Storobo: Research and Development of a ‘Storytelling’ Tool for in the Library

Storobo: Research and Development of a ‘Storytelling’ Tool for in the Library

Arsenian, H.

Stappers, P.J. (mentor)
Visch, V.T. (mentor)
Rotteveel, K. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Design for Interaction

2012-02-23

This project is done in collaboration with DOKLAB part of the Delft library, with the main goal of developing a storytelling tool for in the library with the implication of a multi-touch surface. The target audiences are the visitors of the library. First we need to understand what a story is, a story: true or fictitious, in prose or verse, is designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader. Works of digital storytelling always have elements of narrative and always offer some degree of entertainment. With a questionnaire I discovered that people would like to share stories of their own interests within the library. Although I previously wanted to socially connect the visitors, discovery made it clear that not everyone want to feel connected. A creativity session with a young audience gave more insights about how they would prefer sharing stories and this was by means of images; however later I understood that this group of people where just a small portion and elderly people and adults were a much bigger group. A brainstorm session gave more insight in how you can share and create stories as well as award and connect people. An interview with the visitors of the library gave more direction of how and what people really want to share. In short there was not one topic or medium which had a greater preference. Visitors have very broad interests and prefer consuming stories in text, images as well as video. Creating and sharing of stories were preferred individually and with name. At this point ideas were generated considering the content of the stories. The ideas include stories about cooking, travelling, hobbies, photo contest, poetry, comics and people’s opinions. From these ideas a combinational idea then came to light which emphasized the diversity of stories and creating stories in the library on the spot. This idea consists of 3 parts the first part is a proposition which is provided by the system, this is the so called stimulus which is a universal element in all storytelling. Then the users are to take a position by voting for or against the proposition. The second part is the stepping stone to the actual story creation the third part which is commenting on the proposition. From this I conducted a test for two days within the library with a robot made of carton box on its chest there was this proposition and people could vote by using a pen to either choose for or against by placing a short line in the designated area. After which they could write a small comment on post-its and paste them on the robot. In total 23 people casted their vote and 6 people contributed with a short story. So it became evident that people are willing to cast votes and write short comments. There was even a real live interaction where two people started talking to each other about the topic that was presented. Of course the carton robot was just simple prototype, so I did an interview survey to find out whether people like the shape of a robot to interact with or would it better to be a less characteristic design like a simple ATM kiosk. It was clear that the robot was not appreciated by the majority of people and they preferred an even more simple design with a screen. With the help of playacting the concept was further developed and only text as an input method and means of consuming a story was left and it was also decided that the screen should have a 45 degree angle. Hereafter components were selected that should be present; these include comfort of use, attractiveness, inviting, visible from a distance, layout, organizing the components and having a low threshold. Through sketching the embodiment of the concept developed further from being a robot with a screen to being just a screen on a stand. At the same time interface ideation was done, considering where to place the buttons and how to make the graphical interface attractive, intuitive and easy to understand and use. After this a final concept was created called Storobo, the name combines the two original concepts Story and Robot. The concept has a proposition on top and two voting buttons on the either lower side of the screen and a button to place stories in the middle. Stories appear like post-its on the screen and can be dragged and ordered intuitively. One can simple click on the small posts to see the full text and can reply on posts as well as up-vote them. A comparison is made with three existing state of the art systems, which are a website called stand.nl which is connected to a radio show, Storytable which is designed as a media player for the elderly and a story tool in het scheepsvaart museum in Amsterdam. The prototype is made from MDF 18 mm thick to support the full HD multi touch surface screen. A working interface is designed using Flash that supports voting and adding stories but not commenting on stories. It also supports dragging of stories across the screen maximizing and closing them. The Storobo prototype is put in the library for demonstrational purpose and to see what people think of it. Although there were twice as much votes and stories than with the carton robot the expectations were a bit more. But the people who used the Storobo were all very enthusiastic. I recommend the Storobo to be used in the library it will be a great asset to the already existing entertainment and information.

design
multi-touch
storytelling
library
interface

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b9e8b70d-29ad-46d3-ba1f-e6216438a8f3

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Arsenian, H.