THE FLYWAY

An Interactive Digital Narrative

By Remo Kachere
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Design brief 3
Opportunity space 4
Research 5
SWOT Analysis 11
Empathy Map 12
Concept One 14
Concept Two 15
Evaluation of Concepts 17
Concept Three 18
Storyboard Examples 20
User Flow 22
Prototype 26
Test Methods 34
Test Results 36
Bibliograph 38
 DESIGN BRIEF

VISUAL DESIGN BACKGROUND

In modern times, humans have altered the natural environment that most animals
adapted to live in, their ways of living depend heavily on what their surroundings
provided them with and nowadays it is a different story. The growth and advance-
ment in technology by humans has left environments inhabitable by creatures that
call them home. Artificial structures have taken over the space and the animals
that decide to stay in those areas are compromising their existence with extinc-
tion.

THE PROJECT

The flyway is a digital story narrative by two characters, mother bird and son bird.
In the story the characters will be highlighting the challenges that they face when
they migrate from one part of the world to the other. The story has a game com-
ponent to it, participants would navigate the story in multilinear ways and this is
dictated by the way the player plays. That said, the are so many ways the story
could end and it is all up to the participant.

GOALS/INTENTIONS OBJECTIVE/S

Make people question approach to de- To raise awareness about light

sign of anything that has potential to trig- pollution and its negative effects
ger unwanted interactions or behaviors on nocturnally migrating birds
OPPORTUNITY/PROBLEM SPACE

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT IS A KILLS BIRDS (LIGHT POLLUTION)

Light pollution has a great negative impact on nocturnally migrating birds. The
birds confuse artificial light with celestial cues like the moon and stars. They use
the moon and stars as navigation tools on clear night skies. When birds fly over cit-
ies, artificial light lures the birds and it disorients them in the process, and this has
a catastrophic results.
RESEARCH
Birds confuse artificial light with the moon
Light pollution hides their navigational aids in urban
areas birds stay at lit areas and hesitate to live, urban
cities provide little food for them light pollution is more
subtle and its effects have not received the atten-
tion they deserve. Disoriented, the birds are pulled off
course and into an unfamiliar maze of lighted buildings.
In trying to follow their instincts, they often collide with
the windows or walls of the buildings, or even with oth-
er disoriented birds.

300 MILLION
DEATHS PER YEAR IN NORTH AMERICA BIRDS COLLUSION INTO LIGHTED STRUCTURES
TO 1BILLION
EXAMPLES OF GOOD AND BAD LIGHT

GOOD LIGHT

Good light structure, does not pollute the

BAD LIGHT sky but is usually put side by side with bad
light structures and it effectiveness is over-
shadowed by the glare from the bad light.
Why mix good light and bad light?
OUTDOOR LIGHT TYPES IN VANCOUVER

There is inconsistent light distribution for majority of the city’s outdoor

lights. Areas like false creek has somewhat consistent lights that are
shielded but this is overwhelmed by lights on the opposite side which
is downtown Vancouver and it dominates the city’s nightsky.
CURRENT LIGHT SYTEM IN VANCOVER IDEAL LIGHT SYSTEM (UNIFORM LIGHTS)

When there is inconsistent light distribution, light is shot in the sky where it is When light is focused where it is needed, energy is saved, celestial cues become highly
not needed and this is what create light glare which is light pollution. Celestial visible and this helps nocturnal animals. Nocturnally migrating bird would somewhat fol-
cues are blocked and overall energy is wasted. low true flyways when there is minimal artificial light shooting up in the sky.
EFFECTS OF ARTIFICIAL ON LOST HERITAGE

MIGRATORY BIRDS

LOST TRAVELLERS DEATH BY

STARVATION

DEATH BY
ATTRACTION APPROACH CONFUSION DISORIENTATION COLLUSION COLLUSION

FATIGUE DEATH BY
FATIGUE

EASY PREY BY
OTHER ANIMALS
IS SOLVING THE PROBLEM URGENT? WHY IM DOING THIS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

