Tell a Tail (2018)

“Tell a Tail” is a transmedia experience created by two students of the International Master of Interactive Media Design, Sarah Oliveira and Tânia de Andrade, in which I was a co-advisor.

Recently, animal welfare has become an often discussed topic in Madeiran society. The recent changes in the law regarding population control have stressed existing institutions to their limit (both economically, and concerning offered services) and the number of abandoned domestic animals is expected to rise. Small online and offline communities have formed to lend support, but have limited reach to solve the problem.

“Tell a Tail” explores the intersection of transmedia storytelling, education, and mixed reality, by creating digital media content that showcases the problem from the view of several stakeholders, and urges the user to take an active role in the discussion and quest to solve the problem of Madeira’s abandoned animals.

Platform: Android (AR Core compatible smartphones and VR compatible smarphones)
Timespan: September 2018 – expected late 2019
Role: Co-Advisor, Programmer
Advisors: Valentina Nisi, Mara Dionísio and Paulo Bala
Students: Sarah Oliveira and Tânia de Andrade

Tell a Tail: Caminho Incerto (Unknown Path)

Sarah Oliveira’s work is a “choose you own adventure” comic book with AR interactive points. In addition to co-advising, I worked on the foundations of the Unity application using AR Core and Fungus, to make 12 storytelling AR points that complement the information present in the comic book.

Tell a Tail 360

Tânia de Andrade’s work is an interactive 360º VR documentary following the day to day of local kennel and the work of local NGO’s rescuing endangered animals. In addition to co-advising, I worked on the foundations of the Unity application that allows interaction with the remote controller and mixes different types of media (images, video, sound, etc.) in a 360º environment.

Visit a WebXR compatible version of the prototype at https://unleashed.arditi.pt/ICIDS/

Publications:

Tell a Tail: Leveraging XR for a Transmedia on Animal Welfare

Bala, Paulo; Dionisio, Mara; Oliveira, Sarah; Andrade, Tânia; Nisi, Valentina

Tell a Tail: Leveraging XR for a Transmedia on Animal Welfare Proceedings Article

In: Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2020, Springer, 2020.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Tale of T(r)ails: The Design of an AR Comic Book for an Animal Welfare Transmedia

Dionisio, Mara; Bala, Paulo; Oliveira, Sarah; Nisi, Valentina

Tale of T(r)ails: The Design of an AR Comic Book for an Animal Welfare Transmedia Proceedings Article

In: International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2020, pp. 281–284, Springer, Cham 2020.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Tell a Tail 360º: Immersive Storytelling on Animal Welfare

Bala, Paulo; Dionisio, Mara; Andrade, Tânia; Nisi, Valentina

Tell a Tail 360º: Immersive Storytelling on Animal Welfare Proceedings Article

In: International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2020, pp. 357–360, Springer, Cham 2020.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX