Virtual Creativity - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2018

Memorial Museums are prominent examples of politically driven spaces that are based on narratives and experiences. Construction of such spaces requires sizable funding typically not available for under-resourced people in contemporary political conflicts. This research investigates the potential of using immersive and interactive installations to communicate complex political narratives experientially and spatially. The occupation of Palestine is a key example of a current complex political situation that has globally emerging counter-narratives. The main objective of this research was to create a prototype of an interactive multi-channel installation that conveys Palestinian narratives and spatial experiences of occupation and apartheid. This approach is a nascent exploration of combining concepts from the Design Activism discipline with approaches of the New Museology discipline using interactive and digital media. The decision was to create a mixed-media virtual environment installation, which consists of an interactive virtual environment and video projections. The Unity game engine was used to create the virtual environment that served as the main navigational interface. The Leap Motion, which is an infrared sensor, was used as the input device for the interaction. Wall projections as the output channels were synchronized to create immersion and build on the spatial experience. The videos projected were edited from footage sourced from the Internet. Key experts from different disciplines related to the research were invited to test the prototype. Their interaction and feedback were documented. The test group critically discussed key points, for example, the use of the virtual environment, the usability of the Leap Motion, the presentation of information and the aesthetics of the interface. The documentation of the process of designing and testing a politically motivated mixed-media virtual environment has produced an important discussion about related themes and resulted in a set of design considerations for this type of activist project. This discussion can lead to further development of this particular project and can be used as recommendation models for communicating other contested political narratives, especially for misrepresented or under-resourced people.

Locative gaming dates back to the early 2000s, and with the success of Ingress (2012) and Pokémon GO (2016), locative games have now entered the mainstream in a very serious way. However, while the genre holds considerable promise for cultural heritage, it has yet to make a real impact for this purpose. A particular challenge is to reconcile the two apparently conflicting concerns of ensuring immersion into the experience without compromising the audience’s sense of presence in the physical space. For example, Ingress and Pokémon GO offer excellent immersion in the gameplay but at the cost of near-total loss of the player’s sense of presence in the physical environment, even to the extent that accidents occur. For cultural heritage, presence is not only about safety but also about the audience experiencing the site and not only the digital content. In this article, we argue that for locative games to be successful for cultural heritage, they must bridge the design tension between offering immersion and presence. We use two of our own titles to shed light on the design concerns and show how careful use of locative game mechanics and narrative techniques can help reconcile these two design pressures and create a new type of engagement with cultural heritage.

To achieve sense of presence (SOP), 1920s Bauhaus scenography is presented as a design inspiration for the development of expansive virtual environments (VE) in virtual reality (VR). The discipline’s dramaturgs and scenographers conceived and constructed a series of stages and theatres to facilitate a more present and immersed experience for their audience. This aligns with the current efforts of VR designers and developers to create immersive VE’s that contribute towards a deeper SOP. For the Bauhaus this was the notion of Raumempfindung, space that could be felt by both the audience and the performer. This was achieved by creating mechanical, geometric stages with optical scenery. These were part of the Bauhaus belief in a theatre of totality: instead of dialogue, a combination of stage elements could give rise to dramatic action. In VR, this composition of elements can facilitate a sense of embodied presence for the user. Summarily, these elements were space, form, colour, sound, motion and the human actors. These were mapped to four supra-categories for VR: topology, tone, external scenography and movement. This language informed the design of ARES, a room-scale VR experience. A user study assessed the humanistic approach. Results indicated that the Bauhaus-inspired approach benefited VE design deliberations and resulted in an experience with a high SOP.

Both drones and 360-degree video (VR 360) have been attractive topics for the past decade. 360-degree videos hit Internet fame as soon as YouTube and Facebook started to adopt them into their ecosystem, which made users familiar with and intrigued by these techniques. This definitely made the camera industry race to democratize 360-degree cameras, and now we are graced with affordable, out-of-the-box 360 cameras from Samsung, Ricoh, and Garmin, to Nikon. The company DJI has been the leading drone manufacturer since their first quadcopter captivated our imagination and love of playing with remote control toys in our young age. With this same adventurous and imaginative mindset, we embarked on combining the two technologies: 360-degree cameras and aerial drones. In this article we present the development of an approach to an aerial virtual reality 360 video capture technique. We retrofitted a drone with a 360 spherical panorama camera for acquiring source aerial visual content. Our case study, as described in this article, reproduces an experiment using a 360-fly-by video for the intended use of an event launching in which user perception was being observed in terms of practicality and suitability. A user study was conducted to gauge the usability of comparing aerial VR360 being experienced on hand-held multimedia tablets and head-mount-devices (HMD). We also describe the proposed configuration and workflow of aerial 360-video and identify its potential capabilities and limitations, a user evaluation study and directions for future work. In the discussion section, we share how this setup can affect the decisions of the producer, director or the director photography in achieving the creative shot that they aim to produce.

Digital domains render possible new forms of narrative creativity. This article explores to what extent it is practicable to inform the invention of new storytelling techniques in location-based media, such as augmented reality (AR). When carrying out research and development with explorative storytelling in indirect AR one often encounters a recurring problem. When digitally reconstructing and displaying sequences of historical events in situ, a paradox tends to emerge. While the linear sequence of actions and events might often benefit from in-depth information on historical contexts of various sorts, the moment the user embarks on a contextual digression to seek a better understanding, the sequence itself is abandoned and/or fragmented. This is a type of conflict where the designer must make difficult choices to provide a prolific story experience. How may we best combine and balance sequence and access, storytelling and in-depth exploration to the benefit of rich locative perceptions and adventures? In the following article we consult narrative theory to find a design and implement the solution in three different simulations of on-site historical events. These are selected from antiquity and the Second World War. We discuss the challenges and elucidations so far, as well as feedback from visitors testing the situated simulation AR applications on location.

Wearable technologies are a nascent market, growing exponentially and moving into our everyday lives more and more. They are exciting in their capacity to break down barriers between artists and designers and digital technology companies. Technology is becoming more efficient, accurate, and personalized. Hardware is becoming smaller, less visible, more connected and the collected data more seamless and ubiquitous. At the core of the wearable technology concerns is the amount of data that electronics companies are allowed to collect, in particular of their users’ personal data. Numerous technology companies and start-ups are working to make the next wearable device or application for body data tracking. This article provides a first critical analysis of the selection and monitoring processes used in these Open Calls and reports on initial work of the WEAR Sustain network, which for eighteen months has operated as a Pan-European catalyst for 46 projects in wearable technology design and development to the point of market and investment readiness, and discussing next steps for its Sustainability Toolkit for lasting impact.

This article, which also represents a form of artwork, approaches the idea of appropriation of digital visualization, used as a virtual and augmented reality tool, in the context of contemporary art. This is an attempt to address the level of contextualization implemented when applying the technology within artistic discourse. The artwork is an ongoing project, a performance within the context of contemporary, digital and new media art. Although it is not necessary, or more precisely, it is not possible to set the goals when being involved in the artistic process, some outcomes might be observed when this project evolves. The artwork speculates about visualization in relation to a creative situation when there is no mental activity to be recorded, e.g. during meditation; then, what can the technology visualize with its instruments?

VSMM 2017, Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland, 31 October–2 November, 2017