Initial Explorations:
Before settling on my audience, I was exploring the idea of storytelling in a remote space, initially looking at an interaction between two friends or a parent and child separated. I focused my initial research in the idea of recreating very personal experiences through remote means, as well as how to turn those experiences into something familiar yet exciting and new.
My first iteration was built around the idea of having AR spaces built into storytelling through an interactive AR building set.
The concept was frankly too complex and didn’t serve a purpose. So moving forwards, I tried to inject more meaning and passion into it by adding in storytelling through comics and gamifying the concept.
Following that process, I came to the idea of an AR module that would allow two players to simultaneously create and play through an interactive story, like an escape room or puzzle game. One user would interact by using a digital design interface in the vein of SketchUp, and the other would use the module to interact with a 3d volumetric projection of that space. The idea still didn’t have relevance to any sort of remote relationship, though, and overall didn’t seem to hold a purpose, especially one that could really be researched to improvement.
So instead, I took my idea and tried to make it fit a more streamlined and specific audience. Thinking about the idea of children and parents who are separated, I started to conduct research into incarcerated parents, who are separated from their children for years, and even decades at a time. Taking this idea I had developed, I wanted to adapt it to this audience that I felt both better benefitted from and was in need of.
Full Research
My Research from this point forward focused on groups of the following:
Prison protocol
Child psychology
Comics used in the field of psychology
Inmate psychology
These concepts would allow me to understand the limitations both physical and psychological my project would fall under. It also helped me uncover what would be the most helpful to focus on throughout the project.
Below is an itemized list of sources used and what I and my project gained from each:
This study opened up the idea of using comics to refine behavior while building social skills and bringing two people together. This helped me decide on a remote collaborative storytelling experience through comics.
This info piece steered me away from a digital realm, as prisoners’ internet and digital access is severely limited and exploited by the prison industrial complex.
This info page confirmed that I could set up a kiosk within a prison as part of my interaction.
This study explained the implications of art programs in prisons and how they help prisoners work towards success in vocational and post-incarceration programs.
Tre Maison Dasan – Trailer
This story gave me a great example of what a child in this position often values and needs and gave me a focus on this relationship that is uniquely trying but rewarding for both parties.
This piece gave data on re-incarceration and the cyclical nature of prisons, as well as ideas to how to orient my project against this phenomenon.
Resources for Children of Prisoners
This piece discussed the use of storytelling and role creation for children with incarcerated parents. This was useful for finding a niche for my project.
Storycorps went over more details of the child/incarcerated parent relationship.
This piece highlights the importance and prevalence of inmate abandonment and solidified my purpose of reducing this trend.
This piece uncovers the unfair treatment of inmates regarding their children and their custody. It also discusses the foster care system and the importance of keeping touch in prison.
A piece on the importance of the arts in rehabilitation
Final Project
The final piece became Connections Redrawn, a book given to incarcerated parents and children that allowed them to communicate through storytelling long distance, mailing each other comics through an app to eliminate wait times. Doing so would withhold their relationship remotely and provide a useful creative outlet.