enabled narrative formats that gained force by contesting traditional patterns and classic narrativity notions? The unveiling of the research inquiry happens through a bricolage of methods in a dialogue between artistic and scientific domains. The study of the phenomenon comprises three correlated stages. The first is a theoretical literature review that investigates the artistic use of locative and mobile media, and their influence in the basic principles governing narratives. The second is a case study of Blast Theory artistic practice grounded in an ethnographic approach with site-visit, and resulting in a qualitative analysis of four of their projects. The third moment consists of applied-theory activities that lead to the collaborative development of a geolocated narrative which serves to evaluate participant's experience.Esta tesis explora el diseño de las narrativas basadas en los dispositivos móviles, dedicándose a comprobar si los recursos expresivos y las limitaciones del medio contribuyen a la formación de estrategias discursivas y modos de participación particulares y específicos. Propiedades tales como la conectividad, la geolocalización, la portabilidad y la multimodalidad han permitido la aparición de nuevos formatos narrativos que ganan fuerza disputando los patrones tradicionales y las nociones clásicas de la narratividad? La revelación de la pregunta se da fruto la combinación de diferentes métodos, mediante un diálogo entre los ámbitos artístico y científico. El estudio del fenómeno comprende tres etapas. La primera es la revisión de la literatura teórica que investiga el uso artístico de los locative media, así como su influencia en los principios básicos que rigen las narrativas. La segunda es un estudio de caso de la práctica artística del colectivo Británico Blast Theory, basada en el abordaje etnográfico de una visita de campo y posterior análisis cualitativo de cuatro de sus obras. El estudio se extiende en un tercer lugar con actividades de teoría aplicada, incluyendo el desarrollo colaborativo de una narrativa geolocalizada que sirve para evaluar la experiencia de los participantes

Mobile heritage practices. Implications for scholarly research, user experience design, and evaluation methods using mobile apps.

Mobile heritage apps have become one of the most popular means for audience engagement and curation of museum collections and heritage contexts. This raises practical and ethical questions for both researchers and practitioners, such as: what kind of audience engagement can be built using mobile apps? what are the current approaches? how can audience engagement with these experience be evaluated? how can those experiences be made more resilient, and in turn sustainable? In this thesis I explore experience design scholarships together with personal professional insights to analyse digital heritage practices with a view to accelerating thinking about and critique of mobile apps in particular. As a result, the chapters that follow here look at the evolution of digital heritage practices, examining the cultural, societal, and technological contexts in which mobile heritage apps are developed by the creative media industry, the academic institutions, and how these forces are shaping the user experience design methods. Drawing from studies in digital (critical) heritage, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and design thinking, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the development and use of mobile practices for the heritage. Furthermore, through an empirical and embedded approach to research, the thesis also presents auto-ethnographic case studies in order to show evidence that mobile experiences conceptualised by more organic design approaches, can result in more resilient and sustainable heritage practices. By doing so, this thesis encourages a renewed understanding of the pivotal role of these practices in the broader sociocultural, political and environmental changes.AHRC REAC

How to make classrooms creative and open spaces: ARIS games, digital artifacts and storytelling

As part of long-term research into interviewing users and visualizing digital artifacts, we have created a parallel archives of projects in our classroom. Ethnography helps us to discover the temporal trends of interactions with students and with the virtual environment. The outcomes expected motived us to repurpouse stories we co-create with students in a new form, retelling motivations, design, narratives, into a gaming scenario where the use of experiences become more digital and less tangible but always snapshots of their social existence.Peer Reviewe

Virtual reality interface for the PATIO user involvement tool

Abstract. The objective of this thesis was to explore, implement, and evaluate means to improve user participation using virtual reality. Thus, two applications were implemented: a VR client for user feedback collection, and a web tool that works as a moderator creation editor. These tools offer an approach to collecting feedback about activities taking place in VR 3D spaces and combine different functionalities such as geolocated points of interest and 3D user interfaces. Through these applications, users are able to explore spaces and answer geolocated surveys in an interactive and immersive way. These two clients were developed side by side with other clients of the same user involvement tool and thus involved several iterations to achieve a good user experience. In addition, related work was studied to research about building VR experiences and interactive 3D user interfaces. The VR client was tested with real users (n = 14) where their experiences were gathered using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire and an Adjective cards selection method, while also being watched and interviewed. The study conducted for evaluation shows that the VR solution is important to users because they can be involved in research and product development even when it is not possible to be in a certain location or when an environment does not exist, or it no longer exists. However, better interaction methods in the virtual environment, as well as additional graphics performance optimization are needed for a better experience in the user involvement process

