1. Owney the Dog’s Augmented
Reality Project
By Erin Blasco and Allison
Wickens,
Smithsonian National Postal
Museum

2. Augmented Reality
• An enhanced/augmented way to view the
world around you through computer-
generated sensory input (video, graphics,
GPS data)
• A layer over reality that adds more info or
something cool
• Triggered by a marker

3. Owney’s AR
• Bring his stamp
“to life”
• See and hear
Owney run,
bark, and sit
• Accessible via
the web or
iPhone

4. Group Makeup
• Opportunity came via OCIO
and 3D imaging
• The director’s interest
sparked the project
• One of the director’s goals
was to impress a partner and
increase promotion

5. Motivated by Opportunity, Not a
Goal
• Create something unique that would spark
interest in Owney
• Use AR as an entry point to deeper
understanding of his story
• For most components of the Owney
project, early elementary kids were the
target

6. How Were Educators Involved?
• Two outside groups worked together,
OCIO and AR contractors, on a tight
timeline. NPM sometimes out of the loop.
• Educators wanted more “meat,” a clearer
relationship between the AR and greater
project, better audience entry points
• Sound effects included to hint at Owney’s
story
• Would a voiceover or historical context
make it too boring?

7. How Has it Worked?
• Owney’s social media fans
– Facebook.com/Owney or @OwneytheDog
• Teacher focus group
• OP&A observation:
– Younger kids enjoyed it most; mesmerized
– Kids enjoyed turning him upside down,
“petting” him, manipulating the AR
– Younger folks more tenacious in getting it
to work
– Difficult to gauge if it sparked curiosity
– Older folks gave up quickly

8. Lessons Learned
• Identify the target audience and goal (duh)
• If sparkly technology is an “entry point” to
deeper learning, think about where
and how people will actually enter.
• How important was interactability?
• Choose the “trigger” carefully
• Contrast to the e-book project
• Challenges of contracting at SI

9. But What if…
• … we HAD
thought of the
goal and
target
audience
first?
• Would we
have
stumbled
upon AR as
the best tool?
• If so, how
would we

10. Agents of Change
mobile app game
Coordinated by Erin Blasco, NMAH
Camy Clough, NMAH

11. The 101
• Game developed by Green Door Labs
• Free, non-commercial, not owned by SI
• Girl Scouts Rock the Mall = a test
audience
• Target : middle school aged Girl Scouts
• Played all over DC sites
• Three parts: sign up and discuss at home
computer; play on iPhone or camera while
in DC; return to home computer to vote

12. Outcomes
• Through participating in game play, Girl Scouts
increase their level of engagement in looking at,
discussing, and exploring museum objects, exhibits,
and ideas. The game gives Girl Scouts a mission to
complete or filter through which to view their museum
visit and structure museum exploration:
– In the short term, this increases their linger time at objects,
increases the level of discourse about museum objects
and topics, and provides a social activity that does not
detract from connecting with museum topics.
– In the medium term, it prompts thinking about the value of
museum objects (personally and globally) and impacts
attitudes towards museum objects (not just old and dusty).
– In the long term, participating in the game impacts Girl
Scouts’ ability to interpret objects, identify the multiple
meanings of objects, and evaluate the importance of
objects.

13. Game narrative
• You’re in the future. Post-apocalyptic
world.
• Travel to the past to collect objects to re-
boot life on earth.
• Photograph the objects, upload them, tag
by category.
• Vote for best ones to bring to the future.

14. Evaluation
• Q1: Does the game provide
a meaningful layer to the
museum experience?
• Q2: Does the game
narrative (gathering objects
to bring to the destroyed
future to change the world)
impact the museum visit?
• Q3: Does taking photos
end up being a meaningful
activity to do in the
museum?

15. Q1 and Q2: Does the game provide a
meaningful layer to the museum
experience?
• Mild familiarity
• A lot going on
• Useful lens when
prompted

16. Q2: Does it impact the visit?
• Looked at different things in the
museum
“It is fun to
• Increased look time take
• Fun have gone straight pictures.”
“I would
for the cars, but now I looked
for things like the cotton gin. I “If you like [the
think it‟s interesting because objects], you can
would have gone home and take pictures to
not paid attention to remember it.”
exhibition.”
“The more you look at something the more you
think „oh that‟s interesting.‟”

17. Q3: Does taking photos end up
being a meaningful activity to do in
the museum?
• Natural behavior
• Social behavior
• Memory
• Interpreting
photographed
objects

18. Keep
• Keep:
– Photo-taking
– Dark hook
– Playable across SI
• Change:
– Better connect photo taking and critical
thinking
– Better ending and post-visit activity