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A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative
technologies in electronic stories for children
Douglas Menegazzi1[0000-0001-7449-7708] and Laryssa Tarachucky2[0000-0003-2073-4151]
1 Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil
douglas.menegazzi@ufsc.br
2 Federal Institute of Santa Catarina (IFSC), Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil
laryssa.tarachucky@gmail.com
Abstract. In recent years, mobile devices have become popular as recreational
and educational media in the daily family lives, and it is increasingly
common for children to have their first contact with literature through
electronic books. In a context wherein locative stories are pointed out as an
emerging scenario for children’s digital literature, this research explores
ways, opportunities and concerns to integrate location-based technologies
into electronic stories for children. For this purpose, we have conducted a
multicase study on pioneering apps that exemplify different ways of
combining stories and locative technologies in mobile devices. Drawing on
these cases, we identify a group of aspects to be considered to the design
process when developing such artifacts. It includes main goals for the project,
recommendations and concerns related to the meaningful impact on children,
the urban space and the narrative, recommendations for setting up the project
team, for the data collection process, as well as ways to integrate locative
technologies into children’s electronic stories.
Keywords: Location-Based Media, Children's Digital Books, Digital
Storytelling.
1. Introduction
Since the 2000s, the popularization of electronic devices and the ubiquity of mobile phone
networks have generated profound changes in the routines and structures of families, having
especially affected children’s learning and leisure experience [1]. Yet the use of electronic
media had initially been restricted to indoor spaces, mobile technologies has allowed it to
migrate, at least partially, to urban public spaces [2, 3].
Consumption of digital content, especially storybooks for mobile devices, has been
claimed as a new opportunity for children to develop literacy and literacy skills in the 21st
century [4]. However, prior studies suggest that reading books in mobile devices increases
dependence upon technology, jeopardizes children’s connection with the social world,
stimulates antisocial behavior, and/or eliminates their bonding with family members, which
is a process characteristic of reading activity throughout childhood [5]. With these concerns
in mind, we assume that the convergence between location-based technologies and
children’s electronic stories can pave the way for stories that stimulate a dynamic presence
Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . . 1
in the urban space, promoting a literary activity that connects children with the social world
and demands active parental participation.
This article brings initial results from a multicase study developed by the Children's
Books Going Mobile (CBGM) research project, a broader study that adopts a research-
through-design approach [6] to implement mobile and locative technologies in children’s
digital books. Developed as an interinstitutional and interdisciplinary action carried out by
researchers in the field of Urban Media, from the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina
(IFSC), and Design, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, the project involves
technology and cultural heritage in an underexplored context, that of childhood.
2. Establishing a Starting Point
Currently, children’s literature tends to be completely created and executed in computer
systems and is under direct influence of other contemporary cultural formats. The genre is
merging more and more with technological resources of electronic games, and is
incorporating new narrative arrangements and aesthetic formats of expression from new
mobile media [7, 8]. Since children are increasingly having first contact with literature
through applications, story apps have been regarded as exponents of children’s digital
books [8, 9]. However, people commonly mistake them for digital games or animated films,
as they are located on the border, as “hybrid texts” [8, 9].
Children’s books have structural elements that are different from that of electronic
games and other digital products, regardless of whether they share similar aesthetic
proposals and learning mechanisms or not [10]. Electronic stories can use gamified
mechanisms as resources subordinate to literary narratives, unlike games [11]. According to
Ramada Prieto [10], the following four properties are the main ones that define digital
literature for children and differentiate it from other fictional digital narratives products: i)
virtual reality as materialization of the narrative; ii) multimodality at the service of literary
expression; iii) cybertext as an interactive channel with the reader; and iv) the rupture of
discursive and structural linearity of the literary narrative. The author posits that these
properties provide the reader with a new experience: an emotionally, temporally and
spatially immersion in the narrative.
The experience of spatial immersion concerns the innate textual geography of fiction –
when the reader is able to project themself to the stages and scenarios where the story takes
place [12]. This chronotope effect is intensified by the multimodal expression of electronic
stories when they favor a cognitive-spatial shift from the reader to the fields of fiction and
promote spatial immersion. Ramada Prieto [10:350] explains that it depends on three
factors. First, an organic textual navigation system above the intermediation interfaces that
allows the child to interact with the story and move forward through natural gestures and
movements in space. This is often associated with the use of peripheral technologies or
devices that have more “transparent” interfaces (e.g. virtual reality headsets, virtual and
augmented reality features). Second, a multimodal design aimed at constructing space and
the immersive process. This design is related to the set of choices made for the synesthetic
creation of the spaces where the narrative scenes occur. At last, the chronotope effect
depends on a coherent cybertext structure that allow the contents of the story to be
adequately accessed in the immersive flow, so that they are compatible with multimodality.
