On the 14th of December 2019, we held a focus group discussion in Kisumu and the feedback from the discussion was quite informative. The main focus of the session was to gather insights on storytelling using new and emerging technologies and how such technologies can be used to retell works of African orature. We presented a demo version of one our stories (work in progress) and were keen to see receiving feedback on the use of Embodied Conversational Agents and Virtual Reality. We had a total of 20 very enthusiastic participants drawn from varied expertise in the field of computing, many of whom had never experienced Virtual Reality. Many thanks to Eunice Atieno who played a key role is organizing the session.
During the session, we sought input on the following:
- How can the affordances of emerging technologies (Embodied Conversational Agents and Virtual Reality) contribute to relaying the symbolic and affective properties of oral storytelling?
- What are the interdisciplinary implications for the convergence of experimental animation and emergent technologies as a narrative medium for works of orature that merge artistic and scientific practice in experimental animation and expanded cinema?
Here are a few photos from the session:
