StreetArt Scene ::: Amsterdam
Introduction and Concept
Graffiti has stood the test of time in the ruins of Pompeii, the caves at Lascaux, and the tags by Lewis and Clark exploring the Northwest Passage. Throughout history graffiti’s purpose was storytelling, advertising, a mark that someone on a journey had passed by or marked territory or dominion over a geographic area, and for others, it may be an artistic expression giving voice to counter cultural ideas. Graffiti or Street Art is part of the fabric of many cities, a free gallery of expression to be explored. With 7Scenes Storytelling Mobile platform, the art and it’s meaning and the talented artists no longer need to be anonymous (at least for the legal street art!)
Street art is any art developed in public spaces, that is ‘in the streets.’ In Amsterdam there’s an active street art movement and we want to help artists convey their message further than just the local area. This only applies to artists that want exposure, because there are many artists that do street art in illegal places or in places where it is not allowed to do so.
Here’s an example of a few artists where they perform street art legally:
We want to develop an application so that street artists can promote their work and people who like ‘street art’ know where to locate it. Once the artist creates a piece on the street, he or she can add a geotag on it with a short story so that the user knows where it is and what it is about. This way fans can take pictures of a piece made by their favourite street artist.
Here’s an example of how it turned out:
Street Art Scene ::: Amsterdam is an interactive experience using the 7Scenes platform targeted to the 1) general public and 2) students in middle and high school as part of a place-based education opportunity.
Our target group consists of people that use smart phones and like to discover new street art pieces in big cities. We will focus on the 18 and 30 year old demographic as they are the most active in this scene. This application will serve consumers who try to track down street art pieces, artists, and educators looking for relevant ways to reach a young audience.
Artists that want to promote themselves to the public can use this application to let other users know the location of their next piece. Fans can follow the work of the artist around the city and the artist can announce a new work and possibly meet meet with his fans. Naturally this only applies if the piece is placed on a legal spot in the city.
Rules & Gameplay
Augmented reality in this context is the use of technology to interactively create an added layer of information (the artist’s story) or instructions at a specific geographic location in the environs of Amsterdam. StreetArt Scene:::Amsterdam is an interactive tour, for two target audiences; the general public and middle and high school students. Using a GPS-enabled smartphone, the visitor would download the 7Scenes application via the Internet and browse to find the tour. Instructions would pop up on the phone’s screen and greet the visitor with how to use the app and it’s features. The objective of the game is for the player to visit various street art exhibits, do the challenges, and collect virtual stamps of each Street Art Scene on the virtual passport. Fashioned after a scavenger hunt/ sightseeing theme, the challenges may include a variety of activities.
For the general population, the possible gameplay/activities would include:
1) People that are looking for exquisite street art pieces will do themselves good by using Street Art Scene, not only does it provide information and content, but it let’s you know where the artist will be (this is the artist’s choice) in the near future. For people that have a collection of street art (pictures, stencils, stickers etc etc) will be able to collect them easier.
2) This game depends on the willingness of the artists. The people playing this game would be hunting for small street art pieces that are made by different artists. With a few clues and a good know how of the city, people will be hunting for the pieces. The only winners are the people that have collected a piece at the end of the day.
3) There is always a moment where you think you’ll want to have the best of both. With this game the purpose is to find or discover the most awesome tags and art pieces that will make up your name. For example: The name is Mario so the goal is to find tags and art pieces that consist of the letters M A R I O and with that I can create my own name in the app. With Augmented Reality you could even do as if you where actually making it in the streets.
For educators, the possible gameplay/activities would include:
1) Students locate a mural that they would like visit and proceed to the art, or they see the art and want to locate more information using the 7Scenes app.
2) The student can take a picture of the street art and post it to their favorite social network page, for example Facebook. The advantage is that they promote the artists and get other kids interested in street art and its interpretation. Alternatively, a website could be set up for students to upload their pictures so that they could use them to create other multimedia projects in a classroom or homework activity. This idea is somewhat like Scratch (MIT educational site) where the student’s interest is harnessed through their interest in creating a mash up of images, sounds, and animation in a multimedia project hosted by the site. Research shows when kids create and display their work via the Internet, the quality and intensity of purpose increases. This activity could be combined with Virtual Stamps in a Virtual Passport to show where they have visited art in the city.
