Location-based Storytelling in the Urban Environment

Reality is everywhere. It is right there in our face when we wake up and it continues to sneak up on us throughout our day, in the car, in our offices, and at the dinner table. In recent years it has even invaded our TVs through eternal news streams and endlessly boring reality TV shows. However, people cannot live by reality alone. In fact, we spend quite a lot off effort on escaping reality. We daydream and immerse ourselves in imaginary worlds and stories. We immerse ourselves in fiction. Inspired by this view, we report on our research into the design and user experience of a new genre of mobile location-based services, which uses peoples ’ physical surroundings as a backdrop for storytelling as they move around an urban environment. We present a prototype system developed to explore the user experience of location-based interactive stories, and the use of interaction designs aimed at blurring the boundary between reality and fiction. Based on qualitative data from a series of field trials, we discuss potentials and challenges for this class of location-based services

Aplicaciones móviles didácticas: un prototipo para evaluación en tiempo real

Las aplicaciones móviles son aquellas en las que el usuario es asistido por un dispositivo móvil (teléfonos celulares, PDAs, etc.) a través de servicios que le permiten ubicarse espacialmente y realizar una serie de actividades relacionadas con su ubicación. En este contexto, hay un tipo particular de aplicaciones, que son las aplicaciones didácticas, que se están desarrollando para ser aplicadas en el área de la enseñanza y que permite trasladar el aprendizaje fuera del aula, tomando ventaja de recursos de información que van más allá de lo que aparece en los libros y que tienen que ver con el trabajo de campo directo. Para este tipo de experiencias, la utilización de dispositivos móviles permite combinar información digital con el ambiente físico concreto. En el presente trabajo se desarrolló un prototipo que permite a un grupo de alumnos realizar un juego del tipo búsqueda del tesoro, en donde las pistas serán problemas a resolver. Estas pistas se encontrarán en diferentes lugares físicos, a los que los alumnos arribarán con la ayuda del dispositivo móvil. El prototipo permite la evaluación de los alumnos de una manera distinta a la tradicional, ya que el docente (o grupo de docentes) evalúa cada una de las respuestas (brindadas por el alumno).Facultad de Informátic

Ghosts in the Garden: locative gameplay and historical interpretation from below

© 2017 Steve Poole. Published with licence by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The heritage industry now makes extensive use of digital audioguides and similar interpretation tools to reach new audiences but many remain rooted in authoritative and didactic conservatism. This paper critically evaluates the state of play in the field, from downloadable audio tours and apps, through more complex engagements with theatrically enhanced and affective simulation, to attempts at fuller dialogic visitor participation and the use of gps or RFID-triggered game mechanics. While ‘armchair’ and home screen-based game and interpretation models are addressed, particular attention is paid to the use of mobile and locative design, where embodiment in place is privileged over less associative or remote experience. The paper takes a research project led by the author as a case study. Ghosts in the Garden was conceived in collaboration with a museum and an experience design SME to test the potential of immersive, affective real world games on public understandings of history. It sought to engage visitors with researched history from below by using a pervasive media soundscape, the ‘ghosts’ of past visitors and a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ game mechanic in which outcomes are variable, visitor agency is retained and a more radical model of historical knowledge suggested

PolyXpress+: Using Social Networking to Enhance the User Experience of an Interactive Location-Based Storytelling Application

There’s no denying the ever increasing presence of social networking in our daily lives. Every day, people share what they are thinking, doing, and experiencing. But even more so, they check their favorite networks to see what the people in their lives are sharing. Social networking has become so prevalent that most applications incorporate it since it keeps users engaged and beckons them back to the application again and again. PolyXpress is an interactive, location-based storytelling mobile application that functions as a platform for creating and experiencing stories. Written as a research project at California Polytechnic State University, it allows users to play through stories in real-world locations by using their smart phones. However, in an age of social networking, PolyXpress falls behind the curve, as it does not contain any social features. The work in this thesis aims to test if adding social networking features to PolyX- press will increase user engagement by performing a usability study. The new social features allow users to participate in public forums about stories, message friends while playing stories, and view their friends’ experiences within the app. The results of the study indicate that the overall user experience of PolyXpress was not increased by the social networking features; however, these features are desired and liked by the users. 70% of the experimental group enjoyed using the social features, while 30% remained indifferent. The problem is that the new features disrupted app satisfac- tion, as UI satisfaction decreased from 100% with the control group to 40% with the experimental group

