An introduction to locative stories given at the StoryPlaces writers workshop held near Crystal Palace on Apr 22nd, 2017. It includes a storyboard of how to use the StoryPlaces authoring tool.

1. WELCOME
TO THE STORYPLACES WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
David Millard (@hoosfoos | dem@soton.ac.uk)

2. INTRODUCTIONS
Why are we all here?

3. StoryPlaces
• StoryPlaces is a collaboration within the
University of Southampton between
Computer Science and English
• Funded by the Leverhulme Trust
• Aims to explore the poetics of locative storytelling
• Locative stories are interactive stories told on a digital device that is aware
of location. Text and images appear on the device responding to changes
in the reader’s location.
• Previous work has focused on the technology itself.
• StoryPlaces is about the storytelling: understanding the relationship
between technology, story, and place.

4. Purpose of Today
• We are in the final stages of StoryPlaces,
• we have developed guidance for authors
• and a tool that can help people author locative stories
• Today we want to explore the authoring process, and find out if
this tool and toolkit were useful
• So our goal is to help you start a locative story based around
Crystal Palace Park
• A range of activities this morning to get you started
• Workshop time this afternoon to develop your ideas
• Thank you to Upper Norwood Library Hub for help with the
space and arrangements for today!

5. Purpose of Today
• You will be able to complete your story after today
• We will select some of the completed stories to present to the public
at the Crystal Palace Overground Festival
• Event will be on June 17th
• But stories need to be completed by May 22nd to be considered for inclusion
• We are interested in capturing your experiences today
• May ask if we can observe you out and about in the park
• Will hold some discussions at the end of the day
• Hope this will be as useful to you as to us!

6. Introductions…

7. PLAN OF ACTION
The Schedule for the Day

8. Morning – Intro to Crystal Palace
9.30am-10am, Library REGISTRATION OPEN (tea +
coffee served)
10am-10.50am, Library Introduction to StoryPlaces and
writing for and with place
Dave Millard +
Will May
10.50-11.10am, Library Crystal Palace Park, Now and Then Verity Hunt
11.30am-12.30pm, Park Walking tour of Crystal Palace Park
archaeology and highlights
Ken Kiss, Curator of
Crystal Palace
Museum
12.30pm-1.30pm LUNCH (please make your own
arrangements)

9. Afternoon - Workshop
1.30pm-2pm, Library Introduction to authoring tool Yvonne Howard +
Dave Millard
2pm-4pm, Park Getting started: choosing story places
and initial story ideas
whole team
4pm-5pm, Library Workshopping story ideas (whole team)
(tea + coffee served)
whole team
5pm-5.30pm, Library Authoring tool troubleshooting and Q&A Yvonne Howard +
Dave Millard
5.30pm CLOSE

10. Thank You - Questions
David Millard – dem@soton.ac.uk
http://storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/

11. EXAMPLES OF LOCATIVE
STORIES
Examples of Locative Stories

12. Linear – Journey Stories
The Destitute and The Alien, by Tory L. Dawson
It is 1895 and Jack the Ripper
now lives in the city of
Southampton. For seven years
he’s kept his knife sheathed and
his predilection for murder and
dissection supressed. But with the
arrival of Golda - a beautiful
Jewish girl fleeing from
persecution in the Russian Pale –
comes the reawakening of Jack’s
psychotic compulsions. In The
Destitute and The Alien, streets
and histories you never knew
existed await your exploration…

13. Linear – Journey Stories
The Destitute and The Alien, by Tory L. Dawson
It is 1895 and Jack the Ripper
now lives in the city of
Southampton. For seven years
he’s kept his knife sheathed and
his predilection for murder and
dissection supressed. But with the
arrival of Golda - a beautiful
Jewish girl fleeing from
persecution in the Russian Pale –
comes the reawakening of Jack’s
psychotic compulsions. In The
Destitute and The Alien, streets
and histories you never knew
existed await your exploration…

14. Linear – Journey Stories
The Destitute and The Alien, by Tory L. Dawson
It is 1895 and Jack the Ripper
now lives in the city of
Southampton. For seven years
he’s kept his knife sheathed and
his predilection for murder and
dissection supressed. But with the
arrival of Golda - a beautiful
Jewish girl fleeing from
persecution in the Russian Pale –
comes the reawakening of Jack’s
psychotic compulsions. In The
Destitute and The Alien, streets
and histories you never knew
existed await your exploration…