3) If the Point of Interest (street art mural) has accompanying content uploaded by the artist, the student can engage in the content (video, text, audio) while experiencing the art in the location. Depending on the content of the mural and the story told by the artist, the teacher can create activities accordingly. For example, if a street art mural depicts a political theme, the teacher can explore those themes asking the student to learn more about that particular political theme using Internet sources and then co-constructing a blogpost with others to help them interpret the art. This assumes the functionality of 7Scenes allows the teacher to author prompts. This activity promotes the development of 21st century skills.
4) A matching game could be created where an audio file describing the meaning of a mural is played. The student is directed to visit three murals and decide which one is being described by that audio file.
5) A polling game could be constructed where students rate the art and the ratings populate Facebook, thus promoting the art to a larger audience.
6) If there is no upload of content by an artist, an activity could be created to allow the student to create their own multimedia interpretation and tag it to the geotag for that mural. Others visiting the mural could chose from these “posts” to hear how others view the art. The student could then use audio, video, or other visual media to express their point of view and share it out.
1) Pictures of the street art uploaded at first by the developer of the app until the concept takes hold and the general public begins adding content.
2) Audio, video, and text files telling the story of the art.
3) Text prompts and graphics for the matching game.
4) Text prompts and graphics for the polling game.
5) Text and graphics for a sample activity created by a teacher.
6) A sample multi-media project from a student.
Research to Support the Approach for the Student Target Audience
Meaningfully teaching groups of kids outdoors in a city environment can be challenging. Kids often make quick observations of a point of interest and they are off to the next location. Usually the adults accompanying them have little knowledge about the exhibit. Using a ubiquitous-learning (u-learning) scheme can provide content on demand and at the precise location where it is most relevant and in context. Engaging visitors to build a deeper rather than superficial understanding through engagement is the central goal of using AR technology. Intentionally engaged learning design results in higher levels of learner attention and on-task behavior (Bulger, Mayer and Alemeroth, 2006 as cited in Brill, J. & Park, Y., 2008). Indicators of engagement may be grouped into three domains: 1) the cognitive domain exhibited by knowledge construction and student self-regulation; 2) the emotional domain exhibited by feeling curious and secure to explore; and 3) the social domain exhibited by resource sharing and collaboration (Wang and Kang, 2006 as cited in Brill, J. & Park, Y., 2008). Correlation of the technology to the design of the proposed media to each of these domains of engagement follows.
Field research and the ability to call up pertinent information on location foster a cascading of curiosity where an observation leads to a question that may be answered immediately. This instant gratification learning mirrors the communication environment outside of school where students are constantly connected to information and their communities and facilitates a continuation of curiosity. The ability to explore in the physical environment with virtual supports and communities enables the student to deepen their learning.
Building on the ability to emotionally engage the student, the technology allows them to document and share their experience with others by taking pictures, “checking in” and texting others (Brill, J. & Park, Y., 2008). Balancing the eyes on the device with the eyes on the environment is important. Design of the activity should focus attention on the outdoor environment and augment rather than replace it. However, according to studies conducted by Wagler and Matthews, “ students pay close attention to details as they take photos, use phone calls and e-mails to collaborate in place-based investigations, conduct “just in time” Web searches while doing field research, eagerly participating in augmented reality simulations, and use documents captured with mobile media for extended investigations and media productions” (Matthews, J., Wagler, M., 2009).
The Street Art Scene scrapbook concept introduced earlier leverages this behavior. The concept is to document the experience at the park and upload it to a web site hosted by the a participating arts organization. After the visit to the Street Art Scenes, the visitor could edit and amend their own photos and/or video or borrow from other visitor’s postings, to create a mash-up of the experience. Tools to intuitively and easily create a multimedia production would be resident on the site. Once the product is complete, the visitor could post it to Facebook, tweet about it, e-mail it or download it. Over one-third of all teens on the Internet share content with others and are actively involved in a participatory culture. The potential benefits of this participation and creation include; peer-to-peer learning, a changed attitude toward intellectual property, the diversity of cultural expression, the development of skills valued in the modern workplace, and a more empowered conception of citizenship” (Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., Robison, A., 2009).
Augmented reality systems for the formal academic study are not a new concept. Using older handheld technologies, Eric Klopfer and a team at MIT developed a system called MITAR to create and play AR games that demonstrated improvement in learning (Klopfer, E., inpress). The MITAR platform is being tested in a number of schools, a zoological and a botanical garden. Data is being gathered to help the product evolve and continue to improve teaching effectiveness in science education. In Taiwan, a group of researchers created an augmented reality system for natural science learning at the Guanda Nature Park with a group of teachers and their elementary students. Analytic results revealed that the system improved learning and received positive feedback for the teachers and students (Liu, T., Tan, T., Chu, Y., 2009).
