Vera & DacMan - Archives, Cultural Heritage, and Mobile Phones- for young people –– what did we learn?

Bente Jensen, Aalborg City Archives

• The frame:The main objective of the project: Cultural heritage municipalities in DK

was to change the perspective on cultural heritage from being considered as

a passive element preventing development –

to be an active ressource in the development

of local society and the city

• I

In Aalborg the theme was :

Industrial Culture

The setting

Aalborg Portland-The last cement plant in DK

Aalborg Wharf – closed in the 1990 ies

C.W Obels Tobacco Company -closed in the 1980ies

the project had two major aims

• Identification and registration of the industrial cultural heritage

• Storytelling and learning

Storytelling:

• To point out and develope stories

• Focus on the experience and identity creating values attached to industrial cultural heritage

Project group

• Nordjyllands Historical Museum• Aalborg City Archives• City planning dep. in Aalborg

Municipality• Branding Aalborg • ApEx, Center for Experience

Economy Aalborg University

More aims

Past– To create interest in Aalborg industrial

history

Present to create understanding for the significance

for the town - as it is todayFuture

– To inspire the citizens to get involved in processes of planning (democracy)

Target group

Young people from 12 years ->

• Phase 1:

• (and the time was before the smart phones 2007-2008)

concept or method for the game:

• To be on the locality• To be physical active• involvement in cultural heritage and city

planning and discussions related to the subject• To learn and experience the connection

between past, present, and future

ARG

ARG • Augmented Reality Gaming• Alternate Reality Gaming• Immersive gaming• Pervasive games

• ARGs represent a type of game that mixes

• reallife-treasure hunt, interactive storytelling, quests, and adventure games.

• ARGs are not like most other games on a game table or on the computer, they rather use the real world. This means that the present reality acts as a game-setting,

• Because ARGS goes on in real space, basing themselves also in the real world of communications media, including, of course, particularly mobile media like cell phones, but also e-mails, SMS etc.

• ARGS often attempt to deliberately blur the line between game and reality, in-game and out-of-game experience,

D.A.C. Dansk Andels Cementfabrik

DacMan

DACMAN is based on mobile technology

SMSIVR – Interactive Voice Response

• Real life posts

DAC-MAN - PlotDACMAN – a former worker at DAC - wanders restlessly

around the area and fear that the traces of his treasure/ inheritance disappear before someone finds it.

The game ends in that participants must formulate their ideas of what is DACMAN's inheritance / treasure, how it should be preserved and what and who it is for.

You must help me ... Time is short ... I am ... I ... Even my name is being forgotten ... I can not remember ... Yes, of course. They called me DACMAN. I worked here at DAC, Danish Andels Cement - or DAC, which also calls it - for a long time ago. From 1917 to 1957 to be exact. But listen here ... there is a treasure, a precious heritage, stored in the DAC field. It is being forgotten ... One spring day in 1957, 3 June for exactly fifty years ago I was suddenly torn away by an accident. It was not safe to work at the cement factory then you should know ... (Atmospheric disturbances ... you hear a small excerpt from Liva Weel "forget you") ... Hey, you there? Now I am doomed to wander around the old factory area. Until there is anyone who finds the treasure that lies at the cement factory. Only then do I get peace. It can be done only every fifty process twenty years. So today is the day. The third June 2007. A historic day. You must help me ... Time goes ... You have to clear up some questions for me ... Let's keep in touch via SMS ... If you want to help me, please send message "DACMAN OK" to 1231 ... Time is short ... HELP ME ... SEND "DACMAN OK" to 1231 I trust you. I'm about to disappear ... (... the connection is abruptly interrupted) "

Dac man start

Post 5: the bench

• Sit down on the bench, comrade, and relax for a moment. Look out over the fjord. It is the same as then. Always the same. I and my fellow workers looked many times beyond the fjord on a workday. It gave peace of mind in between the hard work. But why is it called Limfjord really 'Limfjord'?A. Limfjord was in Viking times a white green algae soup that had consistency like glue?Send SMS with DACMAN 3A for 1231B. Lim mean binder, and the Limfjord was the binder between the North Sea and Kattegat?Send SMS with DACMAN 3B to 1231C. Lim is calcium and Limfjord is calcium fjord because of the many instances of lime and chalk in the area?Send SMS with DACMAN 3C to 1231

Post 13: DAC-film

• watch the movie. There are approx. 4 minute clip that gets repeated. Make a note of what is happening and what is being said. I'm with on a short clip of the movie. If you look carefully you can get a glimpse of me DACMAN. But that's not to be solved here. However, what was the cable car over the railroad and Thistedvej spent?A. To carry cement workers up to the factory ski resort at Lindholm?

• Send SMS with DACMAN 10A to 1231B. To carry chalk down to the DAC factory?Send SMS with DACMAN 10B in 1231C. To carry clay down to the DAC factory?Send SMS with DACMAN 10C to 1231

DACMAN - Reactions

• "It was really fun and exciting! And we also learned a lot from it! Regards Rikki ""It was mega fun and educational""I think it's been really fun-genius'"mega , we are local but have seen places and heard stories we did not know, exciting venture "

'fun', 'exciting'ie. experience-oriented and entertaining'instructive'and 'knowledge of the new history',ie. transforming

Phase 2. and 3

• Without physical presenceDacman2Vera Vestbyen

Vera fra Vestbyen

A treasure hunt to find Vera's past in Aalborg 1930s in an workers part of town

What did we obtain?

• Method for the citizen / user involvement  level processes  new audiences  Method for cultural heritage dissemination  Participating, involving, experience-based  'writes the user into history'  narrative, coherent, entertaining  Method for learning and communication  on young people's own media

What did not work

• The cooperation between the authors and the archivist (me)

• going from project to daily operation

• to get the schools involved permanently

What should we have done ?

• When we chosed the 12 yrs -> group

• We should have involved the schools from the very beginning

• Curriculum

• Practicalities: transport, timing