Not so urgent when it comes to the effects on humans

We co-exist with other with other animal species and
but urgent when it comes to some bird species that
human technology has negative effects on them.
are endangered. It is always nice to take action before
We do not do any consultations with other animals
something terrible happens. whether they like the technology or not and this neg-
ligence is sickening. We need other animals to main-
tain a healthy ecosystem and a balanced food chain.
Birds play a big role in the food chain, they feed on
pests that have great potential of destroying our food
crops.
PRIORITY LIST ON SOLVING
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
• Applications and smart objects like trackers that
make people aware when the birds are migrating.
• Using light bulbs in the blue-green spectrum
which produce minimal light glare in the night sky.
• Designing light fixtures that minimise light glare in
the atmosphere.
• Turning off all the lights at night
• Raising awareness using kids book or digital sto-
rytelling.

it is overlooked right now because the problem

is not affecting us humans at the moment, it is
something we don’t notice because it happens
at night when we are busy sleeping
 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

1) CODING 1) FOLLOW UP 1) POST HUMAN DESIGN 1) BIG CITIES
- Surrounding environment like heavi-
- Processing -how the object is performing - designing for non-human creatures
ly lighted cities and industrial areas
- Javascript -studying animal behaviour towards
- JQuery man-made technology, like, how
2) Lack of knowledge about west coast 2) WEATHER
- Html responsive is a certain animal is
geography - the system intended might not
when interacting with that object/
function when it is heavily clouded
device
2) ELECTRONICS or when the sky is too bright

- Arduino 2) TECHNOLOGY CHANGE 3) VANDALISM

- Lilypad
- Raspberry pi - replacing dying technology with
universally friendly ones
4) FALSE ALARMS
3) RESEARCH
3) LIGHT POLLUTION -other flying creatures or objects
- Observation
may trigger for action
- Co-creation Probes -Environmental degradation
-Design eco-friendly staff
4) DRAFTING 5) ACCEPTANCE

- freehand sketching -By corporations or public, some

might feel like it would be risky
5) ADOBE SOFTWARE for humans to alter light
spectrums or may reduce producti-
- Photoshop vity for big companies who are
- InDesign dependant on artificial light
 EMPATHY MAP
think or feel

cannot chose what i want or not confused vulnarable to birds of prey

I have no say

going exstinct
full of fear
oppressed endangered
bias
hopeless
unfamiliar languages
ignorance
shrinking natural habitats

a lot of artificial structures

no feedback from my cries a lot of nose and it interrupts death in great numbers see
hear communication with my fellow
birds
environmental change highly advanced technology

unnatural sounds highly advanced creatures

adapt
vote for what is safe for all
adjust the lighting
brightly lit structures
design something that masks the light turn the lights off

localise and stop migrating change habitat teleport to intended destination

avoid lighted areas

say/do

PAINS GAINS
fear
death so far no gain, only losses
disorientations
delays
lost habitat
 CONCEPT ONE
Radar tracking

Attaching sensors to lead birds so that there

is communication about when the birds
are flying over cities. Lights are temporarily
turned off during that time.
 network of sensor lights
GPS Tracking sensor Satellite Deemed and Focused light

Song birds are light weight and current GPS trackers are a little heavy and would impede the performance the bird
 CONCEPT TWO
GPS Tracking

Tagging some birds with tracking devices,

triangulating with GPS and a networked light
system. The tracker communicates with GPS
and GPS sends message to the light network
as call for action. Attaching sensors to lead
birds so that there is communication about
when the birds are flying over cities. Lights are
temporarily turned off during that time.
Incoming birds Radar network of sensor lights Deemed light

Very expensive system to set up

 EVALUATION OF CONCEPTS

• The system must be uniform from start to end

• Politics
• Very expensive
• It is just not practical to implement

There is no valid solution if artificial light is present

 CONCEPT THREE
Digital Story Telling

Why am I telling the stories Moral of the story

• Humans must co-exist with birds in a manner that does not endanger the birds.
• Inclusive design (Post human Design)

• Light pollution affects the natural flyways of nocturnally migrating birds • Being responsible designer

• Billions of birds die every year as a result of light pollution • Environmentally friendly designs

• Some bird species are being driven to extinction

• So action is taken to save some bird species before they disappear on earth
 INTERACTIVE DIGITAL STORY

text audio image/s video

GAME
 STORYBOARD EXAMPLES

So you attract me from a

great distance to show me
off that you do not want my
droppings onto your lamp
shade?

“I take the front line when there is danger. Then other birds
will appreciate my leadership. Even though “stars can’t shine
without darkness” we gotta keep moving.

