Exciting News: Tamworth AR Explorer app is here
Tamworth AR Explorer app Logo
Storytelling & Augmented Reality: The future of the past…
“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die we forget who we are and why we’re here.” Sue Monk Kidd
The way we engage with history, explore heritage sites and encounter their stories is changing.
Tamworth AR Explorer and the Tamworth Educational Programme are sharing Tamworth Castle’s 900 years of stories in new ways, bringing of the past to life using the latest technologies of the present to engage and inspire audiences of all ages.
For the last few months, we’ve been working closely with the Team at Tamworth Castle – historians, collections managers, interpreters, curators and historical reenactors – to release the stories from the stones, and to reimagine // co-design them as a series of interactive location-based storytelling experiences and activity-based workshops.
With our wonderful creative team – interaction developers FourDoor Productions, film maker Naresh Kaushal, performance and script guru Kezi Gardom, interpretive specialist Alison Grey, and educational consultant Simon White – we devised and produced the Tamworth AR Explorer app, as well as all the media and resource packages for the new online educational offer.
For the first time in the UK, a large scale, elegant and interactive Augmented Reality Trail through the Castle brings history to life using cutting edge technologies.
We brought together compelling narrative and storytelling techniques and in-app learning, with characters filmed in 3D using the brand new DepthKit, interactive 3D objects created using photogrammetry and computer graphics. There’s writing that appears magically in the air, themed AR selfie-filters, and collectibles – we’ve even been using machine learning to make sure these captivating experiences are accessible on older and lower range smartphones to maximise potential engagement and accessibility for audiences.
The new Remote Educational Offer (available soon through the Castle’s main website) enables Tamworth Castle to share its story and award-winning educational offers beyond its walls for the first time – reaching out from Castle Keep to Classroom.
Virtual tours and specially scripted and produced media have captured the essence of past inhabitants of the Castle so they can deliver virtual workshops directly into the classroom. Special care has been taken to be inclusive of home learners too (online and on-site).
It’s been an exciting and fast paced project, we’ve learned a huge amount on the way (not least the amazing 900+ year story of Tamworth Castle itself!), and we’re really excited to see so many of the ideas we’ve been playing with realised in the real world for people to engage with.
What we’ve learned:
Hybrid physical-digital experiences are sensitive to the needs of heritage sites and spaces. They require minimal // no physical interventions or changes to the space whilst being able to radically transform how people interact with and make sense of them.
In these contexts, it’s essential to make sure the experiences you’re creating are accessible on older and lower range smartphones that many users will be carrying. This technical work is never seen but makes a huge difference and democratises access. Cultural heritage organisations and their audiences are not all teenage tech wizards using the latest devices.
developing these projects doesn’t have to cost the earth or take forever, With the right team and approach. During this project, we put a lot of time // thought // energy into developing and refining new creative R&D, planning and production methodologies and workflows that make this possible.
Download the Tamworth AR Explorer app here for iOS
Android Play Store link coming soon
Book a visit Tamworth Castle to experience the AR Trail, see the new Saxon Exhibition and bits of the Staffordshire Hoard, refreshed interpretation throughout and grab a drink at the café in the Castle grounds