Exhibit mock-up
This sample of several panes frames a typical user experience early on in the exhibit. A user is able to interact with the exhibit by following the linear narrative of its various characters through to their conclusion. A user is also able to content-hop by interacting with the panes in various ways. Clicking on the characters brings up information and objects related to them specifically; clicking on content (here, the propaganda poster or the minecraft screen) leads to linked sets of objects and/or interactive content. For example, clicking further on the propaganda poster will bring up the full set of posters the exhibit contains. Clicking into the expanded minecraft screen leads the user to an actual WWI themed minecraft instance built into the exhibit where they can see what others have created, and try their hand at building something themselves.
Downtown Calgary - 2016/1914.
An important heritage intersection of Calgary - Centre Street at 8th Avenue - provides an early frame for the exhibit and an introduction to two of its characters: Chris Hadid and James Proven. Here, each of them is interacting with media typical of their respective times. James Proven, a bank-teller at the Union Bank of Canada is inspecting a propaganda poster. Across the street and 112 years away, Chris Hadid plays minecraft on his cell phone.
James Proven avatar close up.
Closer now on James Proven as he inspects "Hark, Hark, The Dogs to Bark!" a colourful example of commonwealth proganda just following the outbreak of war in August, 1914. The countries of Europe, are here depicted as various sorts of dogs. The English bulldog, policing for its allies, bites the German Dachsund on its nose.
James Proven avatar with expanded content and metadata.
Here, the poster is expanded with fuller metadata. The animation of James Proven is also clickable and expands into file sets of his personal archives, including letters, photographs and certificates attesting to both his domestic and wartime life.
2016 avatar close-up.
Close-up now on Chris Hadid interacting with his cell phone. Insulated from the world by his headphones and his portable screen, this high-school student is about to cross the street.
2016 avatar with expanded content and metadata.
The content on Chris Hadid's cell phone is here expanded with metadata. It is a classmate's rendition of a section of trenches from the western front at Flanders. Further clicking brings up an interactive version of this trench section. Clicking on Chris Hadid's avatar brings up items related to Chris's life: his facebook page, images of his school projects, photographs of his family.