Scan for stories (SCAN4STORIES)

Tourism is one of the world's largest economic sectors1. In 2017, tourism accounted for 10.4% of global Gross Domestic Product and over 300 million jobs. In the coming years, the sector is expected to grow even further with an average increase of 3.8% per year. In Flanders, too, tourism is an important economic sector that is achieving strong results. Heritage tourism has a strong share in the economic growth of tourism. Further investment in the future development and innovation within the heritage sector is necessary to ensure a lasting positive impact. Overall Goal The goal of Scan4Stories is to develop a widely implementable methodology, focused on tourism and heritage, to empower the tourism experience through the power of stories and immersive technologies, with economic return through reaching larger audiences and increasing the ratio of repeat visits. The impact of stories and storytelling on the human experience is widely recognized in the scientific literature3. Although successful applications of storytelling in the tourism sector are not new, a survey of our target group shows a real need for concrete tips and knowledge translation, both on the implementation of storytelling itself, as on the economically feasible possibilities of visual support through immersive technology. We will perpetuate the results achieved at the end of the project through the publication of a handbook for storytelling in the tourism sector. In this handbook tourism and heritage partners will not only find a state-of-the art about storytelling and immersive technology, and several best practices, but also several, directly implementable workflows in which this state-of-the-art is translated to heritage and tourism. Depending on the concrete context and the desired level of ambition, these workflows provide a selection of appropriate storytelling techniques and (where relevant) immersive technologies for the design of qualitative and affordable heritage experiences. This reference work of the project's results and findings aims to be a guideline for tourist institutions and companies who want to elevate already existing experiences to a higher level, or even create completely new ones.

