Designing an augmented reality experience to increase awareness of Indigenous histories and knowledges

This article provides an overview of a design for a proposed project to increase awareness of Indigenous histories and knowledges through an Augmented Reality (AR) experience designed for Swinburne University of Technology's Hawthorn campus. Key issues are firstly introduced regarding an Aboriginal understanding of place and history, and the myriad problems faced in communicating such knowledges when confronted with the repercussions of colonisation. The benefits of technology and play, as embodied in Augmented Reality, for addressing these problems are then articulated and explored. This is followed by a qualitative study wherein five members of Swinburne University of Technology staff, identifying as Indigenous, were interviewed in a semi-structured format following the principles of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, generating three pillars for the proposed design: Place, Language, Connection. These pillars are then extrapolated and ruminated upon in the Conclusion as principles for the design.