Augmenting Alice: an augmented comic about a Mparntwe road trip
Date
2025
Authors
Emery, S.
Viljoen, J.M.
Blaiklock, D.
Editors
Scott, R.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Book chapter
Citation
Source details - Title: Folio Essays on Australian Comics, 2025 / Scott, R. (ed./s), Ch.11, pp.245-268
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Alice, an augmented comic incorporating a four-page printed comic and an augmented reality (AR) application (by South Australian artist/developers Emery and Blaiklock, 2021), depicts a deepening father/daughter relationship whilst on an Australian road trip. In merging the comics format with AR, this comic facilitates deep engagement with the place of Alice Springs/Mparntwe by leveraging the multiple narrative perspectives, material qualities, and multi-sensory experiences typical of the comics form. However, extending it beyond its physical surface and primary story into multifaceted times and settings through AR involves the reader/viewer in generating the narrative order and content in ways which enhance participation in the narrative.
For example, not only is the reader/viewer able to discover multiple hidden perspectives by seeing 360-degree imagery from the point-of-view of the character and alternate events, see handwritten notes on maps, hear recordings of voices and sound, and view video in response to their own physical interactions with the comic, they are also able to manipulate these through elements of interactivity, including through directed touch (Anette Hagen and Elise Seip Tønnessen, “Worlds and Reader/viewers: Augmented Reality in Modern Polaxis,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 16, no. 2 (2022)). This chapter will demonstrate the power of such augmented comics to enhance the possibilities for participatory narrative forms to bridge generational perspectives about Australian places and belonging such as Alice Springs/Mparntwe, which already holds an iconic place in contemporary Australian literature.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025
Access Condition Notes: Accepted manuscript available after 1 October 2026