Using new technologies requires re-thinking of the pedagogy. Content and methods of teaching may not transfer effectively to a new platform. New affordances of the technology need to be integrated into the pedagogy. Studies addressing the type of pedagogical frameworks used in augmented reality experiences are emerging. A study conducted by researchers in China, who applied the 5E Learning Cycle, found that use of a hands-on inquiry process enhanced not only the students’ understanding but also shifted the students’ understanding, resulting in a conceptual change (Liu, T., Peng, H., Wu, W., Lin, M., 2009).
AR technology only facilitates engagement; placed-based learning is the central component to the achievement of increasing cognitive engagement in these studies. To learn in context is to experience and breath in the lesson. Placed-based learning “emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, … increases academic achievement, helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances students’ appreciation for the natural world and creates a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens” (Sobel, 2010). The combination of technology in context to create ubiquitous learning deepens the experience and solidifies learning.
With new developments in technology come new opportunities – opportunities to entertain and to educate. Though AR is an emerging set of technologies for place-based instruction, initial studies show promise for increasing engagement and the ability to educate. Though further study of best practices and pedagogies for AR is recommended, this proposal envisions immersion by students in the fabric of the city. By combining mobile and Web 2.0 technologies, educators can leverage ubiquitous learning for the tech savvy millennial generation of students.
 A participatory culture in this context is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement and strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations (Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., Robison, A., 2009).
For our first idea that grew to be our concept, I used a mindmap. This helps me generate alot of ideas. After I did that I began to converge and ultimately I stumbled upon Street Art in Amsterdam.
The path I choose to propose to my team:
20th of August we had a team meeting that answered a few questions we had about our concept but it also raised a few more.
Here’s a snapshot of the conversation:
We decided to use Google docs as a platform to create our document. Because we both can work on the same document at the same time.
Team 3 consists of two members, Cherie Mazer and Mario Elgazzar.
Cherie Mazer most recently completed a Master’s of Education at Harvard University in the Technology, Innovation, and Education Program where she had the chance to work with Dr. Chris Dede, Harvard University expert in emerging technologies for education and Dr. Eric Klopfer’s team at the MIT Media Lab envisioning applications in education for mobile technologies. Working at Harvard University in a Technology Design class, Cherie and a team of students developed a mobile application, Campus Quest, to bring to life the rich stories of a University’s history and it’s luminaries. Currently enrolled as an Ed.D. student at the University of Central Florida, Cherie continues to investigate forward-thinking and effective methods to educate people using mobile devices.
Mario Elgazzar studies at The University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. The course he’s currently doing is called Interactive Media. Mario has worked in dozens of project to reconstruct the interaction in products, the design of websites or to come up with new products for the client. Interactive Media covers a wide area of the media industry and this is why Mario has a wide knowledge base.
7scenes (2010). Retrieved from http://7scenes.com/blog?page=0%2C0%2C1
Brill, J. Park, Y. (2008). Facilitating engaged learning in the interaction age taking an pedagogically-disciplined approach to innovation with emergent technologies. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Volume 20, 1, 70–78, I SSN 1812–9129. Retrieved from a http://www.isetel.org/ijtlhe/
Klopfer, E., Coulter, R., Perry, J. and Sheldon, J. “Discovering Familiar Places: Learning through Mobile Place-Based Games”. In Press for S. Barab, K. Squire and C. Steinkuehler. Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Leading in the Digital Age. Cambridge University Press
Liu, T., Peng, H., Wu, W. Lin, M. ( 2009). The effects of mobile natural science learning based on 5E learning cycle: a case study. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (4), 344–358.
Liu, T., Tan, T., Chu, Y. ( 2009). Outdoor natural science learning with an RFID-supported immersive ubiquitous learning environment. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (f4), 161–175.
Matthews, J. Wagler, M. (2009). Getting places using mobile media to augment place-based learning. Connect, September/October, p. 22.
Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., Robison, A. ( 2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the 21st century. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Shuler, C. (2009). Pockets of potential: using mobile technologies to promote children’s learning. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Retrieved from http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/upload_kits/pockets_of_potential_1_.pdf
Shuler, C., Chiong, C. (2010). Learning: Is there an app for that?; Investigations of young children’s usage and learning with mobile devices and apps.. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Retrieved from http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/Reports-27.html\
Smith, G. Sobel, D. (2010). Place and community-based education definitions and antecedents. In Place and community-based education in schools. New York, NY: Routledge.