Welcoming Echoes
Welcoming Echoes is being developed as a Locative Media experience for international students. A Locative Media application is typically constructed as a collection of digital media fragments collated in a structure that associates them with positions from a GPS as a person walks around a physical space. They are stored on a portable digital device like a mobile phone or a PDA, which is GPS enabled. As people move around a physical area, the device senses their position and activates the appropriate media file which is presented via headphones and/or the screen of the mobile device.
It is intended that this project will enable students to share their hopes, dreams and cultural heritage, as well as their experience of studying in a foreign country, in creative and engaging ways. The focus will be on using media content that enables a high level of understanding of, and sensitivity to students experiences and background. We hope that one of the key outcomes of this project will be to enable a richer understanding amongst students and staff of different cultural perspectives, as well as the local communities.
The project has started by understanding the current experience of international and minority students at the university. We are attempting to understand individuals experience in a holistic manner, considering pastoral needs as well as the diversity within the groups. We will then go on to explore the conceptual design space, considering the different ways in which the Welcoming Echoes experience could be realised.
In order to benefit from the synergy that can result from the close linking of research and teaching, we have designed a series of mini-projects as part of a coursework assignment for students on the MSc IT, Designing the User Experience Module, where students have an opportunity to explore the different aspects of the project from a theoretical, practical, as well as ethnographic perspective.
