Magical Realism and Augmented Reality
Tom Schofield, Diego Trujillo Pisanty, Gabriella Arrigoni, K D Reynolds, Rachel Pattinson · 2019
We describe the development and implementation of a 7-month-long project which used a series of creative workshops designed in collaboration with a cultural institution and conducted with children to draw influences from magical realist literature into the development AR applications. The project culminated in the release of an AR app for Android and iOS platforms, Magical Reality. After describing the design and implementation of the research we discuss its findings as they support the two facets of our contribution to DIS: First, we assess our attempts to apply inspiration, derived from workshopping ideas from magical realist literature with children to the design of AR experiences, making recommendations for future design practice seeking to include comparable influences. Second, we consider the degree to which our workshops were successful in combining specialist knowledges from across the different departments of a cultural organization to answer sectoral challenges and describe both advantages and challenges for future collaborative work.