15. Linear – Journey Stories
The Destitute and The Alien, by Tory L. Dawson
It is 1895 and Jack the Ripper
now lives in the city of
Southampton. For seven years
he’s kept his knife sheathed and
his predilection for murder and
dissection supressed. But with the
arrival of Golda - a beautiful
Jewish girl fleeing from
persecution in the Russian Pale –
comes the reawakening of Jack’s
psychotic compulsions. In The
Destitute and The Alien, streets
and histories you never knew
existed await your exploration…

16. Open – Mosaic Stories
Six Stories of Southampton, by Megan Humphrey
The goddess Ancasta has
watched over the city of
Southampton for thousands of
years, and collected the stories of
its people. From the Hundred
Years War, to the sinking of the
Titanic, to the modern era of
cruise ships and ocean liners,
she’s seen all that Southampton
has been. Now, you too can walk
the streets, hear the stories she
has to tell, and discover a new
way of looking at the city.

17. Open – Mosaic Stories
Six Stories of Southampton, by Megan Humphrey
The goddess Ancasta has
watched over the city of
Southampton for thousands of
years, and collected the stories of
its people. From the Hundred
Years War, to the sinking of the
Titanic, to the modern era of
cruise ships and ocean liners,
she’s seen all that Southampton
has been. Now, you too can walk
the streets, hear the stories she
has to tell, and discover a new
way of looking at the city.

18. Open – Mosaic Stories
Six Stories of Southampton, by Megan Humphrey
The goddess Ancasta has
watched over the city of
Southampton for thousands of
years, and collected the stories of
its people. From the Hundred
Years War, to the sinking of the
Titanic, to the modern era of
cruise ships and ocean liners,
she’s seen all that Southampton
has been. Now, you too can walk
the streets, hear the stories she
has to tell, and discover a new
way of looking at the city.

19. Open – Mosaic Stories
Six Stories of Southampton, by Megan Humphrey
The goddess Ancasta has
watched over the city of
Southampton for thousands of
years, and collected the stories of
its people. From the Hundred
Years War, to the sinking of the
Titanic, to the modern era of
cruise ships and ocean liners,
she’s seen all that Southampton
has been. Now, you too can walk
the streets, hear the stories she
has to tell, and discover a new
way of looking at the city.

20. Open - Variations
Isle of Brine
• Psychological thriller inspired
by local myths and legends,
and in the style of the
‘Mountains of Madness’
• Three open areas that are
experienced in sequence

21. Open - Variations
Riot!
• Historical account of the 1831 Queen
Square Riots over the Rotten Boroughs
• A sequence of open areas, but in the same
place, triggered one after the other
• Has an effect like a play unfolding around
the reader

22. Branching – Interactive Stories
The Pathways of Destiny, by James Cole
Just your average day on Bournemouth beach,
right? Seagulls and arcade games and a
cheeky ice cream, right?
Wrong!
Destiny’s come a-knocking and it wants your
attention.
A strange boy with a rabbit, a collection of
valuable objects, an alien conspiracy.
Immerse yourself in a race against time to find
the objects and save the boy. But beware, not
all is as it seems and the Pathways of Destiny
could lead you to adventure…or to ruin.
So, come on, tell me…which path are you
going to choose?

23. Branching – Interactive Stories
The Pathways of Destiny, by James Cole
Just your average day on Bournemouth beach,
right? Seagulls and arcade games and a
cheeky ice cream, right?
Wrong!
Destiny’s come a-knocking and it wants your
attention.
A strange boy with a rabbit, a collection of
valuable objects, an alien conspiracy.
Immerse yourself in a race against time to find
the objects and save the boy. But beware, not
all is as it seems and the Pathways of Destiny
could lead you to adventure…or to ruin.
So, come on, tell me…which path are you
going to choose?

24. Branching – Interactive Stories
The Pathways of Destiny, by James Cole
Just your average day on Bournemouth beach,
right? Seagulls and arcade games and a
cheeky ice cream, right?
Wrong!
Destiny’s come a-knocking and it wants your
attention.
A strange boy with a rabbit, a collection of
valuable objects, an alien conspiracy.
Immerse yourself in a race against time to find
the objects and save the boy. But beware, not
all is as it seems and the Pathways of Destiny
could lead you to adventure…or to ruin.
So, come on, tell me…which path are you
going to choose?

