I was lucky enough to be asked at short notice if I could run an artcode workshop in Caistor just outside of Norwich. Of course I jumped at the chance because I love exploring applications of the artcodes and the Roman town seemed like such an exciting location for it.
Along with Theresa, one of the Wander Anywhere developers, and Will, an archaeologist specialising in Caistor Roman Town, I met with a group of archaeologists and local Caistor enthusiasts to teach them how to create an artcode and discuss the possibilities in the area.
Our guests designed some really wonderful artcodes using some Roman books for inspiration.
Not only were we discussing the use of artcodes but also Wander Anywhere, a website that allows you to link information with a location that can then be accessed by others when they visit that location using GPS. It's something that I was totally unfamiliar with until the workshop and it seemed equally as exciting as Aestheticodes. The idea was that people visiting Caistor could get extra information relating to their location within the town through either using Wander Anywhere or by scanning an artcode places within the town. This information could be written, an audio file or a visual reconstruction and could be delivered purely as additional information or perhaps as a game, such as a treasure hunt guiding visitors around the site.
Of course we had to visit the town during the workshop to really get a feel for how these ideas could be applied. I was really excited about this because I'd never been before and I was basically surrounded by a whole team of experts in the field (that's a great pun by the way because it really is a field now) and got a really interesting tour.
As I mentioned, the town is now a green field, one of the few Roman towns in the country like that. It was fascinating hearing some of the possibilities to explain why Caistor became abandoned. Why wasn't Norwich built upon it? Why was Caistor built where it was? The site really does hold some mysteries, however, to the untrained eye,with the exception of the wall (which is barely Roman) it is mostly just a field. This is where I think Wander Anywhere and Aestheticodes would be perfect. A tool to allow visitors to interact, understand and visualise what once was there.
Unfortunately we had some problems with accessing the internet in order to view the information on the Wander Anywhere website as we needed a constant connection to ensure that we received the information as we were in the correct location. Aestheticodes was slightly better as you could scan a code and then wait while the information loaded, information isn't missed but can take a while to load. However, this isn't ideal for a truly interactive experience. One option for Wander Anywhere is that there is the possibility of being able to download information before hand and then access it using the GPS as a trigger rather than relying on the Internet at the time. This offers a great solution to the problem and, as long as visitors are aware of the website before hand so they know to download the information, could really work. I can imagine this could also be a possible solution for Aestheticodes too but would have to be looked into.
In the meantime, it got me thinking about how fantastic Wander Anywhere and Aestheticodes could be for creating treasure trails around a city. What about a guide to all the Roman remains in London? Or perhaps ghost stories?! It's not Caistor, I know (sorry Will), but there's plenty of WiFi and 3G!
Thanks to everyone involved for a brilliant day! Everyone was so switched on and engaged, it made for a really thought provoking workshop and I couldn't have hoped for a better team of people to work with!
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