Genius Loci and Cultural Heritage

One of the main challenges of cultural heritage is to enhance the visit to ancient ruins, in which what remains is difficult to interpret. For this reason, the authors designed an alternate reality game by making use of tangible devices to improve the experience of wandering around the ruins of Egnatia (Fasano, Brindisi, Italy). They tried to evoke the “Genius Loci,” the sacral spirit of a territory, that is analysed according to its dimensions in the field of human-computer interaction. Those dimensions are enchantment, ambiguity, bodily experience, topology of the place, the dialogue between the past and the present, and the perceptual gestalt.

Invisible Belfast: Flat ontologies and remediation of the post-conflict city

[in]visible belfast was a research-driven indie alternate reality game (ARG) that ran for 6 weeks during the spring of 2011 in Belfast and was subsequently adapted, 5 years later into a fictional documentary for BBC Radio 4. The ARG is a participatory and dispersed narrative, which the audience play through. The text expands outward across both physical and digital platforms to create a mystery for the players using everyday platforms. The ARG is a product of media convergence and at its heart transmedial, defined by its complexity and modes of participation. The fictional radio documentary which remediated the ARG into a more simple linear structure, but possibly a more complex narrative form, retells parts of the story for new audiences. The premise of [in]visible belfast – the game and later the documentary – is itself an adaptation of writer Ciaran Carson’s novel The Star Factory (1997): a postmodern adventure through the complex psychogeography of Belfast. A trail through the labyrinthine text, which paints the history of Belfast in poetic prose. This article will map the concept’s journey from novel to game to radio, contextualising its development within its political and urban landscape and charting the remediation of the narratives as they fold out across multiple media and complex story arches. The article will draw together ideas from previous publications on ARG, transmediality and complex textualities from the authors and reflect on the textual trajectories that the remediation of the narrative has taken from the original book, through the ARG, into the radio documentary. Building upon recent approaches from environmental philosopher Tim Morton and games theorist Ian Bogost, the authors argue that Belfast’s history propels medial adaptations of a particular kind, characterised by a ‘flat’ ontology of space and time and a sort of diffuse and dark urban experience for designers/producers and players/listeners.

Juego de realidad alternativa para las matemáticas en educación superior desde la percepción estudiantil de las prácticas de enseñanza

Este artículo presenta el resultado de una investigación sobre las percepciones y preferencias que tienen los estudiantes de primer semestre de los programas tecnológicos de las facultades de Ingeniería y Ciencias Empresariales de la Institución Universitaria Antonio José Camacho (UNIAJC) sobre las estrategias de enseñanza de las matemáticas utilizadas por los profesores en los cursos de Matemáticas 1. El objetivo de la indagación corresponde a la iniciativa pedagógica al desarrollo de un Juego de Realidad Alternativa (Alternate Reality Game o ARG) que permita favorecer el aprendizaje de las matemáticas de una forma lúdica y poco convencional. Para el desarrollo del ARG y adaptabilidad al contexto educativo, se indagó en los estudiantes sus gustos literarios, cinematográficos, videojuegos y problemáticas sociales de mayor importancia y, de los cuales, están estrechamente relacionados a su contexto. Los resultados arrojados de las variables mencionadas anteriormente permitieron elaborar una primera estructura narrativa del ARG.

Using an alternate reality game to facilitate student engagement during orientation

An alternate reality game was designed to facilitate transition and engagement amongst students commencing a tertiary preparation program at a regional university in Australia. The design of the game was informed by a student engagement framework which proposes four psychosocial constructs which mediate engagement at the intersection between student and institutional influences: self-efficacy, belonging, well-being, and emotion. The 108 participants completed a survey which measured these constructs prior to the commencement of the game. Game players (n = 13) were surveyed again immediately after the game. The results of statistical analysis indicated that game players reported a greater sense of well-being and more positive emotions than the group surveyed before the game.