25. Branching – Interactive Stories
The Pathways of Destiny, by James Cole
Just your average day on Bournemouth beach,
right? Seagulls and arcade games and a
cheeky ice cream, right?
Wrong!
Destiny’s come a-knocking and it wants your
attention.
A strange boy with a rabbit, a collection of
valuable objects, an alien conspiracy.
Immerse yourself in a race against time to find
the objects and save the boy. But beware, not
all is as it seems and the Pathways of Destiny
could lead you to adventure…or to ruin.
So, come on, tell me…which path are you
going to choose?

26. Branching – Interactive Stories
The Pathways of Destiny, by James Cole
Just your average day on Bournemouth beach,
right? Seagulls and arcade games and a
cheeky ice cream, right?
Wrong!
Destiny’s come a-knocking and it wants your
attention.
A strange boy with a rabbit, a collection of
valuable objects, an alien conspiracy.
Immerse yourself in a race against time to find
the objects and save the boy. But beware, not
all is as it seems and the Pathways of Destiny
could lead you to adventure…or to ruin.
So, come on, tell me…which path are you
going to choose?

27. So Many Possibilities…
• We have put together a brief
toolkit to help authors make
choices about their story
• To be effective, locative
stories should work in
tandem with their locations
and landscapes, both in terms
of practicality (navigating the
story and the landscape) and
aesthetically (using the
landscape to emphasise the
themes and meaning of the
story, and vice versa).

28. Aesthetic Aspects
• Your story can create fictional layers on top of the real
landscape, or reveal layers that have been lost to history.
• draw attention to things that have appeared/disappeared
• contrast now/then
• reveal connections between different views of a place
• Be aware of the relationship between what you are writing
and its place
• harmony will create a sense of connection in your reader and
increase their feeling of presence
• discord will be jarring, and will draw attention to the dual nature of
their experience

29. Practical Aspects
• Three ways of controlling or influencing their reader’s
navigational paths through the story.
• Use narrative logic to restrict choices
• Use the landscape to encourage readers to follow particular routes
• Use the writing itself to influence reader
• Stories that primarily use landscape and writing are more
open, interactive, and have greater reader agency
• Stories that primarily use narrative logic are more linear,
these can be very effective, but be careful not to clash
with the demands of the landscape

30. Deal Breakers
• Points of Arrival/Departure - think about where readers
will start and end your story, and how well these match
the normal ways that they arrive in or depart from a place
• Be Mindful of the Reader’s Effort to Move - readers are
more likely to choose a page that is nearer to them. Avoid
zig-zagging routes, or double-backs
• Consider Total Time to Read - does it fit with the normal
time constraints that people visiting that location will have

31. Thank You - Questions
David Millard – dem@soton.ac.uk
http://storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/

32. INTRODUCTION TO THE
AUTHORING TOOL
How it works, and how it could fit your workflow

33. The Basics – Logging In
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring

34. The Basics – Logging In
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring

35. The Basics – Logging In
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Edit an
existing
story
Create a New Story

36. The Basics – Creating a New Story
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring

37. The Basics – Creating a New Story
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoringSave the story
You can edit
these at any
time once
the story
has been
created

38. The Main Interface – Demo Mode
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoringMap will start
wherever you are
If you are on
a desktop (or
away from
the location)
you can use
demo mode
to fake your
locations
It is under
Advanced on
the top menu

39. The Main Interface – Demo Mode
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoringMap will start
wherever you are
If you are on
a desktop (or
away from
the location)
you can use
demo mode
to fake your
locations
It is under
Advanced on
the top menu

40. The Main Interface – Demo Mode
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Now you can
drag the map
to whatever
location you
want (in this
case Crystal
Palace Park)
You can turn
demo mode
on and off
whenever
you like – it
also works
for reading
stories.

41. The Main Interface
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Three areas. Pages shows a list of
all the pages in your story, we
create a default start page for you

42. The Main Interface
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Chapters are a way of putting
pages into groups – we will cover
these in a moment

43. The Main Interface
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Details is where you can find and
edit the descriptive information
about your story.
These
buttons let
you preview
and submit
your story for
publication –
we will look at
them at the
end

44. Creating Pages – The Start Page
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Let’s edit
the start
page

45. Creating Pages – The Start Page
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Pages have
a name.
Content
that is
shown
when the
page is
read.
And a hint
that is
shown on
the list of
possible
pages, and
helps
readers find
the page

46. Creating Pages – Setting Location
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Pages are
not
required to
have a
location.
But lets
put this
one
behind the
station

47. Creating Pages – Setting Location
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
You can
click on
the map to
drop a pin
Or if you
are
physically
in the right
place click
use
current
location

