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Allegory:A Tool for Interactive Media
Richard Smyth, Ph.D.VM606 - Emerson College 15 March 2014
Definition of Allegory
The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
A story, picture, or play employing such representation. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth are allegories.
Analogy
A symbol is to a photoasAn allegory is to a film
A photo/image is static (1-to-1)A film puts photos/images into motion
(symbols interacting)
Examples
In Pilgrim's Progress, Christian falls into the Slough of Despond, and Prayer helps him get out
Examples
In The Phantom Tollbooth, Miles jumps to Conclusions and must swim across the Sea of Knowledge to resume his journey
Allegory: Characters as Abstractions
Rhyme & Reason Lethargarians Christian Prayer
Allegory: Places as Abstractions
The Doldrums The Mountains of
Ignorance The Slough of
Despond
Allegory in Augmented Reality
American Plutocracy
http://johncraigfreeman.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/american-plutocracy/
AR Occupy Wallstreet
http://aroccupywallstreet.wordpress.com/
Allegory in Augmented Reality
The Goddess of Democracy
http://johncraigfreeman.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/goddess-of-democracy-in-al-tahrir-square-cairo/
Memory Palace Revisited
Images in Places Allegorical images in allegorically
significant places “Images” = pictures but could be
sounds/music/video/multimedia compositions
Memory Palace Revisited
Embodied cognition Metaphorical concepts:
dead (forgotten) metaphors that structure thought
“the mind is a body moving through space”
Exercise 1: What Ideas to Store?
If you were a famous star, what would you rename yourself?
Think of three issues/ abstractions and write them on the sticky notes
Use the colored dots to vote on your preferences
Exercise 2: What Images to Use?
For the abstractions in Exercise 1, what are some images that could allegorically represent these concepts?
Exercise 3: Where to Store Them?
Brainstorm three places in Boston that are significant (i.e. have allegorical potential)
Brainstorm three places in the U.S.A. that are significant
Brainstorm three places in the world...
Exercise 4: How to Access Them?
Layar (augmented reality app)
Tagwhat
QR Codes / Microsoft (Scanbuy) “Tags”
Ready-Made Allegorical Images?
Are there images you might be able to use in a project like this?
