Building Communities is an augmented reality activity developed for the exhibit “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination.” In “Building Communities” visitors create and manipulate a virtual, 3-D environment (visible in the virtual mirror of the screen) by moving objects (“glyph” cards) in the real world. The challenge is to create sustainable, livable communities in the harsh environments of the Star Wars universe. Visitors are encouraged to think about the community as a system, to evaluate the costs and benefits of resource use and growth–what are the potential technological and environmental limiting factors on a population?
This exhibit was developed at the Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with programmers from the Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington. I did all content research and worked with Ed Rodley on the concept design of the project. Case Design: Mike Horvath.