Keywords:Storytelling, Immersieve technologie, Erfgoed

Disciplines:Tourism management

Project type:Collaboration project

Results:Scan4Stories' output can be divided into three categories. A first concerns the accumulated and translated knowledge concerning storytelling and immersive technology, a second concerns the Use-cases and accompanying Proof-of-Concepts and a third comprises the validations and valorisations in the form of the project book and the e-learning module. Knowledge The prepared state of the art concerns a theoretical foundation in the field of Storytelling and Immersive Technology, as an overview of various best practices. Storytelling - Storytelling fundamentals Based mainly on literature study, desk research and testing out various experiences, the so-called "storytelling fundamentals" were formulated. These emphasise the importance of characters and the way they can be shaped. They also highlight the need for structure. The focus was mainly on the three-act and five-act structure and "The Hero's Journey". Furthermore, conflicts and obstacles are necessary to drive a good story. These fundamentals can be found in various media, as well as in interactive media such as games and immersive experiences. Although some challenges exist in relation to the latter, the interactive media. - Interactive Storytelling Immersive technologies imply the possibility of interaction. They allow the user/player to make their own choices and possibly influence the story. This is where the inevitable paradox arises between the power of the storyteller who sticks to structures to create a good story and the influence of the player who wants to put down his or her story. Storytelling using interactive, immersive technology consequently means a balancing act between sticking to the story and allowing the player to do so. Specifically for heritage and museums, this means finding a balance between the "historically correct" story and the way the player can influence it by being able to make certain choices. Immersive technology can respond to this in various ways. For instance, by starting to use certain game mechanics, by applying transmedia storytelling, by using certain controlled narrative forms and so on. These possibilities are discussed in the context of the use cases. Immersive Technology To draw up the state of immersive technology, within the tourism sector, five categories were identified based on the literature review, desk research and the tested experiences. These are the following: education - enhancement - exploration - reconstruction - virtual museums. Within each of these categories, different applications of Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality can be found. The state of the art shows the capabilities of the different immersive technologies, frames the main, technical concepts and takes a look at the necessary hardware. It further shows that immersive technology is not yet established within the tourism sector, within the museum and heritage sector specifically. The examples are limited to larger institutions with sufficient budget and resources, and only in a few cases do they make use of the latest possibilities of technology. Brainstorming sessions/co-creation sessions Prior to the first meeting of the guidance group, three brainstorming or co-creation sessions were organised in collaboration with the Innowiz team of the Industrial Design Centre within Howest. These sessions had taken place in January 2020, before the Covid epidemic. These could therefore physically take place. The pre-mentioned second meeting of the guidance group already went ahead virtually. The brainstorming sessions were necessary to determine the possible use cases together with the different members of the guidance group. Indeed, each member of the target group had a personal idea/proposal to work out in the context of one of the use cases. In this sense, the collective brainstorming on the possible use cases was necessary to ensure that the final use cases would be supported by all members of the guidance group. It was decided beforehand, however, to delineate three themes and brainstorm around foreign cases. This was to rule out preferences for certain partners. Each member of the guidance group participated in one of the three sessions. For each session, three personas were developed and an appropriate topic was selected. Using the Innowiz methodology, several concept ideas were shaped and presented during the sessions. The results were compiled in the reports and used as a basis for the elaboration of the various POCs that would be developed as part of the project. Use cases and POCs Based on the results of the brainstorming sessions, three use-cases were defined. One would work around enabling immersive technology to overcome the inaccessibility of heritage objects, one would work around experiencing the stories of historical events not necessarily tied to a museum or heritage site, and one would look for alternative ways to guide visitors around a heritage site using immersive technology. Within the context of these use cases, several POCs were defined and developed in each case. These developments were done in collaboration with the members of the guidance group. Naturally, there was intensified cooperation with the partners who provided the historical content for these cases. The different POCs are discussed on the project website (www.scan4stories.be). Validation and valorisation During the development of the different POCs in the context of the use cases, we as a research team gained a lot of experience with the different technologies and the challenges of historical storytelling. Based on the state of the art, the literature review, findings from other research projects and our personal experiences, a workflow was drawn up that can help the target audience shape immersive experiences. Two versions were developed, one starting from a situation in which a multidisciplinary team within the museum or heritage site gets to work on creating the immersive experience. The second framework is based on the scenario in which a heritage partner collaborates with an external technology partner. The first version of the framework consists of four different phases, each containing four intermediate steps. In the first exploration phase, you determine the objectives, target group and content you are going to use and immediately formulate one or more possible concepts. In the second storytelling phase, based on the formulated concept, you start thinking about the data, the story and the technology you are going to use. In an ideal situation, you will already develop a prototype to test some elements of the experience. In the third concretisation phase, you write out a concrete story using a storyboard and flow chart. Here, you also think in detail about the various actions and interactions the users will perform per scene or part of the story. You test these actions and interactions in an ideal situation using a prototype in order to have a complete view of the requirements for this experience at the end of this phase. In the final testing and development phase, you develop the experience and test it for an audience that matches the previously defined target group. If necessary, you can make adjustments here before officially putting the experience into use. The second version of the framework in which you collaborate with an external technology partner also consists of four different phases with four intermediate steps. In the first preparation phase, you will again determine the objectives, target audience and data. You compile this information into a design letter for the technology partner to work with in the second concept generation phase. Based on this design letter, as a technology partner you develop a few possible concepts and write them down in a concept note. You present this concept note to the heritage partner and adjust it where necessary according to the feedback received. In an ideal situation, you again test some elements of the experience using a prototype. In the development phase, you develop the experience as agreed between the two partners. You will test this experience again for a test audience that matches your target audience and adjust it where necessary before proceeding to the finalisation of the experience. In the final aftercare phase, you start thinking and clearly communicating about maintenance, possible adjustments and possible help with problems. The theoretical basis of this workflow, as well as tools for the concrete interpretation and design of the different steps, can be found in Scan4Stories' e-learning tool. This can be used as a guide, as it were, by the target group when they get started with storytelling and immersive technology. This e-learning tool was delivered together with the project book at the end of the Scan4Stories project. Its rollout is therefore yet to begin. For a nice overview of the results, please refer to the project website www.scan4stories.be. Here the results and a look at the project progress can be found.