Introducing an interactive story in a geolocalized experience

Actualmente, los juegos pervasivos son uno de los tipos de experiencia de juego que causan el mayor impacto en los jugadores, pues rompen el entorno usual del juego en su dimensión espacial, temporal o social. Este documento tiene el objetivo de proponer, en esos juegos, una integración de la narrativa con la interactividad y la geolocalización. Esta integración requiere un modelo que represente y estructure la historia y su fusión con el resto de elementos del juego. Además, ese modelo debe permitir analizar la efectividad de la historia y cómo ésta ayuda a crear una buena experiencia de usuario. En este trabajo, proponemos una fuerte estructuración de la narrativa que incluye soporte a la geolocalización. A través de un ejemplo de diseño de una historia interactiva geolocalizada, se explican las diferentes características del modelo que hacen posible la creación de buena narrativa interactiva.Pervasive games are one of the types of gaming experiences that currently causes the most impact on players. They break the usual environment of the game in a spatial, temporal or social dimension. This paper has the objective of integrate the narrative with the interactivity and the geolocalization of these games. This integration requires a model that represents and structures the story and its joining between the rest of the elements of the game. In addition, this model should allow us to analyze the effectiveness of the story and how it helps to create a good user experience. In this paper, we propose a strong structuring of the narrative that includes geolocalization support. Through an example of the design of an interactive geolocalized story, we explain several characteristics of the model that make possible the creation of a good interactive narrative

Introduciendo una historia interactiva en una experiencia geolocalizada

Pervasive games are one of the types of gaming experiences that currently causes the most impact on players. They break the usual environment of the game in a spatial, temporal or social dimension. This paper has the objective of integrate the narrative with the interactivity and the geolocalization of these games. This integration requires a model that represents and structures the story and its joining between the rest of the elements of the game. In addition, this model should allow us to analyze the effectiveness of the story and how it helps to create a good user experience. In this paper, we propose a strong structuring of the narrative that includes geolocalization support. Through an example of the design of an interactive geolocalized story, we explain several characteristics of the model that make possible the creation of a good interactive narrative.Actualmente, los juegos pervasivos son uno de los tipos de experiencia de juego que causan el mayor impacto en los jugadores, pues rompen el entorno usual del juego en su dimensión espacial, temporal o social. Este documento tiene el objetivo de proponer, en esos juegos, una integración de la narrativa con la interactividad y la geolocalización. Esta integración requiere un modelo que represente y estructure la historia y su fusión con el resto de elementos del juego. Además, ese modelo debe permitir analizar la efectividad de la historia y cómo ésta ayuda a crear una buena experiencia de usuario. En este trabajo, proponemos una fuerte estructuración de la narrativa que incluye soporte a la geolocalización. A través de un ejemplo de diseño de una historia interactiva geolocalizada, se explican las diferentes características del modelo que hacen posible la creación de buena narrativa interactiva

Lost & Found Stories: Exploring Ecological Storytelling

It is widely acknowledged that environmental issues are complicated – that the means we use to try and address them are knotted affairs made up of many, many complicated threads. Too often the response to this tangle is avoidance and denial. Arguably, unsustainable human behaviour patterns are a significant barrier to addressing environmental concerns. This thesis details a design research approach considers approaches for behaviour change through interaction design and personal storytelling. The aim throughout has been to uncover new opportunities that could potentially provoke: environmental awareness, motivation towards changed behaviours, citizen agency. Environmental researchers are continuously analysing and describing environmental problems. Dissemination of this information is often seen as the main means to not only prove and demonstrate the issues but also to provide evidence that might change our current unsustainable living patterns. Social Media, documentaries, and news reporting provide a plethora of images, scientific facts and statistics about the issues. These unfortunately are not always effective – rather than motivating people to act - they often provoke responses such as fear, shame and consequent inaction. Acknowledging that objective, rational evidence does not necessarily impact human behavior, this body of work looks to narrative and interactive approaches as a means to invite people to consider environmental problems on a more personalized level. A key goal of my work has been to create means for enhancing and appreciating people’s experiences with nature - to provide outlets for people to share and reconsider their relations with the environment. By engaging people with their own personal stories or memories related to nature, I have sought to explore means to merge people’s collective memory of nature. Digital strategies that are commonly used in digital marketing campaigns aimed towards consumer agendas have been co-opted and revamped for an alternate purpose; to provide means for people to consider and respond with more motivation towards care for the environment. To that end, an open-ended, generative citizen design research tool intended to widen the perception of the use of interactive platforms for pro-environmental research practices was developed.Pro-environmental storytellingDigital activismEcological storiesEnvironmental problemsGrieving and lossPro-environmental practice