We are so exhausted from flying around

lights, some of did not make it last
night because they crushed into lighted
structures. Positive phototaxis played a
big role to this.
 “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler
is unaware.” This is a dangerous secret destination, we are
flying in circles and that is tiresome.

“ Great you havejoined us the fly-

ers. Be happy ” But remember, life
begins at the end of your comfort
zone.”

We use the moon and stars as a natural way

of night migration. But “Security is mostly a
superstition. It does not exist in nature ANY-
MORE.”

“So you are flying today too.

Just don’t panic up there,
son.Safe journey and happy
landing.”
 GENERAL USER FLOW

status
About
Instructions
THE FLYWAY
Settings fly north fly south

start create profile

start journey

Create profile to choose bird type to em- status

X
pathise with. A brief about each bird on the
About Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, et in massa
click click icon before mouse phasellus, inceptos ipsum diam per tincidunt list would be explained, their current status
over Instructions luctus, massa lectus, feugiat ac varius consequat,
fermentum suspendisse aenean nam. Nisl arcu as either endangered/threatened or near
Settings condimentum luctus, non ante, nullam elit
click hightlight when user mouses natoque tincidunt, feugiat ligula ligula lobortis.
Ultrices lacus ac, nunc sodales wisi, duis arcu
threatened and other staff.
over integer ut at dictumst, in sit sodales, arcu vo-
lutpat vestibulum non aenean a amet. Aliquam
tellus et, non molestiae per sapien nec
click after link is clicked Once a profile is created the user would back to game

be ready to start flying. Since birds fly to

Ideally,the player must go through these and from nesting and wintering sites they
About When user mouses over link, The status page is for the player to check
links first to get a better understanding of experince different conditions like weather
Instructions
it changes color and that is the exact current location on the map, the
color that stays when link is
what the game is all about, how to play and seasons. It would be up to the user to
Settings distance travelled and the course taken
clicked. the game including controls and tips. choose which direction to take.
whether their in the right path or not.

X close page icon

 FLYING THE BIRD USER FLOW

Lorem ipsum is the Lorem ipsum is the

standard dummy text standard dummy text
for many websites. for many websites.
When user mouses over the
It’s origins reside in It’s origins reside in
main node, there is one or more
De finibus bonorum De finibus bonorum
sub-links with more information
et malorum (On the et malorum (On the
about the location. It could be in
ends of good an evil), ends of good an evil),
photo image, text image, au-
a philosophical work a philosophical work
dio file and video file format.
by Cicero written in by Cicero written in
45 BC. Lipsum.com o 45 BC. Lipsum.com o
a nonsensical order. a nonsensical order.

The bird character is Fly over (Mouse over )nodes to reveal in- Click on subfile to zoom file for vi- Press click to close file and go Press click to close If User decides to view
used to navigate the formation about that location. These nodes sual clarity or to activate audio file. back to the main file on that lo- file and go back to the more sub-files, subfiles
map using mouse or are a part of the flyway that birds use when cation. Either click onto the next main file on that loca- visited would indicate
cursor to move back/ migrating at night. subfile that is on the mail file or tion. Either click onto a pale blue color to
forth, or up and down else mouse out of the file to move the next subfile that is avoid revisiting already
to destination/s in- to the next location of own choice on the main file or else viewed files.
tended by the user. mouse out of the file to
The bird would be These are alternative routes followed by move to the next loca-
flying in both natural birds in heavily lighted locations (cities) tion of own choice.
an unnatural environ- for example; Vancouver.
ments to mimic what
the birds are facing
Natural routes followed by birds in the
right now.
absence of artificial light
DETAILED USER FLOW
PROTOTYPE
BACK TO STORY

SCROLL
 PROGRESS STATUS HOME

0 KM 10 000 KM

BACK TO STORY
 PROGRESS STATUS HOME
SCENARIO

MOUSE OVER

CLICK

Lorem ipsum dolor

sit amet, consecte-
tur adipiscing elit.
Morbi imperdiet
mattis suscipit.
Quisque porttitor
E

