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Interweaving place and story in a location-based audio drama

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Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study of an interactive audio drama facilitated by a location-based application. The investigation focuses on an accessible experience, a play in which the audience members simply trigger new scenes of the audio drama as they walk to predefined city areas. The findings draw attention to the role of the mobile technology in facilitating this particular artistic experience. Furthermore, they illustrate the various levels at which creative imagination and open interpretation emerge as audience members seek to make sense of the interrelations between the locative media experienced and elements of the places inhabited during the audio narrative. In concluding the article, designing for loose coupling between mobile media and physical places is suggested as a strategy to enable people’s engagement in meaningful experience through the use of various location-based services.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Rebecca Forsberg who facilitated our study of Maryam.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Borgarfjordsgatan 12, 164 07, Kista, Sweden

    Chiara Rossitto, Louise Barkhuus & Arvid Engström

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  1. Chiara Rossitto
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  2. Louise Barkhuus
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Correspondence to Chiara Rossitto.

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Rossitto, C., Barkhuus, L. & Engström, A. Interweaving place and story in a location-based audio drama. Pers Ubiquit Comput 20, 245–260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-016-0908-x

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