An Experiment in Writing for Augmented Reality

"Bog Standard" is an experiment in writing for augmented reality completed for the New Media Writing course at the University of Minnesota Duluth. In contrast to conventional writing, this form of writing uses place not as a subject or setting, but as a medium. In essence, it makes real-life space into a museum or gallery of meaning.

Adapted from the genre of a personal essay, "Bog Standard" explores ideas of place, home, history, small-town life, and identity. It is installed via mobile technologies on a short route in Titusville, Florida, which extends from the I-95 exit ramp onto Highway 50, down a two-lane access road into a rustic suburban neighborhood, and ends at a small, unassuming pond in front of a residence, which is all that remains of a once-world-famous archeological dig called the Windover Site.

The maps, images, and interactive panoramas provided in these pages represent the place where this project is installed, and the various texts that appear in the cell phone image--audio tracks, and supplemental images, documents, etc.--would be available via an iPhone, smartphone, or iPad to an audience in locations within that place.

On the map to the right, click on the highlighted spots to visit these locations virtually. [Note in this sample that only the hot spot #1 is functional]. The links on the left can also be used to access these locations.