This structure is meant to intensify a multisensory environment that is congruent with the
2 Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . .
understanding of the story, materializing a habitable universe for both characters and
readers.
In the context of children’s digital literature, locative technologies provide readers with
several opportunities and narrative resources in order that they can interact with the story
through spatial dislocation [13]. Virtual simulations (VR and AR) can make this experience
even more valuable since they facilitate the reader’s spatial immersion through physical
movements sensed by the device in addition to those pre-established in conventional
reading [10]. This context evokes the concept of locative stories, that is, narratives designed
to be read in mobile devices, through which the reader interacts with the story by physically
moving themself between locations [14]. Locative stories disclose new experiential
opportunities for engaging children with outdoor spaces and can play an important role in
our space perception [15] and our spatialization [16] – for they can turn public spaces such
as botanic gardens [17], cultural institutions [18], heritage sites [19], and even cemeteries
[20] into more captivating individual experiences.
Previous studies highlighted that the implementation of location-based technologies in
apps designed for children are usually adult-centered [21, 22]. Provided that children are
not heard/not actively engaged in the creation of books for mobile devices, the final product
has a disputable value for them [21]. In order to incorporate children’s interaction
preferences, prior research recommends their involvement in this process since the early
stages of the development [23]. This is particularly urgent for projects that integrate
locative systems into the literary narrative artifacts’ context, as the way a child make sense
of the urban space differs from an adult’s perspective [21]. In addition to this, many
important open questions remain to be answered, such as: in a design process, which
aspects must be taken into account when designing location-based stories for children?
Designing interactive systems for children is not an easy task. It demands a design process
specially oriented to children’s digital literature [10], which, in turn, requires a
multidisciplinary design process [13] that meets children’s and adults’ interaction skills
concerning the mediated reading [24]. How can location-based technologies be integrated
into the literary experience? Are there recommendations and concerns related to meaningful
impacts on children, the urban space and the narrative as well?
3. Step by Step: Methodological Approach
This article is an initial step of a broader research-through-design study. As such, it
investigates the relationship between children’s digital books and location-based
technologies. Since locative technologies are one of the avenues of research in this field
[13], the inclusion of locative functionalities into digital books designed for children
potentially challenges current studies. In this paper, we examine the opportunities and
challenges of adding location-based technologies into digital children’s books through a
thematic analysis [25] of four design projects. Each of these projects highlight different
design strategies used to explore the possibilities of location-based technologies in order to
improve children’s experiences with electronic stories, specially to the format of digital
books. Taken together, these projects can provide a set of descriptive examples and
generative themes for interaction-designer researchers and practitioners.
Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . . 3
4. Following the trail: a multiple case study
In order to map the several opportunities and challenges for those who can potentially
create and research children’s location-based electronic stories, we have adopted an
exploratory perspective of related cases. Packer et al. [14] identify four ways of combining
stories and locative technologies in mobile apps: (i) as tour guides, using stories to paint a
picture of the place [26, 27]; (ii) as educational tools, focusing on the process of learning
about a place [28]; (iii) as location-aware games, including game mechanics, connections
to the player’s context as well as augmented reality experiences [29]; and (iv) as location-
aware fiction, focusing on delivering an engaging story within a given place [30]. Drawing
on these four ways of combination, we selected the following cases to be assessed:
Unlocking Porto, a game-based mobile urban storytelling app for tourism; Disney Fairies
Trail, an augmented reality app for fun family outing and learning; Road Tales,
Volkswagen’s fictional location-based audiobooks for children; and Magical Reality, a
location-aware walking trail based on fictional stories.
4.1 Case 1: Unlocking Porto
The first case we examine in this paper is Unlocking Porto. It is a game-based, urban
mobile storytelling app for tourism created by Nóbrega et al. [31]. According to the
developers, the app provides an educational and playful experience that engages tourists in
the discovery of historic information about the Port wine – from Douro region to the wine
cellars in the Porto city. The app embraces context-awareness elements, such as urban
landmarks so that the gameplay familiarizes players with specific places or increases the
visitor’s knowledge about cultural heritage sites, besides improving their interaction with
urban tourist artifacts.
The app intertwines traditional formats of media, such as written texts, images and
videos, with interactive media, such as virtual 3D games, location-based and map-based
technologies, augmented and virtual reality. Thus, according to the researchers who
developed that app, it opens up possibilities of creating and customizing interactive
experiences for tourists to engage them with places and people.
This specific form of storytelling app requires a main story or a set of stories to guide
the design process. It is necessary to identify the specific requirements for users, since they
are likely to be experiencing unfamiliar routes. This demands an extensive research on the
urban setting to collect data and information such as written texts, images, videos etc. The
developers suggest integrating the data/information with geolocalization sensors,
barometers and depth sensing cameras present on mobile phones by using available
application programing interfaces (APIs).
Unlocking Porto provides relevant insights to guide similar projects. Since location-
based games are very dependent on GPS’s accuracy and device’s service, this feature is
subject to errors such as non-recognition of points of interest, which can jeopardize the
access to the story’s contents in situ. To prevent users from eventual frustrating
experiences, the app must work with poor or no internet signal, as well as allow the user to
enter current location manually. AR problems such as poor cameras or poorly illuminated
screens in outdoor scenarios should be considered. In addition, a free mode way may suit
users who are interested in not following the main story path or who are using it in the
4 Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . .
couch mode. This suggests that it is relevant to enable playability within the story or
provide the chance to unlock activities to be performed after the player leaves a given
location.
4.2 Case 2: Disney Fairies Trail
Disney Fairies Trail was an app developed in 2014 by The Creative Shop for the Australian
Disney entertainment company in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust [32].
The purpose of the app was to encourage children to explore the gardens and particularly
engage them with Australian flora and fauna. By working through a narrative-based
approach and a map-based interface, Disney Fairies Trail was developed to cover multiple
locations, such as the Royal Botanic Garden (Sydney), the Australian Botanic Garden (Mt
Annan), the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden (Mt Tomah), and the Melbourne Royal
Botanic Gardens (Melbourne). It was also available in New Zealand. Each location links
points of interest inside the gardens to key conservation and preservation messages.
By using a mobile device through which fairies seemed to hover in the garden, children
were taken on a tour in the space. Beacon technology was integrated into the system in
order to build fairy “signs”, which used augmented technology to allow children to find the
Disney Fairies and fly with them. The app also included animations of popular Disney
Fairies, activities to do at each location, and the possibility to take the Disney Fairies to live
in other locations after visiting the gardens.
User instructions were based on five steps, as follows: (1) choose a botanic garden; (2)
start the trail; (3) use the map to help find the fairy locations; (4) use the device to find the
fairy, which vibrates to indicate that there is a fairy nearby; and (5) tap the fairy to reveal
her secrets. These steps evidence the use of both map and haptic interfaces linked to
location-based technologies.
Besides the experiential qualities that had been described by the developers, the apps
were criticized in two aspects: (1) the emphasis on story experience over educational
purpose, and (2) the constant, dominant use of technology while users are in a natural
environment [17]. Along with that, users had also reported problems with the map’s scale
(“the map was so high level it was effectively useless”), map accuracy (“I stumbled upon
another tiny sign promising that the fairy trail continued this way, but after a short distance
the path split out into multiple alternatives, none of which were sign posted”), and system
functioning (“yet after crisscrossing my way all over the vicinity, my device never
vibrated”) [32].
4.3 Case 3: Volkswagen’s Road Tales
Road Tales is a series of location-based audiobook apps published in 2019 for an
advertising campaign. It was created by Amsterdam-based agency Achtung [33] for
Volkswagen. The app tells tales based on the user’s location by using ordinary road objects
as elements or characters of the story while the child watches them out of the car window.
The app was so successful that it reached first place in the book’s app store category within
3 days and has been downloaded over 13,000 times since then.
Road Tales combines public data sources with curated ones to build interactive stories,
written by popular children’s book writers such as Joke van Leeuwen, Daan Remmerts de
Vries and Herman van Veen. The stories are linked through a custom developed story-
Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . . 5
engine that creates unique tales based on the user’s location. To ensure that the stories react
to the environment, the developers have scanned more than 5,000 km of Dutch roads to
identify everyday points of interests (POIs), such as bridges, tunnels, mills, trees, oil
stations, and other main objects to transform them into story elements. Thus, the location-
based app detects these ordinary objects as POIs and turns them into real-time story
elements, e.g. a tunnel turns into a rocket launcher. This way, the app responds to what each
child sees, transforming their car ride into a customized storytelling.
