Visited London for Riverains at Illumini, attending on different days to focus on the user experience, in particular with the different versions available.
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| Riverains walk using QR codes at Illumini |
Riverains at Illumini, Shoreditch, 9-15 September 2010.
Report and survey by Jackie Calderwood, IOCT, De Montfort University
Introduction:
“Riverains creates a story trail along Old Street and Shoreditch High Street, accessible through the user’s mobile phones. It maps both the imaginary underground world of the Riverains and London’s history onto the urban landscape. Through text messaging, Augmented Reality, GPS location sensing and QR barcode code reading, participants can use their mobile phone to discover this hidden underground world, which will correspond to real locations in Shoreditch. Participants can hear the Riverains voices at 16 sites and fully experience these video narratives.”
- from Riverains Illumini handout
Secret Subterranean London is the third Illumini event, curated by Jane Webb, and located in the basement and of Shoreditch town Hall.
Over 50 artists/artist groups exhibited and performed during the week long festival which also included guided underground tours, artist talks and workshops.
Over 3300 people attended the opening evening, 6-10 on Thursday 9th September 2010, and 9 247 people in total visited Illumini during the whole event, which opened daily, 11-7 from Friday to Wednesday.
www.illuminievent.co.uk
Background Information:
Riverains at Illumini was designed to comprise four elements, offering interaction to users with varying levels of technical requirement (users are expected to provide their own mobile phone). The work builds on Riverains development by Martin Rieser for Manchester’s btween festival, extending it through collaboration with artists Ximena Alarcon (Sounding Underground), Kasia Molga (Mirror of Infinity) and technical development by Sean Clarke and Phil Jones (empedia by Cuttlefish Multimedia) and Gareth Howell (using layar).
The work was highlighted in the Shoreditch Town Hall basement throughout the Illumini festival as an installation with plasma screen and paper-based handouts. Martin Rieser gave a talk and workshop , accompanied by Ximena Alarcon, on Sunday 11th September, followed by two ‘guided walks’ in which participants were supported in using the QR version, and layar (for those with suitable phones), as they followed the trail along Old Street and Shoreditch High Street. Those without appropriate phones were able to share the experience using Martin Rieser’s i-phone during the walks.
Riverains was aimed at the broad spectrum Illumini audience. The guided walks targeted people with iphones and were promoted in the online ‘artist talks’ programme (first walk) and by word of mouth at Illumini (second walk). More people joined the walk whilst gathering at street level outside the venue.
Approach to evaluation:
The evaluation has focused on user experience, as part of preliminary research for my PhD, Pervasive Media and Holistic Experience of the Ambulant Landscape.
Methods used were: observation, video and photographic documentation, paper-based survey given to users at the end of the walk (also available by the installation within the Town hall and from event stewards), informal conversation and semi-structured interview. Questions for survey and interviews were designed based on my experience of creating, promoting, managing and evaluating comparable locative media artefacts and events.
The aim of the approach was to capture specific information regarding use e.g. device information, and a mix of quantitative and qualitative data for user experience. Open questions and prompts have been incorporated to encourage user reflection and individual response, allowing unanticipated patterns to emerge.
Approval for the PhD project has been received from the appropriate University Ethics committee. Participants were provided with information about the research, and asked for their agreement before using film/photographs.
Aim of evaluation:
To identify and highlight factors that may influence the user experience of pervasive media in an arts event (festival) context.
To compare user experience across a range of delivery platforms.
To gather data from users that may inform development of the language of user experience of pervasive media, and of an experiential matrix for consideration in creation of pervasive media artefacts.
Illumini festival:
Illumini was well promoted, with Riverains featuring online and drawing press interest.
The event was extremely well attended, with queues on opening night and a steady flow of people throughout the event. Feedback from visitors to the Illumini organisers was positive and extensive, receiving up to 1500 emails a day by the last day of the festival; selected comments are featured on the website: http://www.illuminievent.co.uk/illumini-2010/illumini2010-comments.htm
Riverains Workshop:
Martin Rieser and Ximena Alarcon gave a lunchtime talk about the development of Riverains. Although initially not well sign-posted within the labyrinth of the basement, the talk was well attended by approximately 45 people.
Web promotion listed Riverains and the Sunday lunchtime workshop/walk as an artist’s talk by Martin Rieser, but not easy to navigate. No information (that I could find) was available online about the technology to be used, or software that could be installed in preparation for the visit.
This meant that prospective users were dependent on the paper based information by the installation, which provided a brief outline of resources required/available. However, users required an active internet connection to download and install and use the available versions of layar-delivered and QR-triggered videos.
The Riverains-affiliated text version (Mirror of Infinity installation) was intended to offer users with low-spec phones a simple way to engage. (It does not require phones to have internet connection, gps, sound/image playback, or built-in camera).
