<< Back to Tasting Menu of EBOW projects
#1. Interactive Story Garden with Three Birds (Milton, WI)
- Creator: The Milton Public Public Library is small-town library in Wisconsin that serves approximately 11,000 people.
- Overview: Text with one of three birds in a sculpture just outside the library: Ezra, Avo, and Scout are perched at the entrance to a story garden. Three unique personalities were developed for each of the birds by library staff. One was written by students from a local school; a second gives a tour of the grounds; a third gives some of the library’s powerful history – and features photographs texted directly to the participant’s phone. A local illustrator drew the three friendly birds.
- Outcomes: place activation for economic development; outdoor signs to start the experience; bringing a sculpture or mural to life with personality and dialog.
Images (click-to-expand):
Useful links
- The library’s page for their story gardens
- Recruiting posts by the library for Facebook and for Instagram
Design tactics and tools
- Outdoor signs to start the experience – moving from physical to digital; tapping into attention flows of public space
- Bringing a sculpture or mural to life using hosts and dialog
- Placemaking as outcome and tactic
- Related tools: automated texting, physical signs, QR codes
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “text with a sculpture“(PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#2. Ghost of the Caboose (Umatilla, FL)
- Creator: Umatilla Public Library (Umatilla, FL). Small town municipal library and member of county co-op. Joined in the fall of 2022.
- OVERVIEW: Community members were able to participate in a spooky story led by a friendly ghost about a famous historical caboose in the center of town. The library launched this activity in time for Halloween and have since continued to expand on the project by adding narrative flourishes.
Images (click-to-expand):
Design highlights:
- Use of a Halloween as a popular event with foot traffic to launch (with a decorative table!) as a launch point/firm launch deadline
- Narrative with significant branching (very dense)
- Fictional character (mascot) as a host/tour guide
- Process: layers of narrative were added gradually over time, becoming more complex gradually
- Process: likened to writing a screenplay or poem; format is important to keep in mind when the narrative is being thought of and written out for implementation within the confines of how that narrative is received by players
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Ghost Tour” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#3. Bike Tour of Branch History (Washington, D.C.)
- Creator: DC Public Library (Washington D.C.). Urban library system with 26 individual libraries and a partner of the EBOW project.
- Overview: A bike tour of newly named branches (group tour with leader, or self-guided) with a circuit map takes riders through seven DC neighborhood libraries. Each location had a specialty flier for check-in, goodies to take home, and most importantly the historic images and context to explain how the branch or space had been recently renamed or named in honor of a DC historic figure or resident. Solo riders could also go on their own at any time or join later.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Useful links
- Read more: https://www.hivemechanic.org/2022/06/16/tour-de-dcpl-whats-in-a-name/
- (Link available: https://www.dclibrary.org/bike-month-2023)
Design tactics and tools
- printed flyers to start the experience – moving from physical to digital; tapping into attention flows of public space
- augmenting an existing bike tour
- related tools: automated texting, physical signs, QR codes [links to techne report – to come]
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “tour with trivia” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#4. Downtown Storywalk on Architectural Shapes (Spooner, WI)
- Creator: Rural library servicing Washburn County in Spooner, WI. The Spooner Memorial Library joined in the fall of 2022.
- Overview: Participants walk around their community to take photographs of shapes they spot. The shapes theme came from a book to teach different shapes to young kids, which they were encouraged to read at each stop of the activity. Participants had the option to participate in the activity as part of another StoryWalk the library was hosting. The virtual activity was integrated with four stops on the StoryWalk and involved taking pictures of shapes in their surroundings and answering trivia questions.
Images (click-to-expand):
Design tactics and tools
- printed flyers to start the experience – moving from physical to digital; tapping into attention flows of public space
- augmenting an existing bike tour
- related tools: automated texting, physical signs, QR codes [links to techne report – to come]
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “I Spy Photo Collecting” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#5. Black Feminist Exhibit — Augmented Voice Tour (Washington, D.C.)
- Creator: The Women’s History Museum at the DC Public Library (Washington, DC). Created as a part of the Black Feminist Exhibit hosted at the DC Public Library; The Women’s History Museum has no public exhibition space of their own. Joined in the spring of 2023, independently.