Road Tales audiobooks are an alternative to the usual screen-oriented car entertainment
in the back seat. Considering the fact that nowadays children are often distracted by mobile
phone screens, the agency posits that the app re-establishes the connection between children
and daily car rides, drawing their attention to the landscapes. The app targets 4 to 11 year
old-children and works both online and offline by using GPS location. If parents have the
chance to play the story through the sound system of the car, the experience can include
participative playful activities that foster family connection even when parents are behind
the wheel: the characters in the story may invite passengers to play family games, such as
guessing the color of the next car, counting down until they enter a tunnel, or telling them to
lower their heads before going under a bridge.
4.4 Case 4: Magical Reality
Magical Reality is a recent example of locative story. It is a smartphone application where
users listen to stories according to their location. The release of this augmented reality story
app in September 2018 was one of the concluding events of a cultural festival that
celebrated the North East of England. It was developed from a collaborative practice-based
design research between Newcastle University and Seven Stories, the National Centre for
Children’s Books in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK [34].
The app creates situated literary experiences in the Ouseburn Valley based on the
archives of David Almond, a children’s book author. It places three-dimensional digitally
generated objects set up on notes and sketches from Almond’s archives in and around the
Seven Stories visitor’s centre [34]. Results of a series of six workshops conducted
throughout a participation-oriented process with nearly eighty participants led the
researchers to investigate how ideas about place and space in magical realism could inform
the development of immersive digital experiences that would help to increase the use of
cultural goods. The subsequent result was a mobile phone app that brings pieces of
Almond’s stories to the urban space and animates the author’s notes and sketches that
would otherwise be restricted to researchers and cultural institutions’ staff.
Users are invited to download the app and then walk around the spaces nearby the
Seven Stories building. Depending on their location, they get prompts that instructs them
where to point their mobile phones to in order to find out an item inspired by the magical
realism of Almond’s archives [34]. According to the authors, the items were designed to
show and perform some kind of action related to the location of the project. For example, a
doodle with the words “grow up” that enlarges as the phone sensors detect jumping motions
is positioned to a real location and related to a specific aspect of Almond’s stories. The
authors give a more detailed account of the restrictions involved in the relation between
location and digital stories: “[f]inding the items proved so engaging that users had to be
reminded to watch for hazards, including traffic on the roads, as they explored the trail”
[34:2].
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5. A snapshot of the recommendations for designing children’s location-
based electronic stories
In spite of the relatively short history of location-based and mobile technologies, at present
they are widely used worldwide, including by children. In fact, mobile devices have
become a fundamental element in the lives of most young people. Meanwhile, parents are
introducing mobile media devices even to their youngest child [35]. Apps directed towards
infants have substantially changed children’s storybooks landscapes – and they tend to have
even greater impact as locative technologies are combined with situated narratives.
Previous review on how location-based technologies can be integrated into children’s
digital books has shown that little research has focused on what to consider when creating
situated literary experiences for this public. While studying the four design projects
highlighted above, we articulated opportunities and concerns and began to identify
particular tactics and strategies employed in the development of these artifacts.
A thorough analysis of these cases was established in order to obtain major
opportunities and challenges for the design of locative stories. The opportunities and
challenges outlined were grouped into two main categories: design goals and design
process, which we present in Table 1.The design goals refer to the main design objectives
that a project could/should try to pursue as well as to recommendations and concerns
related to the meaningful impact on the child, urban space and story narrative. The design
process comprises recommendations for setting up the project team, for the data collection
process, and provides initial guidelines to implement locative technologies on children’s
electronic stories.
Table 1. Opportunities and challenges for the design of children’s location-based electronic stories.