However the installation, adapted to Shoreditch by Kasia Molga from her previous work, requires internet access to receive, process and display the live text responses. This was not reliably available in the basement area, despite addition of a 3G dongle. Consequently the installation just showed a video demo of pre-existing texts displayed traversing the screen on the routes of overhead stars. There was no live interaction, and when I followed the texting instructions on the final day I got no response.
The empedia version of Riverains for the app store, whilst already submitted, had not been approved and listed publicly by the start of the festival. It became available online shortly afterwards, and remains as an available experience, along with the Riverains Layar, for people to access at any time.
Walk 1:
This followed immediately from the 1pm talk by Martin Rieser, and was accompanied by Martin and Ximena. Approximately 12 people started the walk, using a mix of phones and sharing access to Martin’s i-phone. No participants had QR code readers or layar installed. They were all successfully supported to download appropriate QR readers. The walk followed the Riverains route to the South East, stopping at sites along the way to read pre-placed codes. The codes were displayed on small paper stickers alongside a text title and a photographic image relating to a nearby architectural feature. Reading the code (holding the phone with camera facing the code with the QR reader running) smoothly launched the Riverains website repository displaying a scrollable text about the site and an option to download and play video for the site (as MP4, WebM or OGG).
Walk 2:
This was held later in the afternoon after a period of promoting the walk by word of mouth within the exhibition venue.
Gathering as a group outside the venue, installing QR readers, gained attention from other people who joined the group. About 12 people started the walk, one of whom already had layar and a QR reader installed on his iphone.
This walk went west with less overall information, as more time was spent passing round Martin’s iphone for the group members without a suitable phone to experience the work.
Both walks were well-received and leisurely, with extra information about the histories and locations, as well as the technology, offered by Martin in response to interest. People were able to support eachother and take turns in playing the videos. Walkers were able to wander in and out of the group experience at their own pace. An enjoyable sunny autumn Sunday afternoon experience!
Survey:
5 forms were completed at the time by participants.
Although all participants readily agreed to take survey forms and return them to Illumini during the festival, unfortunately none were returned.
Collated survey results are attached separately. The result of these show the positive reception of Riverains, and the range of user experiences. It is particularly notable that there was very little technical difficulty – unusual for this kind of event – reflecting the successful accessibility of the QR code version and the essential support of the artists during set-up and throughout the walks.
Additional material:
Video, observation, and informal discussion highlighted the relaxed and comfortable ambience of most users during the walks. Participants were curious, interested and positive about the technology and the unfolding stories of the local area.
Interview:
A longer, semi-structured interview with one of the collaborating artists explores the contrast and impact of making work for locative media.
Learning Points and Recommendations:
· Guided walks proved effective to support users in initial set-up of devices (installing QR readers etc) and creating a welcoming atmosphere to encourage people to familiarize with the routes, technology and content triggers. Several people commented that they would then come back and try Riverains independently.
· Promotion of walks could be improved by introducing a pre-booking system, offering timetabled walks throughout the day, and by targeting specific groups for one-off walk events.
· Provide more detailed instructions for download, and highlight any versions that are not available – a potential frustration to people who may have followed the instructions and tried to find the empedia app (when not yet available) or who texted the Mirror of Infinity or used layar on a pre-model 4 iphone (Riverains layar seemed to have some problems with playback on iphone 3 during the first walk).
This was especially necessary as the most effective working Riverains version (QR reader) was last of the 4 listed on the instruction sheet.
· Provide a map for use with non-gps (text and QR) versions as it can be easy to miss the QR codes when first walking along the route. Although the Riverains repository contains a map, it is at the bottom of the information page, a long scroll down, and only available once a code has been successfully scanned!
· Install a QR code by the installation to encourage visitors to try this (if they already have a reader) in situ – it could be used to store a help page, or provide a map to the route before they leave the exhibition and may encourage more people to use the story trail, for example when walking back to the tube station. If, as in this case, internet access is restricted, explore the use of a wifi/bluetooth base station by the installation for downloading software and the initial information.
· Arrange more guided walks throughout the festival.
· Check QR stickers regularly throughout the festival – by the last morning at least 3 codes had been partially remover, paper torn, and QR code unreadable .
· Consider installing more robust codes – such as the laminated codes fixed inside shop windows for the recent QR tales of things architecture walk in the area.
· Set up a local wifi hub by the installation for people to download and install software and videos ready for playing back outside. That may encourage people with non-inclusive phone packages to participate, and make the outdoor experience smother?
Summary:
Illumini offered a busy focus to introduce a broad-spectrum public to the Riverains concept and the potential of locative media.
The work was well-received by those who took part in the guided walks, although it is hard to assess any interaction beyond those walks.
Now that three of the versions are available covering a range of phones, Riverains could easily be tested with special interest groups (art students, walking groups, local history, media, etc) or via further public events, which would give the opportunity to gather more detailed data on user experience.
[Survey results held separately]
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