Supporting literary tourism in Qatar through a mobile location-based application

Abstract

This paper presents mobile software that supports users in experiencing the Qatari nation's literary heritage as they explore the nation of Qatar. Literary tourism is 'motivated by interest in an author, a literary creation or setting, or the literary heritage of a destination' [1]—the tourism of locations and places mentioned within a piece of literature, pertaining to the history of a place, or birthplace or place of inspiration for the authors or story characters. Places may range from the general geographical setting of a story, down to a specific location that a character visits. Such tours allow visitors to Qatar to experience its stories and literary heritage, and the related physical locations. Our software augments a mobile user's experience of a literary work by providing relevant sections of a story as the user travels through locations mentioned in the text [2,3]. Each location has associated images, description and story excerpts. The software is multi-language and so the story can be presented in both its original language and in translation. The users can experience stories by reading the text or by listening to audio. For this prototype, we based the stories on contemporary works set in Doha (see attached screenshot showing locations from "Qatari Voices" [4]). However, the project is also open to a variety of literary forms, such as oral history and folkstories. Furthermore, we have experience in using the software for intertwining stories with location-based information about surrounding architecture and works of art. The application is intended both for tourists to experience Qatar's literature as they visit the streets of Doha, and also as a means for Qataris to connect with their literary heritage. Our prototype has been implemented and evaluated on both iPhone and Android smartphones [3,5,6]. The software can also be used for location-aware functions, such as "stories set in this area". Based on the user's interest, a travel route is suggested such that chapter-based stories can be accessed in the right sequence, but it is also possible to skip locations and to listen to a story arc not on location. We explored the use of our prototype in the context of stories, public events, and single-user guided literary tours. Users reported that they enjoyed using the location-triggered functions that allowed them access to stories they would have missed otherwise. 1. Smith, M., MacLeod, N., & Robertson, M. (2010). Key Concepts in Tourist Studies. London, England: SAGE Publications Ltd. 2. Kerry Arts (2013) A Mobile Application for Touring Locations in Literature, Student Project Report, University of Waikato, 2013 3. Annika Hinze, David Bainbridge (2013). Tipple: location-triggered mobile access to a digital library for audio books. JCDL 2013: 171-180 4. Carol Henderson, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar (2010). Qatari Voices. Doha, Qatar: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing 5. Annika Hinze, David Bainbridge (2012). Listen to Tipple: Creating a Mobile Digital Library with Location-Triggered Audio Books. TPDL 2012: 51-56 6. Annika Hinze, Xin Gao, David Bainbridge (2006). The TIP/Greenstone Bridge: A Service for Mobile Location-Based Access to Digital Libraries. ECDL 2006: 99-110