Title: Storytelling and remote-sensing playful interventions to foster biodiversity awareness

Authors: Catia Prandi; Valentina Nisi; Pedro Loureiro; Nuno J. Nunes

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni, 33, 40126 Bologna, Italy; ITI/LARSYS, Polo Científico e Tecnológico da Madeira, Caminho da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal ' Department of Exact Sciences and Engineering, University of Madeira, Penteada University Campus 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal; ITI/LARSYS, Polo Científico e Tecnológico da Madeira, Caminho da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; ITI/LARSYS, Polo Científico e Tecnológico da Madeira, Caminho da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal

Abstract: Different kinds of gameful activities have been successfully exploited to foster engagement and arouse highly motivated behaviour in many areas. A particular type of game, Game with a purpose, has been used in educational contexts, to raise awareness about societal challenges. We envisaged making use of such kind of game in order to foster awareness about biodiversity, in more-than-human urban spaces. The game, named u-Gene, has been designed leveraging on remote-sensing infrastructures to record animals' calls and on the citizen science framework to engage players. Through the game, the player can have fun while incidentally learn about the biodiversity of a specific environment. As a secondary effect of the playful and learning activity, the player can help scientists and researchers in creating a validated dataset of animals' calls, classifying the provided sample. The paper presents the design process, the implementation and the evaluation of our playful intervention, exploiting storytelling and remote-sensing to increase biodiversity awareness. Findings of the preliminary evaluation in the field confirm the potential of our approach.

Keywords: game with a purpose; remote-sensing; biodiversity monitoring; biodiversity awareness; storytelling; bioacoustic sensors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2020.107680

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2020 Vol.12 No.1, pp.39 - 59

Received: 01 May 2019
Accepted: 01 Jul 2019
Published online: 08 Jun 2020 *

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