Revised Topic Discussion

Research Question: Through the use of interactivity, can online guided tours create a meaningful experience and allow participants to easily move about the digital space?

To promote interconnectivity I would like to introduce an online guided tour for the 100th year anniversary of Camp Kawanhee, connecting those who cannot be at the reunion to the camp, and promoting the historic milestone that the area is celebrating. The online guided tour would be centered on a map, providing a useful way for individuals to move about the space, and recognize areas from the past. The map would enable the experiencer to be taken through a digital tour, that allows visitors to look through photographs, audio, and archival material in the hopes of simulating an experience that reminds them of camp life. The map would look at both the past and present in an effort to replicate changes made over time. My research question centers on how these interactives play a role in digital tourism, and how the material presented makes a strong personal connection between the “visitor” and the digital space, creating a more authentic and impactful experience. 

By utilizing ArcGIS, I will create an interface, where participants are able to easily review various mediums, while also remembering and reflecting on the camp site. Reviewing where past activities were and where they are now, and listening to well known individuals at camp discuss their own memories, allowing for nostalgia and wistfulness to take hold. Connecting individuals to a place that they are not able to visit at that time. 

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Sources: 

1. Benyon, David, Aaron Quigley, Brian O’Keefe, and Giuseppe Riva. “Presence and Digital Tourism.” Ai & Society 29, no. 4. 2013: 521–29.
1. This reading provides insight on how digital tourism blends with physical material, and provides a definition and introduction to what the authors define as digital tourism. 
2. "Digital Huntsville, AL, History Tour Offers 24/7 Online, Guided Tour of City Center." PRWeb Newswire 6 Oct. 2014. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 21 Sept. 2019.
1. This is a great example of a project that is similar to the one I would like to do. The tour is guided and includes photographs and other archival material. 
3. Grau, Oliver, ed. Museum and Archive on the Move : Changing Cultural Institutions in the Digital Era. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, Inc, 2017. 
1. This article reviews how the digital space has impacted cultural heritage. I thought it would be interesting to note the different thoughts about digitization of archival material and other artifacts for my thesis. 
4. Kennedy, Michael. “Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS: a Workbook Approach to Learning GIS. Hoboken.” NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
1. This will help to guide my work in ArcGIS. The source provides information on the system and explains different features that users are able to access. 
5. Schoenau-Fog, Henrik. Interactive Storytelling 8th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 30 - December 4, 2015 ; Proceedings. Cham: Springer, 2015.
1. This reading had a number of articles that spoke to the topic of interactive storytelling, which I think might be an important part of my own thesis. Individuals can connect with the story and be able to share their own thoughts.