- Overview: An audio walking tour through the “Black Feminist” exhibit created in collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum for the MLK branch of the D.C. Public Library. This physical installation is augmented by the voice of D.C. community leader Katea Stitt who provides her insights and stories of the history “beyond” the exhibit, guiding participants with images and text.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Design tactics and tools
- printed flyers to start the experience – moving from physical to digital; tapping into attention flows of public space
- augmenting an existing bike tour
- related tools: automated texting, physical signs, QR codes [links to techne report – to come]
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Insider Voice Tour with Choices” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#6. Circulation Desk Box (Montclair, NJ)
- Creator: The Montclair Public Library (Montclair, NJ). Suburban community library with one branch. Joined in the fall of 2022
- Overview: This box was created to be an FAQ style of interaction for people seeking common information at the circulation desk, perhaps to be used when there may not be a librarian immediately available to answer a common question. The blue is eye-catching and the box feels almost like a stage for the screen. We were drawn in, and found ourselves asking, “What can you do here?” In other words, the object itself was a hook for our attention. Inside is a repurposed laptop with touchscreen capabilities. Buttons on the screen allow patrons to explore branching stories (e.g., choose-your-own-adventure), or to select their interests. The physical structure is mostly cardboard with about $15 worth of wallpaper, and signage printed in the library. (Hurrah for cardboard prototyping!) The narrative is controlled with ordinary Google Slides using a little fancy hot-linking. The whole thing is positioned next to the front desk at the branch library.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand) more to come… :
Useful links
- Read more: https://www.hivemechanic.org/2023/08/15/blue-box-low-cost-storytelling-box/
- Short Demo of Montclair Box
- Long Demo of Montclair box
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Storytelling box with touchscreen” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#7. Then and Now Around Grand Ledge (Grand Ledge, MI)
- Creator: Grand Ledge Area District Library (Grand Ledge, MI). Suburban/rural library servicing Grand Ledge and the surrounding farm lands. No branches, but nearby MSU and LCC community college. Joined in the spring of 2023
- Overview: A tour around Grand Ledge, Michigan beginning at the public library that uses the statue of a cat, named Webster, as the tour guide to follow around town. The project launch was publicized on the library’s website and activated by QR codes with prompts that speak directly to the feline tour guide. The library drew from a large archive of historic photos to text everyone that continued their dialogue with Webster throughout the tour to points of interest around town.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand) more to come… :
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
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#8. Main Street Historical Scavenger Hunt (Spencer County, KY)
- Creator: Spencer County Public Library (Taylorsville, Spencer County, KY). Rural library with no branches. Joined in the spring of 2023
- Overview: A scavenger hunt that ties in some history of the small Kentucky town to five businesses and points of interest near Main Street in Taylorsville, KY. Each location of the scavenger hunt was chosen through collaboration with library staff who asked participating locations to display a sign that prompted the text-based scavenger hunt. A puppet from the library, Dogwood the Cat, is featured as the host of the scavenger hunt on each sign and is the personality for the text message interactions. At each location along the hunt, a keyword must be unscrambled in order to get the clue for the next location in the sequence. The narrative includes a playful “Magic 8 Ball” component developed by library staff that injects some unexpected outcomes to this playful activity that brings people onto the streets of this small historic town.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand) more to come… :
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Escape Room-Style Tour” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#9. Bookmobile Quest – Chat with the Bookmobile
(Arrowhead, MN)
- Creator: Arrowhead Library System Bookmobile (Arrowhead, MN). Bookmobile (mobile library) servicing dozens of towns without libraries of their own in a large, very rural area around the shores of Lake Superior in the Iron Range. Joined in the fall of 2023.
- Overview: The Bookmobile’s files have gotten scrambled and she needs your help to sort them out; answer questions to help the Bookmobile get functioning again. This playful text based puzzle created by library staff prompts participants with custom signage to engage with this important resource of the Arrowhead Library System.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Useful links
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
Sequencing Puzzle
Try our recipe for “Sequencing Puzzle” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#10. Brookings Historical Texting Tour (Brookings, SD)
- Creator: Brookings Public Library (Brookings, SD). Rural library located in downtown Brookings, SD servicing the local area and an entrant on the National Register of Historic Districts. Joined in the fall of 2023.
- Overview: A tour of historical downtown Brookings led by a caricature of town founder Wilmot Brookings, pioneer & Provisional Governor of the Dakota Territory, Brookings’ namesake and the logo of Wooden Legs Brewing Company’s. The project helped to bring to light stories associated with historic points of interest, architectural curiosities, and local trivia through a text and image guided tour through the home of South Dakota State University. Despite being the town’s namesake very few residents of Brookings, including the creators of this project, knew the story behind the wooden-legged town founder but the local brewery did have some knowledge of this character and developed a brand around the historic figure. The process not only helped illuminate previously obscured local history, but strengthened local ties with library staff through their collaboration with the popular brewery in using their cartoon logo of Wilmot Brookings throughout the tour as a mascot.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Quote(s) from interviews:
“I have not done coding. I have not done anything like – well, I guess I’ve done a little bit of dabbling – but like I don’t have a, you know, an engineering background. But I could go in and do quite a bit with a little bit of training.”