48. Creating Pages – Setting Location
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
The location
panel now
shows the
details.
Including the
radius of the
location
hotspot
(which you
can change)
Locations
are shown
on the map
as a pin,
with a circle
showing
the size of
the hotspot
(where it
would be
activated)

49. Creating Pages – Adding an Image
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Every
page can
have one
image
(which is
shown
above the
text).
Click here
to set the
image

50. Creating Pages – Adding an Image
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
This opens
the image
library, which
shows every
image used
in your story
(empty to
start)
Click on the
arrow to
upload an
image

51. Creating Pages – Adding an Image
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
On a laptop
this opens a
file chooser
On a smart
phone you
will get the
option to
take a photo
using the
device

52. Creating Pages – Adding an Image
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Once we
have added
to the library,
we can
select it for
this page by
clicking on it.

53. Creating Pages – Adding an Image
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
The current
image for
the page is
shown here.
Click here
again to
change it.

54. Creating Pages – Narrative Constraints
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Below
Location are
the Narrative
Constraints
We can say
whether the
page can be
reread, or
disappears
after reading
Whether it
finishes the
story
And whether
it requires
you to have
visited
another
page first

55. Creating Pages – Narrative Constraints
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
As this is
the start
page we
will stick
with the
defaults
We must
click save
for any
changes we
have made
to be saved
properly.

56. Creating Pages – New Pages
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Now we
have a
proper start
page
I will create
four new
pages by
clicking on
New Page at
the bottom,
and
repeating
the edit
page step

57. Creating Pages – New Pages
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Done.
But all these
pages are
available
from the
start
I need to
organise
them into a
chapter, that
is opened
once the
reader has
seen the first
page.

58. Chapters
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Selecting
the Chapters
Tab
Loose
Pages is a
list of all the
pages not in
a chapter.
The start
page should
be here, but
the rest
need to go
into my first
chapter.
Click here to
create a
chapter

59. Chapters
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Chapter
Information
(name and
colour) is to
help you
organise.
The reader
will never
see these.

60. Chapters – Adding Pages
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Below this
are the
Narrative
Constraints
Here you
can add
pages to the
chapter
And say
which pages
open this
chapter

61. Chapters – Adding Pages
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
As you type
it will show
you the
names of
matching
pages
Let’s add all
four of the
pages we
just created.
(its also
possible to
set the
chapters a
page is in
from the edit
page
screen)

62. Chapters – Adding Pages
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
The pages
in the
chapter
appear in
the list
(you can hit
the X to
remove
them)

63. Chapters – Setting the Opening Page
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Next let’s set
the page
that opens
this chapter
(our start
page)

64. Chapters – Setting the Opening Page
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Finally we
can choose
to set what
happens to
other
chapters
when this
one is
opened (i.e.
do they
close).
By default
we can only
be in one
chapter at a
time – which
is fine for
our story.

65. Chapters – Setting the Opening Page
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
When we
select Yes,
the list of
chapters to
close
disappears
(because
they will all
close)
We should
hit save to
finish.

66. Unlocking
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
On the
Chapter tab
we can see
the new
chapter, and
the pages
that are
within it
A final issue
is that one of
the pages
(Bananas)
only makes
sense if
another
(Joseph
Paxton) is
read first.
I can click
on Bananas
to fix this.

67. Unlocking
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
This takes
me to the
edit page for
Bananas

68. Unlocking
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
If I scroll
down to
Narrative
Constraints I
can add the
constraint
that this
page is
unlocked by
the page on
Joseph
Paxton

69. Unlocking
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
If I scroll
down to
Narrative
Constraints I
can add the
constraint
that this
page is
unlocked by
the page on
Joseph
Paxton
And now it
cant be read
until that
page has
been read
first

70. Final Steps
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
To test my
story at any
stage I can
use Preview
Story (from
the Details
tab).

71. Final Steps
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
It generates
a one use
only link that
I can use to
test the
story.
Don’t worry,
you can
generate
another one
whenever
you want

72. Final Steps
app.storyplaces.soton.ac.uk/authoring
Finally, when
you are
happy, you
can Request
Publication.
This creates
a copy of
your story
that we can
then publish
on the main
site.

73. Final Steps
• This is just the start of a story
• I can add many more pages and chapters as required
• Although not all stories will use chapters
• Just remember that if you do have a final page you should
set it as a finish page on the Edit Page screen

74. WORKFLOW
How to use the authoring tool