THE GAME PROTOTYPE

Place holder boxes for media links

Parallex scrolling back-
ground The birds can fly behind, inbetween and
in front of buildings.
Flying birds, the player does not have Main character birds (stella and
control over these birds but they mimic the jay). these are birds doing the nar-
flow of the main character birds. They can ration. A picture or sound plays Interactive cloud that moves across the
move up and down or back and forth whenever they hover over any link sky . It loop evrytime it reaches the far
on the map the end
When mousepressed or The birds loop back evrytime they get to
keypressed, audio plays in The player navigates the game to the end of the screen, they loop back
the background by moving the mouse in all direc- starting from the 0 x-axis
tions. The main character birds
will only move if and only if the
mouse is moving, otherwise, the
character birds remain stationary
The links are on a flymap where the player When the main character birds hover over The background colors are meant to mimic
chooses what do to and where to go making a link, an image, video or audio play until a typical city nightsky that is heavily polluted
it a multi-linear experience. The story is told the birds are not at the coordates of that with light
different for different players. file
TESTING METHODS

BETA TEST

DEVICE TEST

USER TESTING
 BETA TESTING DEVICE TESTING USABILITY TESTING

Scientist 3 Different animal species Easy to train animal, for example; dog

Expert Programmer Preferably young animals Animal language lunguist

Expert Linguist Scientist

For scientist to observe the Interac-

• Testing for device tion
ability to translate accurately • Curiosity To find out if the device/translator:
• Comfort around device
• Duration of interaction • communicating propely
• Identifying bugs • Any revisits or not • is not intimidating to animals
• keeps the animal interested or not
• Critiquing device’s responsiveness
• has good quality like sound, or gestures
smoothly
•

1. To obtain quality feedback about the animals

perception of the device
1. To obtain quality feedback from the experts be- 2. Allows the designer to identify areas that need
fore actual users participate. further exploration- workable solution.

2. Allows the designer to make adjustments using

1. Assess whether the animals responded the way
the experts findings.
deisgner intended them to do.

2. To ensure if the intent has been met.

 TEST PROFILE
Participants selection

Selection based on age of animal and Designer gives animals a guide

Animals go through the testseparately
species intelligence. throughout the procedure

The researchers traced back the history The device is placed strategical where Designer observes how the animals
of the animasl to see if they had previous that animal species frequent/forage interact with the device
contact or training by humans.

After the process is complete, animals are asked to answer some questions about their experience.

1. What they think about the communcation

2. What could be done to promote frequent interaction

3. Ask them if they find the device useful at all or not

4. Ask if it is beneficial for them to be able to participant in decision making of what

affects them and their surrounding
TEST RESULTS

text too small, it is not is easy
to read especially when the
birds are moving fast
Images too small, the text over images
is dominating the image because of the
small size
Some links are off. not coordinating
with media
More than one scene popping up
at the same timewhen one link is
visited
cityscape looking tiny in compari-
son to the light glare
Audio stops everytime when
mouse is pressed which is kind of
distracting
birds flying too slow.
BIBLIOGRAPH

Chepesiuk, Ron. “Missing the Dark: Health Effects of Light Pollution.” Environ- mental Health Perspectives 117.1
(2009): A20–A27. Print.
Main points in this article are:
-hampered evolution and migration of animals
-health issues in humans like cancers and mood disorders -energy efficiency
-disruption of the circadian clock
-lack of attention to the effect of light pollution

Smith, Wesley L. “How I Fly at Night.” No. 260067. SAE Technical Paper, 1926.

Bruderer, Bruno, and Felix Liechti. “Flight behaviour of nocturnally migrating birds in coastal areas: crossing or
coasting.” Journal of Avian Biology (1998): 499-507.
Poot, Hanneke, et al. “Green light for nocturnally migrating birds.” Ecology and Society 13.2 (2008): 47.

Gobel, Stefan, Luca Salvatore, and Robert Konrad. “StoryTec: A digital storytelling platform for the authoring and
experiencing of interactive and non-linear stories.” Automated solutions for Cross Media Content and Multi-channel
Distribution, 2008. AXMEDIS’08. International Conference on. Ieee, 2008.
Schneider, Oliver, Norbert Braun, and Gregor Habinger. “Storylining suspense: An authoring environment for struc-
turing non-linear interactive narratives.” (2003).Tenenbaum, Joshua B., Vin

De Silva, and John C. Langford. “A global geometric framework for nonlinear dimensionality reduction.” Science
290.5500 (2000): 2319-2323.