– interview with the creators (NS)
Quote(s) from Local Media:
“a historical texting tour of Downtown Brookings. Take the tour to learn historical facts and tidbits about the Downtown Brookings area from the intrepid adventurer, Wilmot Brookings.
Participants can play at home or walk around town and follow the tour path. All you have to do is text “ADVENTURE” to 605-525-6415 to receive your first text and start the tour. Everyone who completes the tour will receive a “Certified Brookings Explorer” sticker.”
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
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#11. Bellows Falls in Time (Bellows Falls, VT)
- Creator: Rockingham Free Public Library in collaboration with the Bellows Falls Historical Society, the Town of Rockingham, the Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission, and the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance (Bellows Falls, VT). Rural, village library located in the historic downtown Bellows Falls, VT. Joined in the fall of 2023.
- Overview: A guided text-based tour through the village of Bellows Falls led by a mysterious character who knows the charming history and stories behind the landmarks of the village.
Many community partners are involved in this project including: Rockingham for Progress, Bellows Falls Downtown Development Association, Greater Falls Chamber of Commerce, Town of Rockingham Development Office, Bellows Falls Rotary, Falls Area Community Television, Wild Goose Players, Bellows Falls Historical Society, and individual community leaders - Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Quote(s) from interviews:
“We see ourselves as a hub connecting people with information and sources. So this was an opportunity for us at each of our stops to coordinate or collaborate with another local organizations and really develop our community partners more.” – interview with the creators
“I just love actually applying history and making it accessible to people cause people don’t realize how much history they’re actually walking around.” – interview with the creators
Quote(s) from Local Media:
“The library is pleased to be launching a new outdoor, immersive experience throughout the village and history called “Bellows Falls in Time.” Part scavenger hunt and part history lesson, all anyone needs to play is a cell phone.
Bellows Falls in Time begins in front of the library by texting “Hello” to a number, or scanning a QR code, both available at the library, to start receiving messages from someone lost in time who needs to visit historic locations in the village to remember who they are, and why Bellows Falls is important to them. Participants will need to have their cell phone sounds up, answer their phone or check their messages, and click the links to find the clues, get instructions on where to go, and solve the mystery.”
Useful links
- Video of the game played by Rotary Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gi-l7jy7K8
- https://vermontjournal.com/history/adventure-begins-at-the-rockingham-library/
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Multimedia Tour” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#12. The Casa Peralta Tiles (San Leandro, CA)
- Creator: The San Leandro History Museum with the San Leandro Public Library Department (San Leandro, CA). Urban city library servicing their downtown area. Joined in the fall of 2023.
- Overview: A bilingual audio scavenger hunt exploring the grounds outside the library by the historic Casa Peralta, a unique local architectural gem known for custom tiles depicting the story of Don Quixote. The tour is led by a locally produced voiceover of Don Quixote, who narrates from a phone call to participants as they explore the property. While hearing accounts of select custom tiles from the character himself participants are exposed to this underappreciated local jewel and the story of Don Quixote which was such an important inspiration to the original owner of Casa Peralta and a wonderful tie-in to this California town.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Quote(s) from interviews:
“just getting to even like, walk around outside and like make this little scavenger hunt was really enjoyable, and I got to look at the tiles a lot harder than I’d ever looked at them before. So I learned a lot in the process, too.” – interview with the creators
Useful links
- Video advertising the release of the activity >>> Discover the Don Quixote Scavenger Hunt at San Leandro’s Casa Peralta
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
Recipe to make your own
Try our recipe for “Phone Calls to Guide a Hunt” (PDF). It’s a kind of template to make your own version of this activity.
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#13. Hanging Out with Bernice (Winchester, WI)
- Creator: Winchester Public Library (Winchester, WI). Rural library in Northern Wisconsin. Joined in the spring of 2023.
- Overview: A walking tour through a small rural Wisconsin town, guided by the fictional conversations of a very real early 20th century resident, Bernice Buck. Bernice’s persona for the walking tour was developed by library staff as a precocious “roaring twenties” flapper, and after loose dialogue was written by the staff ChatGPT was employed to rewrite this dialogue in the voice of the period. Bernice’s family history provides a series of twists and turns that provide a compelling narrative throughout the tour, which is accompanied by a rich set of personal photos from the Buck family. The narrative is centered around this influential local family, whose rich history provides opportunities to illuminate historic gems and oddities specific to Winchester, such as a unique photograph of Al Capone taken in town as well as the former gangsters connection to local baseball.
- Outcomes:
Images (click-to-expand):
Design tactics and tools
- more to come…
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