Themes
Recommendations and/or concerns
Cases
1
2
3
4
Design Goals
General
Goals
plan a main story or set of stories
x
promote and value local stories/ local writers
x
x
x
engage children with real world spaces
x
x
x
x
design it as a source for fun family outing, learning and literary
experiences, engagement with local heritage or touristic routes, or
playful activities on move
x
x
x
Related to
children
involve the child in developing observations of the real world
x
x
offer stories as a playful mobility activity through urban spaces
x
x
develop strategies to promote parental participation
x
Related to
urban
spaces
design the story to interact or to respond to POIs
x
x
x
x
use POIs as intersections between the urban space and the narrative
x
x
x
x
add a playful layer over daily urban displacements
x
x
Related to
the
narrative
explore and promote local stories/narratives
x
x
x
offer extra activities for couch mode
x
x
provide alternatives for users who are interested in deliberately not
following the main story path
x
x
gamify the narrative to encourage the completion of the story route
x
design the narrative flow by predicting segmentation and linearity
breaks according to the reader’s displacement in urban spaces
x
Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . . 7
1
2
3
4
Design Process
Team
gather a multidisciplinary and high qualified team
x
x
recruit local writers / illustrators and developers
x
x
Data
Collection
adopt a participatory approach to build a sense of ownership of the
outcome
x
bring all stakeholders in a bid to find new ways to tell stories about
places
x
x
conduct extensive field research to collect data (texts, images, videos
etc.)
x
map and/or scan urban routes and points of interest
x
x
identify specific user’s requirements on unfamiliar routes
x
gather information about POIs and routes from open source mapping
systems
x
Technologi
cal
resources
explore multimodal interfaces simultaneously: graphic, haptic and
sound interfaces
x
x
x
use the mobile phone’s internal sensors as the first information source
for the system: GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer and camera
depth and sensors (AR, VR, QR Code reader)
x
Use external media information sources to enrich stories with
geographical information (e.g. APIs)
x
explore interaction notifications and feedbacks as security and
guidance features while the user walks on urban spaces
x
associate graphic with sound interfaces for the moments when the
child is outdoors and has problems with the story’s visualization
x
predict the suitability of AR to mobile devices that have low-quality
cameras or poor illuminated screens in outdoor scenarios
x
predict problems arising from GPS’ accuracy or poor signal to avoid
frustrating experiences (e.g, allow current location to be set manually)
x
x
provide interactive maps that support the location of POIs
x
provide a dynamic adjustment of the map scale
x
The cases analyzed demonstrate that involving children throughout the development of
a digital book as part of a participatory design process may lead result in meaningful
electronic stories, since this strategy profits from children’s insights instead of using
common adult-centered perspectives. In addition, designing applications like these requires
the building of a multidisciplinary team. Its members must have highly specialized skills
and knowledge about local spaces and cultures, illustration and children’s literature. Local
writers and illustrators’ works should be taken into account as well, since local stories and
legends are the primary sources for the production of artifacts like this.
Children’s location-based electronic story engages children in narratives that take place
in real spaces. This can be done either through a main guideline story or through a set of
stories. Locative technologies must be explored to help in both the narrative immersion and
the spatial immersion of readers by intertwining fiction and the real world. Different
secondary goals can be explored: to promote fun family outing; to provide situated learning
and literary experience; to raise awareness about local heritage; to promote touristic routes;
and to call attention to the cityscapes. Children’s location-based electronic stories can also
offer a playful entertainment option to activities generally considered boring by children,
such as daily commutes in the city or intercity trips.
Themes
Recommendations and/or concerns
Cases
8 Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . .
Drawing from the design processes concerned with promoting a meaningful impact on
children, we suggest that it may be useful to stimulate their powers of observation upon the
real world and let them suggest spatial connections with the narratives. In addition,
promoting parental participation is fundamental to maintain an emotional and playful
family activity. Parental support to reading and understanding the story, as it used to occur
during moments of shared reading in childhood, should not be overlooked.
With regard to the urban space, the development of location-based stories adds a playful
aspect to spaces and urban trips. This can motivate dynamic and playful connections with
spaces that the child is already familiar with, or act as a driving force for socialization in
urban spaces. It may be opportune to engage new generations and their families with the
material culture, that is, the urban space, and the immaterial one – local legends, tales of a
given city, region or nation. If properly designed, these artifacts can help in raising
awareness about the urban or natural space by means of digital narratives that interact with
real world’s landmarks/points of interest. This technology can also be used to create “urban
memories” systems through literature.
