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Welcome to the TransActions research group at the Education Faculty, University of Oslo. Formed in 2006, we bring together interdisciplinary research expertise across different parts of the faculty. The group has media, learning and identity in formal and informal settings as its core interest.

We're using a wiki to build and mediate a shared research space. Making connections between material in the site is central. We do this by profiling entries in the window to the right. These are gathered from across the site by way of each entry having a label (see header Labels under the logo).

These pictures are a feed of selections from sites such as Flickr.com and Wikipedia.org.
NARRAHAND

Project details

Leader: Assoc. Prof. Andrew Morrison
Members: Ole Smørdal, Idunn Sem, Synne Skjulstad, Jeremy Toussaint, Thomas Devron, and Martin Havnør (Faster Imaging)
Funding: InterMedia, NFR (INVENTIO project, VERDIKT programme)
Duration: 2006-2009

Main aims

In NarraHand we investigate the making of a collaborative fictional narrative on GPS mobile phones. The mobile narrative is authored by young adult African immigrants in Oslo. A wiki is used to link reflections on shared making and use online. The aims are:
- to develop a wiki and GPS platform for the development of a mobile narrative system

- to build a jointly authored collaborative locative fiction work

- to establish core concepts and design patterns in production based research into shared meaning making via mobile technologies

- to study wiki-based reflections on collaborative construction, identity and mediation. 

Research questions

How can GPS-enabled mobile phones be used to create a collaborative fictional narrative?
What do co-authors articulate about their African identity in Oslo via fictional roles and how do they mediate this?
What aspects of locative media are enacted as part of the narrative and how are they embedded in its articulation ?
In a related wiki site, what is reflected upon about the making of NarraHand by its development and creative team?
What issues of media, multiple contexts and identity arise in the wiki site for a wider public via comment functions?

Context & methods

Drawing on a sociocultural perspective and social semiotics of Communication Design, research is being carried out into collaborative, mobile authoring, genre and GPS based narratives, identity and wiki-based meta reflection. 

Based on a wiki and programmed in JAVA, NarraHand makes use of contemporary maps and a metaphorical, poetic visual overlay. It encompasses a variety of media types. Seen as a digital design experiment, the collaborative fiction is accessible on smartphones (with GPS) as well as via a Web-based wiki. In the latter it is possible for a wider public to both access the narrative an to add comments. The makers of NarraHand also use the wiki to reflect on their design and collaborative processes of mediated meaning making. Production based inquiry sits behind the development of Narrahand as do the changing kinetic and locative practices of multimodal multimediational literacies. 

Milestones

We are currently in the design, development and testing phase of the system and its functionalities, prior to use in late summer onwards.

Findings

to follow...

Publications

These include:

- a mobile GPS based collaborative fiction

- wiki-centred online mediation and site for wider reflection
- research papers.  

Added by Andrew Morrison , last edited by Andrew Morrison on Jun 05, 2008 06:46
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