Abstract
Locative Media Experiences (LMEs) have significant potential in enabling visitors to engage with the places that they visit through an appreciation of local history. For example, a visitor to Berlin that is exploring remnants of the Berlin Wall may be encouraged to appreciate (or in part experience) the falling of the Berlin wall by consuming multimedia directly related to her current location such as listening to audio recordings of the assembled crowds on 10th November 1989. However, despite the growing popularity of enabling technologies (such as GPS-equipped smart phones and tablets), the availability of tools that support the authoring of LMEs is limited. In addition, mobile apps that support the consumption of LMEs typically adopt an approach that precludes users from being able to respond with their own multimedia contributions. In this article we describe the design and evaluation of the SHARC2.0 framework that has been developed as part of our long-term and participatory engagement with the rural village of Wray in the north of England. Wray has very limited cellular data coverage which has placed a requirement on the framework and associated tools to operate without reliance on network connectivity. A field study is presented which featured a LME relating to Wray’s local history and which contained multimedia content contributed by members of the community including historic photos (taken from an existing ‘Digital Noticeboard’ system), audio-clips (from a local historian and village residents) and video (contributed during a design workshop). The novelty of our approach relates to the ability of multiple authors to contribute to a LME in-situ, and the utilisation of personal cloud storage for storing the contents associated with a multi-authored LME.
Highlights
The term Locative Media was introduced by Karlis Kalnins in 2003 [18] and since the growing popularity of GPS equipped smartphones and tablets has served to increase the opportunity for Locative Media Experiences
The following definition provided by [3] is apt for this article: B...the locative media that is of most immediate concern is that made by those who create experiences that take into account the geographic locale of interest, typically by elevating that geographic locale beyond its instrumentalized status as a ‘latitude longitude coordinated point on earth’ to the level of existential, inhabited, experienced and lived place
The approaches adopted for the design of the SHARC2.0 framework and the field trial evaluation in Wray raise a number of points for discussion and these are presented in the following sub-sections
Summary
The term Locative Media was introduced by Karlis Kalnins in 2003 [18] and since the growing popularity of GPS equipped smartphones and tablets has served to increase the opportunity for Locative Media Experiences (hereafter abbreviated to LMEs). In this article we describe the design and field-trial evaluation of the tools and mobile apps developed through the SHARC project in order to support the co-authoring and consumption of LMEs. The following scenario illustrates one way in which a visitor could interact with the WrayDisplay system in Wray and consume LMEs using the Android SMEP app (SHARC Mobile Experience Player) and, while consuming the LME, add her own multimedia responses, which can become part of the LME:.
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