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vaanibct · 6 years

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Curiosity Guide - Contextual Statement

Curiosity Guide is an App that utilizes Augmented Reality and audio play to inform users of the quirky history of Auckland City. The App incorporates the structure and frameworks of several mediums and practices.

Pokémon Go (Niantic, 2016) and Jurassic World Alive (Jurassic World Alive, 2018) are successful examples of an AR application, both rely on the Google Maps Platform Gaming API (Google, 2018) for real time geolocation (Webster, 2018). We applied for access to the platform but were greeted with a form email, the assumption we made is following is that access to the technology may be prioritized to larger businesses. We attempted some work-arounds using other services but Google monopolizes the premium services and documentation is this area and seem to favour big players in the industry. We also looked at negative aspects of these Apps. Although evolving technologies that overlay information on top of a natural environment can be beneficial, it is proven that they can cause distraction (Joseph & Armstrong, 2016). For this reason, it was decided that we will not allow access to the AR experience until the user is at a safe and specific location.

In form Curiosity Guide is largely similar to any “city guide” experience since the advent of the tourist guidebook. The user of the guide holds special information unknown to the casual passerby and converts this into the spatial practice of a tour (Cocks, Doing the town: the rise of urban tourism in the United States, 1850-1915, 2001) or structured narrative (Davis, 2001). In developing content for Curiosity Guide we have curated aspects of history with the specific intent of providing an alternative to the narrative supplied by the tourism industry. The stories are centred on people and include elements of conflict whereas most Auckland Tours centre on ‘nature’ as an essential part of Auckland identity and sidestep complicated issues of culture (Bell & Lyall, 2004). ‘Walking Tours of Manhattan’ a tour built around absent landmarks set out to make visible African-American histories in the city, absence of historic artifacts can be a powerful way to connect with the past (Davis, 2001). Curiosity Guide centres two of the stories at absent landmarks to highlight the AR aspect which adds a layer of curiosity over reality, but this is still an ephemeral experience transforming the space with stories of the past. Our goal in constructing a spatial narrative is closer to ‘Walking Tours of Manhattan’ than it is to local mainstream tours such as “14 Big Attractions” (Bell & Lyall, 2004).

Inspired by the idea of history as an alternate reality, we aimed to have a narrative with more than one voice and intersect ‘fictional’ elements with real world interactions (Watson, 2017). Many existing AR experiences also incorporate communications that exist outside of the App, extending the story into the real world in other mediums (Misa, ARG - Conspiracy for Good, 2018). While Curiosity Guide remains an in-App experience, the content expressly contains multiple voices with differing views on the retold events.

Sound is one medium that can evoke a “cinematic” experience all on its own (Misa, Precedents -“Subtle mobs”, 2018), and the decision to use voices as means to communicate the events was an aesthetic as well as pragmatic decision. The vision was to tell the story through some sort of performance, the most direct method of performance would be street theatre (Misa, Guerrilla Theatre - some background, 2018). A way to bring more of the performance directly into the App would have been some sort of motion capture which was not possible at this time. Video would be difficult to reconcile with the AR elements, was dismissed due to longer production time.

However, there were benefits of the ‘audio play’ approach in that it left room for the user to “fill-in-the-blanks” from their own insights and imagination (Misa, Precedents -“Subtle mobs”, 2018). Audio storytelling lends itself to formal abstractions like specific structures of storytelling as shortcuts for genre in podcasts (Misa, Studio IV : A New Hope - pre-briefing II, 2018). We were able to incorporate temporally disparate elements of a story without having to ‘cut’ as we would with video by using introductions, sound effects, distinct voices and narration to explain them.

Interface is a thing, not a process (Blair-Early & Zender). Apps such as The Big Hoot (Haier, 2018), Auckland Virtual Tours (Ngāti Whātua Orākei, 2018), MiAR (Curiat, 2016), Subway Surfers (Kiloo) and Crossy Road (HIPSTER WHALE), use UI design which can be referred to as “intuitive interface.” Each App is easy to navigate, as well as being visually appealing. Curiosity Guide follows in this tradition, this includes coherent use of icons and buttons, which are nearly synonymous to the interface (Blair-Early & Zender).