Teaching Cultural Heritage using Mobile Augmented Reality

open2noThe relationship between augmented reality, mobile learning, gamification and non-formal education methods provide a great potential. The AR-CIMUVE Augmented Reality for the Walled Cities of the Veneto is an original project in collaboration with Italia Nostra and other associations which deal with transmitting our cultural heritage and which teach primary and middle school children the cultural and historical importance of the Veneto’s and the surrounding territories’ walled cities. In this learning experience students will explore how our environment has developed across the ages using the mobile devices with the technical back-up of the AR App. This will allow them to see maps, examine data, 3D models and will enable them to judge and improve their skills. From a pedagogical and educational point of view the emphasis is on a constructivist social-cultural approach which helps students to become active citizens more aware of their historical identity.openPetrucco, Corrado; Agostini, DanielePetrucco, Corrado; Agostini, Daniel

Supporting Story Synthesis: Bridging the Gap between Visual Analytics and Storytelling

Visual analytics usually deals with complex data and uses sophisticated algorithmic, visual, and interactive techniques. Findings of the analysis often need to be communicated to an audience that lacks visual analytics expertise. This requires analysis outcomes to be presented in simpler ways than that are typically used in visual analytics systems. However, not only analytical visualizations may be too complex for target audience but also the information that needs to be presented. Hence, there exists a gap on the path from obtaining analysis findings to communicating them, which involves two aspects: information and display complexity. We propose a general framework where data analysis and result presentation are linked by story synthesis, in which the analyst creates and organizes story contents. Differently, from the previous research, where analytic findings are represented by stored display states, we treat findings as data constructs. In story synthesis, findings are selected, assembled, and arranged in views using meaningful layouts that take into account the structure of information and inherent properties of its components. We propose a workflow for applying the proposed framework in designing visual analytics systems and demonstrate the generality of the approach by applying it to two domains, social media, and movement analysis

Geo-Crowdsourcing Contributions for Cultural Mapping

Over the years, cultural mapping methods have been used in several applications and contexts, for diverse cultural assets and to create new conditions for the development of local and regional resources. These methods were inspired by the development of big urban centres and regions, which have been the great engine of cultural mapping growth. The main objectives of the present paper are to provide a literature review on cultural mapping methodologies and to develop exploratory research on crowdsource tools on creative tourism which were applied to one Portuguese municipality in 2017. The research was supported by the implementation and integration of geographic information systems (GIS) and web mapping, which will become part of the solution for the growth of less developed territories and to make more interactive tourist activities. Web mapping’s contribution to enhance crowd participation was measured via analysis of 12 digital photos shared through crowdsourcing. The originality of this research lies in the attempt to develop a new model for creative tourism, trying to extend the implementation of Web Mapping crowdsourcing to deprived low density territories. Results show how public participation can be amplified for the tourism market by crowdsourcing tools. These tools look very promising since they can help several members of the public at different ages to contribute to territorial knowledge, engage in activities, and collaborate through digital tools. It is a step to fulfil the lack of studies in this subject and it contributes to the way we think about future studies

Interactive maps for the production of knowledge and the promotion of participation from the perspective of communication, journalism, and digital humanities

New technologies have allowed traditional map production criteria to be modified or even subverted. Starting from the communication sciences-journalism in particular-and digital humanities via the history of communication, we show how to use interactive digital maps for the production and publication of knowledge through and/or for participation. Firstly, we establish the theoretical-conceptual framework necessary to base the practices, dividing the elements into three areas: interactive maps and knowledge production (decentralization, pluralization, reticularization, and humanization), maps as instruments to promote political and social participation (egalitarianism, horizontality, and criticism), and maps as instruments for the visualization of data that favors the user experience (interactivity, multimediality, reticularity of reading, and participation). Next, we present two cases that we developed to put into practice the theoretical concepts that we established: the Mapa Infoparticipa (Infoparticipa Map), which shows the results of the evaluation of the transparency of public administrations, and the Ciutadania Plural (Plural Citizenship) web platform for the production of social knowledge about the past and the present. This theoretical and practical model shows the possibilities of interactive maps as tools to promote political participation and as instruments for the construction of social knowledge in a collaborative, participatory, networked way