The selected points

The following are the ten points that I have decided to use. In selecting tracking points I have tried to:

1. Spread them out across the mural.
2. Pick details that will hopefully track well.
3. Pick interesting points that give a varied overview of the work.

Introduction: This is an augmented reality display that will tell you about Rex Whistler's impressive mural, widely considered to be his masterpiece. Using the tablet you are now holding, you can discover more about the mural by finding hidden information points (there are ten augmented information points to find). To use the display; press the start button, and hold the tablet about a meter from the mural. When you find a hidden information point, relevant information will be displayed on the screen.

Point 1 (Poseidon walking out of the painting / tracking point -  Poseidon's crown): The wet footprints are said to be those of Poseidon (god of the sea) who has walked into the house, leaving his trident and crown behind. Have you noticed the coat of arms that decorate the wall? The Paget crest is on the left (for Lord Anglesey), and the Manners crest is on the right (for Lady Anglesey). It is said that Rex found the net the hardest thing to paint, repainting it seven times before he was happy with it.

Point 2 (Architecture / tracking point -  St. Peter's Basilica ) Rex had an extraordinary visual memory, which can be seen in the detail of the well known buildings he has included, The town is a montage of imaginary and real architecture from Rome and London, including; Trajan's Column, St. Peter's Basilica, Admiralty Arch, and St Martin in the Fields (church), how many of them can you identify? You may have noticed the family's crest on the flag flying above the arch, and the mock Latin inscription that declares Rex as the creator of the work.

Point 3 (Dogs / tracking point - dogs, book): Here the dogs of the family also make an appearance. The French Bulldog 'Cheeky' shown in her pearl necklace, is said to have been incredibly fussy to the point where she would only eat the best cuts of British beef. Rex's humor can be seen in the book and glasses he has painted in for Lady Anglesey, as she was always losing them. However the still lit cigerett (which Rex has just put down) strikes a more poininant note, as Rex was killed on his first day of action during World War Two, and so never returned to add the finishing touches that he had promised.

Point 4 (Island / tracking point - island): The small fortified island in the centre of the beautiful seascape was not included in the original design. The central structure is based on Windsor Castle, however Rex added the demolished wall to reflect that the house of Windsor had been fractured with the abdication of Edward VIII, giving up his throne for the American Wallis Simpson. If you look closely you may be able to see that someone has hung out their washing.

Point 5 (Rowing boat / tracking point - boat): You may have noticed that the man rowing the boat only has one oar, this may be because he has left the other one on shore (as can be seen in the centre of the mural). The man is said to be Captain Lilly who taught the children of the family to row. As you walk from one end of the mural to the other you may notice that the boat seems to change direction (this is also true of the paving lines by the oar, which always seem to face you. Rex was a master of trompe l'oeil (meaning to deceive the eye). The effects were achieved by using multiple perspectives, in total the mural is said to have over forty vanishing points (whereas a normal painting might only have a few). 

Point 6 (Right town / tracking point - town and boats): The left side of the mural changed drastically from Rex's original proposal, with the detailed town replacing a simple lighthouse that was initially intended. Though smaller than the town on the left, Rex's cleaver use of perspective makes it look larger from this position. The town is a montage of buildings from places Rex had visited, including; an Austrian church, the government building from Bonn Germany, and Totnes high street in Devon. In the bay the family can be seen on a gondola except for Caroline who is in a small sailing boat with a red sail. Rex included a number of red objects in the mural (a symbol of his passion for Caroline), how many have you seen?

Point 7 (The replacement tower / tracking point - the tower): It is said that Lord Anglesey felt that there were too many boats in the painting, and that Rex worked through the night to replace a sailing ship (the masts of which can still be seen faintly in the clouds) with the tower you now see. When asked why he had included scaffolding, Rex is said to have remarked that Lord Anglesey would probably change his mind again, and the tower would have to be taken down. You may have noticed the pan on the small roof, this may be a visual pun on pantiles (a type of interlocking ceramic tile used in the roof).

Point 8 (Brighton / tracking point - ): As the town recedes into the distance the building style become less Italianate, the building you are now looking at are said to be based on Regents Square in Brighton (an area the artist knew well). Try and find the funfair that Rex put for the children. Behind the town you can see the imposing hills of Snowdonia, reflecting the view of the mountains that can be seen through the windows (on a clear day). Have you noticed Harlech Castle high up in the hills?

Point 9 (People / tracking point - boy with fishing rod) The small boy fishing depicts the current Lord Anglesey as a boy. If you look closely you may notice that there is no line on his rod, it is said that Rex remarked that he did not require one, as he never caught anything.Other members of the family are also depicted in various guises, can you see the statue of the 6th Marquis riding a horse? When the painting was commissioned in 1936 (by the 6th Marquis) it was initially intended to be a battle scene, however Rex was given permission to paint the impressive mural you now see, as long as he included interesting details that would spark dinner conversation, no doubt they did.

