Where new media meets traditional Indigenous story: reshaping deep community connections with mobile augmented reality at the Royal Botanical Gardens

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging new media experience. AR has become an increasingly popular means for enhancing communicated messages by superimposing digital information, such as video, audio, 3D models, text, and animation overlays, onto one’s real-world environment. This unique interactive medium blends the virtual and physical world and thus enhances our communications. The diverse applications of AR have been seen within schools, stores, magazines, museums, zoos, as well as parks. This presentation will propose AR as a platform for reading potentially invisible cultural messages within our physical surroundings. This presentation will share an application of AR that embraces AR not only as a medium for enhancing the park experience for families and students but also a means towards expanding their initial ‘reading’ of the park environment; thus, reshaping their understandings and ability to analyse park items to include local Indigenous cultural traditions. The presentation will engage conference participants to re-envision AR as a medium for reshaping one’s decoding and meaning-making of their surroundings and as a way towards more fully analyzing our surroundings to include culturally rich stories, histories, and traditions. Presentation participants will learn about the use of AR at Melbourne, Australia’s Royal Botanical Gardens and how AR is supporting families and students to become more responsible citizens. Participants will have the opportunity to experience digital stories and traditions of the local Aboriginal community.