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TexTales

Mobile phones used as storytelling tool

TexTales is a project arising from the recently established MediaLabEurope in Dublin in their Everyday Learning Group.

While the resulting 'product' looks much like a site-specific 'art' installation, it is something else altogether. An artist might respond to a locale by creating an installation in which the inherent meaning would be altered by moving it. TexTales is not an art peice in that way.

Rather, it is a sort of cultural technology, arising from the investigations of a group of technologists who are investigating the ways people learn. They are building tools to enhance that learning. MIT's experiments often have commerical outlets, and it is possible to imagine this social/cultural 'tool' could be adapted for use in other communities.

The performance of TexTales (if we may call it that) includes a projection of images from the local area and people standing looking at the projection and using mobile phones to text-message responses to the images. These responses appear under the chosen image, and this prompts reaction from others participating in the group. Conversations spark in this gathering; people spar with their witticisms, and occasionally share poignant remarks.

The residents participated in taking the photographs and curating them. They'd recognise not only their local areas in the images, but might also who photographed what. They took the photos prompted by questions such as: 'What would you like someone to see in 100 years?' This question weighs heavily here because the local area, The Fatima Mansions, are due for 'urban regeneration' also known as demolishment. The question weighs heavier still when we consider how ephemeral are text messages and digital art.

Learning from this example

Read the full interview with Mike Annany, from Media Lab Europe.

In his interview, he describes the development of this project.

"I wanted to design something with them that might invite more participation from the community at large - recognizing that definitions of 'community' change and that we shouldn't see them as existing in just physical or just on-line settings - a combination of the two might be interesting.
It was also obvious that, since few of the residents had easy access to computers and few of them would likely go regularly to an Internet café, a different method of interaction was required. This necessitated selecting a display mechanism (public projection) and supporting a commonly used ubiquitous technology (mobile phones)."

Recommendations

From this example and interview we can derive some recommendations.