Point 10 (The artist sweeping up rose petals / tracking point - Rex's self portrait): In this self-portrait Rex has shown himself as gardener, sweeping up rose petals (a symbol or unrequited love). His choice of costume may be to convey that he is of a lower class than Caroline (the oldest daughter of the 6th Marquis) with whom he had fallen in love. The Italianate buildings in the background are that of Portmeirion, if you look closely you will see a man looking up at a window reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet (could this be Rex and Caroline?), and a boy urinating against a wall.

Photographing Plas Newydd

I visited Plas Newydd today to photograph the Rex Whistler wall painting. As I remembered the wall painting is very impressive, it also has a comic touch that can be seen in the different details. There was a slight issue with photographing as it was a very dark day (heavy rain all day) and the light fittings only dimly illuminate the wall painting, this might also be an issue when the display is in use (the previous time I visited it was a very bright sunny day with light streaming through the windows). I can see now why galleries and museums are a popular choice for other augmented studies as the lighting is often brighter and more consistent (this may of course be a key issue in relation to the suitability of augmented interpretation for the setting). In order to better understand the mural I listened to many of the guides, who were very knowledgeable about the details of it. The guides are able to convey a lot of information, and are good at using entertaining details. The display would not of course replace the need for guides, as its use is focused more on a personal exploration by the visitor (though it raises the question of whether the guides negate the need for the display? It could be that where the display would really excel is in the additional media that could be potentially included). Other interpretation was pretty minimal, a brief overview was provided by a printed pick-up sheet, and the exhibition next door contains some production photographs and drawings. The following notes outline possible content for the information points (collated from the guide’s descriptions, and the available literature that could be found):

1. Painting details (Painted by Rex Whistler, one piece of canvas woven in France (needed large loom), painted in a London stage scenery studio (Lambeth) over two years, oil painting (kept thin so the painting could be rolled up, transported by train and later to the house by horse and cart), difficult job to hang (paid as much as Rex, had to be ironed to remove bubbles, took three months to get flat), Rex paid £1200 (200 forward), family requested that the painting should be full of details to spark dinner conversation, provide those facing away from the windows with something to look at, mirrors, 12 foot 6 high, 58 feet long, family took over house in 30’s wanted a less formal dining room, initially was going to be military scene, Rex may have been recommended trough lady Anglesey’s brother (duke of Rutland, commissioned panel for Haddon hall, 1933), invited to house 1936, no moral tone (light and frivolous)).
2. The artist sweeping up rose petals (painted himself as a gardener not of the station of Caroline, sweeping up petals (unrequited love), Port Merion in background, Romeo and Juliet (Rex and Caroline), boy relieving himself / stealing apples, Queen Victoria).
3. Family members (The current marquis as a boy fishing without a line (never caught anything), the 6^th marquis depicted as statue, lady Anglesey on grand tour).
4. The collection of interesting buildings (the flag (standard of the family), St Martin in the Fields (London church), Harlech castle (up on the hill), Trajan's column (Rome), a public house in Dublin, Popes Palace (Avignon), Admiralty Arch (London), Cleopatra’s Needle (London), St. Peter's Basilica (Rome), another home of the family, the mountains of Snowdonia in background, shows Rex’s amazing ability to reproduce detailed architecture from memory).
5. The change in building style (regents square (Brighton), put in funfair for children).
6. The central island (Windsor Castle, the abdication-crack in tower, the washing line, three masted sailing ship in original design).
7. The replacement tower (painted over ship (still see masts), Rex’s joke about the scaffolding (will have to be taken down again when the marquis changes his mind, the pan on the roof (pantiles), the ghostly figure).
8. The visual tricks within the painting (flagstone lines, over forty vanishing points (seven perspectives), mountains and town seem to foreshorten, boat appears to change direction, light coming in from different directions).
9. Poseidon walking out of the painting (leaving his crown and trident, Paget coat of arms (left, lord Anglesey), Manners coat of arms (Right, lady Anglesey), net hardest thing to paint).
10. The captain with one oar (the other left on shore, captain Lilly a local resident).
11. The other town (originally to be a lighthouse, an un-built door frontage design for Plas Newydd, church at Caernarfon Castle, government building (Bonn, Germany), Totnes high street Devon, Conway Castle, mountains on the way to Llandudno with Aber Falls (Wales)).
12. The family’s dogs (book and glasses (lady Anglesey always losing), cigarette (Rex just stepped away), fussy dog wearing pearls (Cheeky, French bulldog, would only eat the best cut of beef), other dog (Zannu, Pug)).
13. The cello (belonged to 6^th marquis whilst at Eaton, actual music on sheets (for two hands on piano), broken string).
14. The ceiling (fifteen tile deigns (A for Anglesey, two hundred and fifty tiles, egg and dart moulding, pattern repeated in an L shape, ceiling and fireplaces painted by C.W. Beretta (Italian) to Rex’s designs, sepia, creates illusion of recessed coffered ceiling, painted in situ).
15. The Boats in the bay (Caroline sailing the small boat, red sail (Rex’s passion for Caroline, also appears in red petals and red shawl draped over balcony), the family in the gondola, paddle steamer (possibly Maigret, Waverley, from Liverpool), sixty seven boats, the central boat with the Dutch flag, Marimus boat in distance (spent honeymoon)).