Location-based technologies are useful to construct the narrative as it properly selects
points of interest (POIs) on urban spaces. POIs are elements of the urban space that can
serve as interactive elements through which readers get access to specific contents. They
augment the urban space while guiding the narrative route. In a more ordinary strategy,
stories’ contents can be designed to be enabled though on-site contact with POIs (pervasive
location-based stories). In this case, the provision of interactive maps that support the
location of the POIs has proven to be important, as much as the dynamic adjustment of the
map scale. Points of interest and specific characteristics of the urban space can be oriented
towards greater responsiveness. For example, the story can be shaped according to the
variations of day/night, weather, traffic etc. Designers should also predict that some users
might be interested in not following the main story path, which requires story’s
segmentation and linearity breaks. Therefore, customized ways of understanding and
following the story should be provided in order not to frustrate the child’s literary
experience. Gamified tactics, including symbolic bonuses given by section or completed
POIs is a way to maintain the reader’s engagement in a linear story route. It may be
important as well to offer extra activities to be performed after the player leaves a given
location (e.g. couch mode).
The data used for developing location-based electronic stories can be obtained from
online databases, other applications, and APIs, but the most significant information for this
purpose require deeper and intense field work. This includes the collection of texts, photos,
and videos in loco, along with the project stakeholders and the local community. The data
collection may also be carried out through the mapping and scanning of routes. In addition,
it is important to identify specific user requirements on unknown routes linked to the story.
The internal sensors of the mobile devices – GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer
and camera depth and sensors (AR, VR, QR Code reader) – must be simultaneously
explored to offer a unique and meaningful multimodal experience to the readers. Whenever
possible, these technological resources must be made available offline, which anticipate
problems arising from using the app in remote areas or places with poor or no internet
signal (e.g. problems related to GPS’s accuracy or signal can be prevented if the app is
designed to work with poor or no internet signal and/or if it allows users to enter current
location manually). Importantly, some devices may have low resolution, rendering camera
problems or low memory capacity, which is a frequent problem since the popularization of
devices had not yet been followed by the launch of advanced features such as VR and AR.
Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . . 9
Exploring the narrative through haptic and sound interfaces can also be opportune. For
example, designers may associate graphic with sound interface as a support and to mitigate
the child’s distraction from the path while walking outdoors or when they have problems
with viewing the story (e.g. security issues or when too much light hinders users in viewing
the onscreen story).
6. Conclusion and further research: opening up new avenues to
research and design children’s location-based electronic stories
In a digital world, electronic books can be a kick-start to engage digital-natives with
literature and foster their personal development as readers. On the one hand, locative
technologies provide a new magical scenario to be explored on electronic tales; on the
other, it brings to light several concerns and problems that require deeper research efforts.
The child’s physical safety while moving on urban spaces and the protection of their data
are two aspects of deep concern that had been insufficiently approached or not even
considered in the cases examined here. The apps must have parental control features and
they are also ruled by laws on user’s datafication. These laws differ from country to country
and are especially strict in the case of children. Moreover, there is a lot to worry about
child’s safety in urban spaces, such as traffic, violent neighborhoods, weather adversities,
rush hours etc. Thus, it seems crucial that location-based stories for children be designed to
consider active participation of parents or other adults during mobile reading. Risks can be
decreased or more easily controlled in projects intended for built environments – closed
spaces, such as museums, parks etc. The design of locative technologies and systems in
children’s electronic stories should try to alleviate parental concerns with dangerous sites
(e.g. traffic etc.) including and highlighting points related to safety issues in the digital
interface and, therefore, in its geographic planning. This can be done, for example, with the
use of proximity sensors that give haptic and sound notifications and feedbacks
differentiated as security alerts.
Other problems that have arisen from our reflections are related to the diversity and
evanescence of mobile devices and their operating systems, which hinders a unique and
coherent model for developing and integrating locative technologies. Also, some variables
are beyond the developers’ control, which are related to children’s digital literacy skills, as
well as their parents’, and their familiarity with mobile devices and digital interfaces. This
scenario can be mitigated by the study of scaffolding models that guides the user through
children’s location-based electronic books.
We have begun this paper by establishing the purpose of exploring paths that combine
children’s story books with location-based technologies in mobile devices. This paper is by
no means the final word on the integration of these technologies, mainly because locative
stories are constantly changing as technologies that sustain them are improved and new
ones emerge. We do not intend to offer a model for design practice and research in this
field. We simply offer a snapshot of a rapidly evolving phenomenon, that is, an attempt to
provide some avenues for those who might be involved with creating children’s location-
based digital books. However, due to the lack of studies on recommendations for designing
this type of artifact, these limitations do not outweigh the relevance of this particular study.
10 Digicom2020, 036, v3 (final): ’A multicase study to explore ways to integrate locative . . .
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