Looking specifically at Auckland Virtual Tours, the App design is very clean and consistent. For this reason, it was important to keep a visual theme running throughout our App. Auckland Virtual Tours also supplies the user with introductory content, which informs their future interaction. Through the inclusion of an introductory page Curiosity Guide introduces the beginning of a pattern that indicates how to interact with the App.

References:

ARCore. (2018, September 27). Explore the HelloAR Sample App Code. Retrieved from ARCore: https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/unity/tutorials/hello-ar-sample

Armstrong, D. G., & Bellal , J. (2016, October 5). Potential perils of peri-Pokémon perambulation: the dark reality of augmented reality? Oxford Medical Case Reports, Volume 2016(Issue 10). doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/omcr/omw080

Bell, C., & Lyall, J. (2004). 'Welcome to Auckland': A City Bus Tour. In I. Carter, D. Craig, & S. Matthewman (Eds.), Almighty Auckland? (pp. 210-224). Palmerston North: Dunmore Press.

Blair-Early, A., & Zender, M. (2008, Winter). User Interface Design Principles for Interaction Design. Design Issues, Volume 24(Number 1 ).

Cocks, C. (2001). Doing the town : the rise of urban tourism in the United States, 1850-1915. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Curiat. (2016). MiAR. Auckland: Curiat. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Curiat.AllSigns

Davis, F. (2001). Uncovering Places of Memory: Walking Tours of Manhattan. In C. E. Barton (Ed.), Sites of Memory (pp. 27-36). New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Diwan, V., Misa, S., & Taka, C. (2018). Actual Reality - Statements. Auckland: unpublished.

Haier. (2018). The Big Hoot . Auckland: Haier. Retrieved from https://www.thebighoot.co.nz/app/

HIPSTER WHALE. (n.d.). Crossy Road. Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA: HIPSTER WHALE. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yodo1.crossyroad&hl=en

Jurassic World Alive. (2018, March 14). Canada: Ludia. Retrieved from https://www.ludia.com/en/games/jurassic-world-alive

Kiloo. (n.d.). Subway Surfers. Kiloo. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kiloo.subwaysurf&hl=en

Misa, S. (2018, October 28). The research process and context for stories. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/179509195374/the-research-process-and-context-for-stories

Misa, S. (2018, October 27). The Editing Process. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/179493855759/the-editing-process

Misa, S. (2018, October 24). Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/179378774019/paper-protoype-from-week-10-using-ui-design-by

Misa, S. (2018, August 12). ARG - Conspiracy for Good. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/176930207439/arg-conspiracy-for-good

Misa, S. (2018, August 12). Guerrilla Theatre - some background. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/176927772074/guerrilla-theatre-some-background

Misa, S. (2018, July 20). Map of sites of interest from research walk undertaken on Thursday. Retrieved from Haunted Market: http://haunted.market/post/176078471089/map-of-sites-of-interest-from-research-walk

Misa, S. (2018, July 29). Precedents -“Subtle mobs”. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/176401142839/precedents-subtle-mobs

Misa, S. (2018, July 16). Studio IV : A New Hope - pre-briefing II. Retrieved from Haunted.Market: http://haunted.market/post/175945121774/studio-iv-a-new-hope-pre-briefing-ii

Misa, S. (2018, August 7). The short version - A story research manifesto. Retrieved from Haunted Market: http://haunted.market/post/176727251629/the-short-version-a-story-research-manifesto

Ngāti Whātua Orākei. (2018, April). Auckland Virtual Tours. Auckland, New Zealand: Google Play. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MTheory.AucklandTours

Niantic. (2016, July 16). Pokémon Go. Japan: Niantic. Retrieved from http://origin.pokemongo.com/

Watson, J. (2017). Games Beyond the ARG. In A. Garcia, & G. Niemeyer (Eds.), Alternate reality games and the cusp of digital gameplay (pp. 187-207). New York, New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Webster, A. (2018, March 14). Google is opening up Maps so game developers can create the next Pokémon Go. Retrieved from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17114494/google-maps-location-games-jurassic-world-walking-dead

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