Photographing the Whistler Mural.

I am due to go to Plas Newydd tomorrow to photograph the painting, I will be looking to identify and photograph the aspects of interest that will form the content points for the display. I have done some preliminary reading to try and identify some interesting points; however the books were both by Laurence Whistler and focused more on a personal account of the artist’s life rather than an exploration of the artist’s work (and as such lacked an in-depth exploration of the meaning and details of the painting). A number of aspects seem to be of importance within the painting which it may be worth trying to include:

• The painting sits opposite the windows that frame the mountain view of Snowdonia. The author states that ‘Rex resolved to answer it as in a mirror – a mirror that transformed.’ (p204) resulting in the imaginary city / costal / mountain landscape of the mural.
• The tragic unrequited love of the painter for Caroline (the daughter of the family) is depicted in a number of ways (The pair of swallows (love taking flight) / the artist sweeping up rose petals (unrequited love) / the balcony of Romeo and Juliet).
• The detailed architecture that combines real and imaginary buildings into an idealised cityscape (need to find out the specific sources for the buildings).
• The wet footprints of Neptune who has stepped out of the painting and into the house, leaving his trident and crown behind.
• How the painting was made (painted on canvas rather than directly on the wall). Background information on the artist.
• The cleaver use of perspective and tromp l’oeil (the side walkways and the anchor that appears to rotate).
• Member of the family and imaginary characters that have been included in the painting (the girl on water may be Caroline / the current lord Anglesey as a child depicted stealing an apple.
• Items of importance for the family (the cello and dog).
• Visual jokes that the artist has included (the half smoked cigarette, implying that the artist has only just stepped away from the painting).

In order to make sure that I choose the best points, it will be worth talking to the guides about their understanding of the mural. It will also be worth looking at what is included in the current interpretation provision.

First Prototype Trial

I did a pre-trial test study today, where five users (university staff and students) were asked to try the prototype and answer the questionnaire that will be used in the proper study. As expected the Povey version of the display had some issues that affected the way it was used. The initial prototype (finding points) got a mixed response, with some positive feedback and some less so. I will conduct a more detailed look at the feedback over the next few days, but I wanted to get down some initial observations while they are still fresh.

• In discussion after the participant had tried the display, it became evident that there focus was more on testing the technology, rather than looking at and learning about the painting, whilst this is to be expected (the novelty factor) it poses a slight problem for the study. I think that a partial solution is to be careful about the wording about what is expected of them (letting them know that 1) the display is designed to help them understand the painting 2) they should use the display for as long as they want 3) they will be asked questions about their experience of the display and, 4) that they will be asked questions about how well they understand the painting after using the display.
• One user expressed that they were less impressed with the display, as they were expecting something more advanced (a more visually stimulating experience with more of a technology wow factor, like the advanced depictions in films), However they did mention that they are more into there gadgets, and less interested in the content side of the display. I think part of the issue is that I have specifically chosen quite a simple aesthetic as the study is more focused on the impact of different underlying structures (through comparison), than the visual style. They also mentioned that they wanted to see the painting and content in more of a merged experience on the screen, with more interactivity with the displayed content.
•  I think most of the users were unsure how to use the display at first, I think that a better on device introductions (with visual material - illustration, photo or video) may work better, especially for the less technology competent user. 
• As expected most of the visitors complained of their arms getting tired as they needed to hold the tablet in such a high position in order to get it to track. 
• Some users seemed uncertain about where to stand and the distance they should be from the painting. Whilst some moved around to find the best position others seemed less willing to do so. The problem was that with the Povey trial version some points required you to be close and some further away, however the users seemed to find a mid position and only looked at the points that tracked from that distance. In the proper version it will be better to have all points track from about the same distance, and tell the users the optimum distance at which they should hold the device (e.g. 1 meter) from the artefact.
• Some users said that they gave up as they were not sure how many content points there were to find, and as such were not sure if they had finished.
• Glare was a bit of an issue with some of the tracking points, where the painting was by the bright light source of the window. This resulted in the user pointing the device to where a tracking point is and getting no response. 
• I found the observation scale quite hard to use as it is quite subjective (it is impossible to tell if the user is enjoying the display). I think most of the category's are OK, and a bit more practice at using the scale will be useful. It is also essential to have the 'cant tell' option and use it where no observation judgement can be identified.
• For the proper study I need to be more consistent in how the questions are asked. In the pre-trial I took the initial standpoint of holding the questionnaire and reading out the question but allowing the participant to scan the available options (multiple choice) and say which one they wanted. One participant expressed a preference for being given the questionnaire and filling it in on there own. This may have the benefit that they will be more willing to put down their true opinion, by there is more possibility that they will not answer all the questions.

