Over the past decade, journalists have created in-depth interactive narratives to provide an alternative to the relentless 24-hour news cycle. Combining different media forms, such as text, audio, video, and data visualisation with the interactive possibilities of digital media, these narratives involve users in the narrative in new ways. In journalism studies, the convergence of different media forms in this manner has gained significant attention. However, interactivity as part of this form has been left underappreciated. In this study, we scrutinise how navigational structure, expressed as navigational cues, shapes user agency in their individual explorations of the narrative. By approaching interactive narratives as story spaces with unique interactive architectures, in this article, we reconstruct the architecture of five Dutch interactive narratives using the walkthrough method. We find that the extensiveness of the interactive architectures can be described on a continuum between closed and open navigational structures that predetermine and thus shape users’ trajectories in diverse ways.
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Physical Education (PE) is beneficial for students’ mental and physical health, however, teenagers are increasingly becoming less motivated to actively participate in the current form of PE. Motivational studies show that collective physical activity augmented by playful interactions could encourage more participation and social engagement in physical activities (PA). In this paper, we present a within-subject field study with 20 teenagers formed into five groups sized equally. The study is conducted using Shuttlezap, a prototype that provides realtime playful audio augmentation to the process of the activity. Results show that the teenagers enjoyed playful audio augmentation and were socially engaged with an enhancement of their perception of competence. By further comparing the conditions between with and without the audio augmentation, we found that the playful audio augmentation positively contributed to the playfulness in terms of perceived relaxation and expression. We conclude with design implications for social play in the context of PE for teenagers.
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In this study, we compared the impact of audio-, video-, and text-chat interaction on target language use during online learner-learner interaction and on learner affect amongst adolescent learners of German as a foreign language. Repeated measures and ANOVA analyses revealed a high percentage of target language output in all conditions for all four tasks, especially in text- chat. Audio-chatters produced the most output and used the most meaning negotiation, compensation strategies, self-repair and other-repair strategies. Learners in all conditions gained in enjoyment, willingness to communicate and self-efficacy. Anxiety reduced for text-chatters. Task effects partly determined the quantity of L2 output, while condition effects determined meaning-oriented and form-focused processing.
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This project aims to enhance museum experiences through value-driven design of a personalized, interactive AI-powered guide providing tailored information in real-time. Museums often rely on human guides for detailed content, but these services are typically limited to group tours. Audio guides are the common alternative for individual visitors, but they deliver standardized content that doesn't adapt to personal interests, creating a gap in the visitor experience. Additionally, creating content for traditional audio guides is expensive for museums to develop and maintain. Research shows that museum visitors increasingly desire more control over how they interact with exhibits, preferring information that aligns with their personal interests rather than generalized content. Simultaneously, museums are eager to meet this demand by offering more personalized engagement, making visitor experiences more relevant and impactful. In collaboration with Stedelijk Museum Breda and Brabant Cloud, creative professionals will co-design an app that acts as a personal digital guide, adapting its responses to each visitor's preferences. The app will use the museum's existing digital collection infrastructure to deliver customized interaction better connected to visitors' needs, interests, and linguistic abilities. The design approach emphasizes inclusivity and non-discrimination, ensuring accessible experiences for diverse audiences while aligning with the museum's educational objectives. We will test the app at Stedelijk Museum Breda, gathering feedback from three visitor groups and comparing experiences between (1) those using the AI-powered app, (2) those not using the app, and (3) those with a human guide. We anticipate that this creative industries solution will facilitate more engaging and customized experiences while providing a scalable model that could benefit other cultural institutions through Brabant Cloud's regional network.
Create and test the effect of different audio and movement interactions on virtual museum experiencesA virtual museum was created in order to conduct research, specifically designed for the Samsung Gear VR. In the virtual environment there are interactive compositions the user can hear, and react to while seeing a virtual reality exposition of stunning Japanese paintings. The objective of the latest study was to find whether differences in audio (i.e., interactive or non‐interactive) and movement types (i.e., fixed or free) had an impact on the experience of presence for the user in a virtual environment that represents a museum. The audio variable is composed by and is researched on behalf of Musica Nova, a company that produces music for new forms of media. The results of this component illustrated that interactive music increases feelings of engagement and presence. As to the movement types in a virtual museum, users indicated that free movement caused for a more engaging virtual environment. The research was extended for research on different paintings (e.g. VanGogh).
