In 2024 Xinyi Dong did an Internship at the Amsterdam Time Machine to explore user engagement around and information provision for AR Tourist applications. She especially looked into the options for using indoor applications for situated learning outdoor and for more creative use of photos to enhance engagement with the public.
I am Xinyi Dong, a final-year honours student studying Media and Culture (Film). My research at the ATM revolves around the vision and user experience of location-based augmented reality (AR) tourist applications.
I have noticed that previous research has mainly dived into the quantity and quality of information and user engagement. The quantity and quality of information is a significant issue that most AR applications have to tackle. With the widening collaboration between the government and GLAM sectors, the quantity of information should be sufficient. Therefore, it is more important to focus on developing narrative strategies to avoid overloading the users with information and provide them with an entertaining experience.
Users should also be informed about the choices made in filtering information and encouraged to reflect on it critically. Regarding user experience, gamification, especially through treasure hunt games, is widely used in tourist applications to improve user engagement but is mainly limited to indoor areas like museums, which leads to a reexamination of the roles indoor and outdoor spaces play in the public engagement of knowledge.
Making delicate objects in display touchable through 3D modelling has been what most applications have achieved. However, it is worth noticing that photography, the major source for building 3D models, has yet to be used widely in developing other functions to boost user engagement, and most relevant articles concentrate purely on the technical aspects of incorporating photos into 3D models. Consequently, my suggestions for further research are to look into 1) how it is possible to apply methods used in indoor applications to be situated learning outdoors; and 2) to be more creative on the use of photography in improving engagement.
My being able to start from scratch in the field, despite not being easy initially, reflects its interdisciplinary nature. I was worried about my lack of technical background, but it turned out that anyone should be able to find an angle to cut in that relates to their home discipline. As a media scholar, I found a way to narrow down my research by looking into media and communication professor Gunnar Liestøls Situated Simulation (Sitsim) Lab, which explores a humanities informed method into application design and its relationship with the practical use of applications. Another unique experience working in an interdisciplinary or relatively new field is that I need to spend more time trying different keywords. Sometimes, several words might mean similar but slightly different things; sometimes, different fields use different keywords to describe similar things. For instance, ‘photogrammetry’ is widely used in computer science journal articles, while ‘rephotography’ is more likely to be used in articles related to tourist engagement.
As digital humanities is heavily project-based, I found starting from project websites helpful. I would not have to read the introduction to the project every time as I know that they are referring to the same – some websites even display demonstration videos. However, I noticed that it is common for university research institutes to list publications on their project website, which is not the case for GLAM sectors, as their end goal is to benefit the public instead of aiding future research.
Reading articles on projects is also more helpful than purely reading the website or using the application because it provides an angle, especially when my literature review is not only about projects themselves but also how researchers study those projects. It is also essential to pay close attention to the article publication dates since the later articles should have covered issues discussed in earlier articles on the same project and given a more organised overview instead of testing on different things with a less clear direction.
I am so grateful to Dr. Janna Aerts, Mr. Boudewijn Koopmans and Prof. dr. Julia Noordegraaf for their kind guidance! My time at the ATM has been challenging yet fun and rewarding, which deepened my interest in pursuing a career in academic research. I feel proud to have contributed to the practical application of media objects that can benefit people’s everyday lives with a purely theoretical approach. It is a fresh experience, as we tend to work more on the philosophical aspects in my field, which I also enjoy.
Photo Credits: Banner of Sitsim Lab at sitsim.no
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