(I’ve decided to scrap the serious alternate reality game thing – I really wouldn’t be able to make such a thing and none of the ideas were really shining for it anyway.)
So: Completely new idea!
Something that came up in my other research was that some old things, past-times, stories etc are being lost to new generations of children because of technological developments – but there’s no point in trying to fight this, I’ve decided we should work on ways to embrace the ways people use the Internet etc, possibly in order to revive these wonderful old things.
Earlier this year I discovered and read a really old book in a box at my parents’ house – it’s Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island”, owned by a schoolboy in 1936. His name was Bernie McClintock, and was the husband of a lady I used to know when I was young. I really loved reading this book because of its age and because of all the scrawling little drawings and notes Bernie made.
I’d like to use the book as a starting point (and possible navigation tool) for a website with a potential range of functions: firstly, to re-introduce old books and history to children, to open up the Internet and its possibilities for the elderly, and to inspire appreciation and dialogue between grandchildren and grandparents. Brainstorming, a site based on the book could:
-help children discover the Treasure Island world of pirates etc, re-invigorate the story for a new audience
-follow the fictional story with links to other stories and historical backgrounds of the work (like Re-Enchantment)
-help children discover the life of school boys in the 1930s
-be used as a connection method between generations (could I make a site they could navigate together?)
-be a portal for old people to rediscover and remember their childhood. I remember reading somewhere that the Internet has become a great medium for the elderly- it provides access for so many things that have been lost to them for decades (songs, historical items and icons, snippets of media, etc) as well as providing social connectedness (here’s a psychological study ‘Using the Internet to improve the wellbeing of the elderly’)
-close the generational digital divide? It’d be lovely to make a site that acts as a catalyst for grandchildren to be curious about their relatives’ childhoods – I know that when I watched the Up series I became a whole lot more curious about my parents’ earlier lives (as they’re the same age as the series’ participants)
So, I guess the product I would be making would be an augmented eBook / interactive kind of digital archive, preserving and providing access for life before our modern day gadgets. At the moment I’m thinking of using the book as the main navigation somehow, possibly animating Bernie’s little drawings, and providing links to other information about childhood in the 1930s, such as school life, home life, contemporary music, games (see previous post), photos, the local and historical context, and personal stories. There’d also be more information about the book’s story and relevance, other versions of the work (looking up Treasure Island on Wikipedia shows heaps of film and stage adaptions), interesting words and concepts that arise from the book, etc.
Some questions and initial areas which I’ll need to work out:
-How will I distinguish between the era the book is about, the era in which the book was written and the era in which it was read and decorated by Bernie? Is this getting too complicated?
-For a larger scale project, should I include other books with histories imbrued in them? (different classic children’s books, read in different eras…)
-Is it possible to make a site that is designed appropriately for both the elderly and the young? Simple layout, easy navigation, large text etc are fine strategies, but will there be a style that is suitable for both? And if not, which is the main audience I should choose?
Webbed Realities 