SceneAR: Scene-based Micro Narratives for Sharing and Remixing in Augmented Reality

TL;DR

SceneAR is a smartphone app that enables users to create, share, and remix scene-based micro narratives in augmented reality, expanding digital storytelling into 3D AR environments and fostering collaborative content creation.

Contribution

The paper introduces SceneAR, a novel platform for creating and sharing AR narratives, with unique remixing capabilities and strategies for supporting short-form AR storytelling.

Findings

Users engaged in creating and remixing AR stories during the study.

Six design strategies for supporting short-form AR narratives were identified.

Participants expressed enthusiasm for sharing stories in physical environments.

Abstract

Short-form digital storytelling has become a popular medium for millions of people to express themselves. Traditionally, this medium uses primarily 2D media such as text (e.g., memes), images (e.g., Instagram), gifs (e.g., Giphy), and videos (e.g., TikTok, Snapchat). To expand the modalities from 2D to 3D media, we present SceneAR, a smartphone application for creating sequential scene-based micro narratives in augmented reality (AR). What sets SceneAR apart from prior work is the ability to share the scene-based stories as AR content -- no longer limited to sharing images or videos, these narratives can now be experienced in people's own physical environments. Additionally, SceneAR affords users the ability to remix AR, empowering them to build-upon others' creations collectively. We asked 18 people to use SceneAR in a 3-day study. Based on user interviews, analysis of screen recordings, and the stories they created, we extracted three themes. From those themes and the study overall, we derived six strategies for designers interested in supporting short-form AR narratives.