Study Confirmation

Good news, after some waiting permission to carry out my PhD study at the intended site has been granted (the site I wanted as it has a very good wall  mural, which would be perfect for augmented interpretation trials). Hopefully things will progress after I get back from Vietnam. Of key importance is getting the display transferred over to the mural, this will involve:

• Choosing the information points (and taking a reference photo for each point). I intend to ask the staff / volunteers which points they think are really interesting as they will probably know the mural well.
• Writing the content for each point.
• Modifying the android app with the new content (hopefully this should not be to hard).

In terms of conducting the trail days, I was thinking of testing the different versions of the display on different Saturdays (in order to try and capture a similar study population). There is a bit of a time limit at the moment as the property closes for the winter in early November so I need to get the initial two trials in before then. I was also intending to conduct a small survey before the prototype testing, to gauge the site visitors expressed interest in this form of interpretation.

Over the next few days I was also intending to do the small pretrial prototype test of the version of the display I built for the Povey mural. This will be useful as a pretest for the proper study (ironing out any issues with the questionnaires and other study tools). However as I have identified that the mural is not really suitable for the type of display I am testing, the pretrial will be a chance to identify if the users also find this to be the case, and explore what use issues they encountered. As the is not at a site with passing visitors (like the intended study site), I will probably have to ask a small number of students to be test subjects (a.k.a willing volunteers). I was thinking that about three to five subjects should suffice (which is similar to other pretest studies I have read about).

Interesting Conference Title

In line with the previous post, I have had the thought that my paper for the conference should be something along the lines of:

What's the problem with Edward Poveys Hall of Illusions? - initial explorations with augmented interpretation.

I think this might offer an interesting paper, and will tie into writing the chapter.

The First Post

So the time has come for my first blog post (long overdue), the following blog entries relate to my developing  PhD work which is concerned with using new media (specifically augmented reality) as an interpretation tool for the heritage sector. In an attempt to finally get organised and make some progress with my writing, I have  decided to keep a blog of my developing production work, research and general musings.

I had a meeting about my work yesterday which raised some interesting points that I have had to ponder over. Firstly, I have probably focused to much on building the prototype (and making sure that it is all working ), an have possibly neglected recording the process. The point was raised that I have already done enough work for a chapter which needs to be written up. This would be:

• Chapter 1: Creating and testing the initial prototype (which for initial convenience was built around the Edward Povey Hall of Illusions mural at Bangor University).
• Chapter 2: Choosing the proper heritage site and trailing the basic agented display.
• Chapter 3: Trailing and comparing the alternative treasure hunt style display.

I think the problem was that I never really intended to use the Povey painting as I always wanted to work at a dedicated heritage site (e.g. a national trust site) as this has the benefit of a stream of visitors (the willing study population) to try the display. However, approaching a site was put back due to teaching responsibility and it seemed like a good idea to make sure that I could get the display working (by testing it on the Povey painting) before approaching the intended site. Whilst I have got the display working with the Povey painting, it turns out that the painting is not quite suitable for the type of augmented display I am putting together (the main issue is the scale of the painting, and the distance from it that you need to stand). Because of this, it was my intention to move on to transferring the painting over to the selected heritage site, however it was pointed out that I am missing an opportunity in not turning the Povey pre-trial into a chapter in its own right, and exploring in detail why the painting was not a suitable subject for the augmented interpretation (the term I have come to use to explain what I am doing). I think that this would be a really good approach. With this in mind I think that I need to do a few things.

• Write the questions to test the test subjects understanding in relation to the augmented painting.
• Put together a short usability issue questionnaire (to identify the main user issues with the Povey version of the display).
• Run the pre trial with three test subjects (probably willing students).

I need to try and do this as soon as possible, as I have a conference coming up and it would be good to use the pre-trial as the focus.