Project: StoryTime
Purpose: Submission to the OzCHI 2009 24-hour student design competition
Team: Lorelei Kelly | Susan Coleman Morse | Sarah Reeder | Xuan Wang
Duration: 24 hours
Completed: September 2009
Methods: personas, interviews, bodystorming
Poster [PDF]
Paper [ACM digital library]

The text accompanying our video submission:

To address the requirements of the OZCHI challenge, Team Haciendo designed a system through which visitors can experience Melbourne from the perspective of the people, over the course of time, in a tangible manifestation. We were inspired by research in the areas of space and place [1], psychogeography [2], and participatory mapping, which affords the opportunity for "input from an entire community in an open and inclusive process [3]."

Our goal was to enrich the experience of pedestrians by allowing them to visit a place in Melbourne from the perspective of a different time. Our vision for the future of cartography is one of collaborative, participatory, context aware surprising experiences. Our concepts explored tools to access a specific type of location-based data, part of which can be a recorded personal history. Such stories may include multiple forms of media, allowing for participation of people with diverse abilities. Strategies of persona and scenario generation, as well as brainstorming, sketching, role playing, prototyping and iterating were employed to conceptualize potential artifact designs. Mock ups and physical prototypes were presented to students in fields of design and technology and feedback considered for proposed concept and creation of appearance prototypes.

Our solution is a combination of Story Sharing and Story Experiencing within a system that collects, stores, and provides devices with access to geospatial data. Other benefits include promotion of walking for health and environmental and personal growth through experience and reflection. Future design considerations will need to address issues such as trust levels, privacy and moderation of contributions.

[1] Harrison, S. and Dourish, P. 1996. Re-place-ing space: the roles of place and space in collaborative systems. In proceedings of the 1996 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (Boston, Massachusetts, United States, November 16 - 20, 1996). M. S. Ackerman, Ed. CSCW '96. ACM, New York, NY, 67-76.

[2] Debord, G. (1955). Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography. Les Levres Nues Translated by Ken Knabb, 23-27.

[3] Good Practices in Participatory Mapping. International Fund for Agricultural Development. 2009. Retrieved Sept 12, 2009 from http://www.ifad.org/pub/map/PM_web.pdf