Multiple perspectives on a city in time and space
As a tourist walking through London you’re likely to visit popular places like The Big Ben, London Eye and Westminster Abbey. These places represent London in its glorious past, but what if you don’t want to go to these tourist hotspots and you want to see London from a different angle? When you, for example, want to discover London from Sherlock Holmes’s point of view or you want to see where your favourite movie was shot. Nowadays you don’t have to pay lots of money to be professionally guided through the city; you could simply download an app for that. How technology can intervene in a person experience and how he/she will interpret the urban environment will be the main subject of this blogpost. To answer this question two apps will be analysed, namely Movie Map London (IOS) and Magic in Modern London (IOS).
Before we can dive into the world of apps and urban tourism we have to introduce the concepts used in this blogpost. Let us start with the notion of ‘lieux de mémoire’ (places of memory), a concept introduced by French historian Pierre Nora in the mid-1980’s.[1] Nora stated that certain places are bound up with a society’s culture of memorialization. These places include physical places like monuments or memorials, but could also be metaphorical places like a song or a celebration. According to Nora, modern Western society has a obsession with the past because of the growing need for individuals and groups to historically root their shared identity. Nora challenged the Durkheimian notion of collective memory as a ‘living’ organic system, because the concept of ‘LDM’ show how social institutions consciously and subconsciously influence the way a society recollects its past and gives form to this recollection. Through these locations and objects we ‘see’ the past, connect with it and give meaning to it. The connection to cultural memory provides a way of understanding the city; to cultivate and direct the ‘gaze’ of the city visitors. It is for this reason when we are in London, we collectively behold the Big Ben or London Bridge. When visiting these monuments, a tourist enters a much larger network of ascribed meaning that’s superimposed on the city map.
The London Tourist Office and other tourist institutions in London like museums want a ‘new generation’ of visitors to experience London as a cultural and historical city. Moreover they want them to personally relate to the cityscape. One of the ways of achieving this is by using modern technology. An example of this is the app Magic in Modern London. This interactive app makes it possible to experience London in the Edwardian Time, by taking the user back to 1908. With the app the user embarks on a quest through London to (digitally) find several amulets which originally belonged to amateur Folklorist Edward Lovett. Every time you have found an amulet, a story will unfold. These stories could be an old wives tale or information about a superstition from that period. Thereby the located amulet provides you with historical knowledge about the location you’re standing, which could for example have been an old hospital. Once you are at there, you will gather information about tuberculosis and how people thought that an amulet would protect them against this disease. Since modern London has gone through major changes, chances are that some historical spots are now modern buildings, like a police office or a shop. The makers have found ways around this by using augmented reality technology and a 20th century map [2] So when you look around, you see modern London with elements of the past, but on your screen you see London from more than 100 years ago. The app symbolically connects the ‘real’ world of modern London, of office buildings and clothing shops, to the collective memory it must denote. Therefore the app is part of the museumization of London, in which ordinary objects and buildings are taken out of their everyday context, in order to receive new institutionalized meaning. Although the app adds a historical layer to the experience of the ‘real’ environment, and could therefore be related to Nora’s concept of Lieux des Memoires, there is also a clear difference. The app also refers to an ‘imagined’ world, because a lot of the folk tales are fictional and haven’t truly occurred.
This problem between imaginative memory and the past in combination with the Lieux des Memoires concept is also noted by Dutch historian Stijn Reijnders. In his article ‘Places of imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour’ Reijnders introduces the new term ‘lieux d’imagination’ (places of imagination). He explains: “Lieux d’imagination’ are physical points of reference, such as objects or places, which for specific groups in the society provide the opportunity to construct and subsequently cross the symbolic boundary between an ‘imagined’ and the ‘real’ world.”[3] For example, the stories you hear in the Magic in Modern London app are mostly folklore, which our elements out an imaginative world which can be experienced in the ‘real’ world by using the app.
The App Movie Map London will be used to clarify Reijnders’ concept. This app shows over 110 film locations from more than 40 movies, like Harry Potter, James Bond Skyfall and Notting Hill. These locations exist and you are able to go there and watch what has happened there. [4] So if a scene is shot in a pub, you can enter the same pub. When you point your camera phone towards such locations, it will automatically show a scene shot on that exact location. The enhanced view of reality with the help of technology is also called augmented reality cinema. So the imaginary world of a movie becomes intertwined with reality, and ‘real’ places and objects invite a temporary transgression of the symbolic boundary between the ‘real’ and the imagined world. As a bonus feature you also get more information about the production of the movie and backstage footage.[5] Through this movie app that particular place is becoming a ´Lieux d’imagination´.
So both the apps provide an easy and cheap way to see London from a different perspective, but as the apps form new ‘lieux d’imagination’ and ‘lieux de memoire’ it attributes locations and objects an active role.[4] Elements in the physical environment get ascribed meaning, which is being emphasized by the apps mentioned above. The LDI and LDM both structure our imagination and our collective memory, but this is the result of a complex process of appropriation where all involved parties defend their own interests. [5] Magic in Modern London shows how the app is part of a reconfiguration of collective historical memory. Movie Map London moreover shows how the app plays an important role in deciding how to imagine the city in relation to existing fictional narratives.
The providing of information on the spatial environment, makes it seem that the objective of the app is to teach audiences about the city. Thereby it would serve a public interest.[6] Although, in actuality the apps are part of a commercial effort to generate profit. Therefore both the apps have to be related to the Market model of David Croteau and William Hoynes. This model is based on the dynamics of supply and demand.[7] So in this case the modern youth demands an app which replaces the guide, by which the creators of the app supply this app. With of course a commercial goal. Not only do you have to purchase the app, you are further stimulated unconsciously to purchase other products. [8] The main target of the app is to enforce consumer behaviour of the participating tourists. For example the Magic in modern London tour is based on an amulet exhibition in a museum. They show you the amulets exhibited in the museum, only you then see them on your mobile screen. If you are not interested to visit the museum, you still have a positive connotation to the museum because they showed you a new perspective of London. The entertainment aspect of the app therefore also promotes the exhibition. Furthermore, The Movie Map London also is focused on the consumer. This app shows you film fragments, which could trigger you to become more interested in the film and later on buy it on DVD/Blue-ray. Thereby your memory of that tour is connected to both the place as to the movie. It gives you an unique feeling, such as watching a Notting Hill scene while you are in Notting Hill. The chances are that you buy that movie, so you can say to your friends: “I’ve been there” or you just watch it as a keepsake as a reminder of the memories. Still the market value of the apps have another aspect to it as well, namely these apps provide jobs. People can become an entrepreneur by creating their own app in their own city. In this way they can make money, but they can also impose their own view of the city on the people downloading and using the app.
We can conclude that apps like Magic in Modern London and Movie Map London are able to change one’s perspective on the city. The apps mentioned above surely change the way people view London, by providing historical and imagined backgrounds to the cityscape. Thereby the apps are able to strengthen the city’s identity, for both its inhabitants as for city branding. Which could also raise new questions. For example are the discussed apps creating a simulacrum of London? Whereby your own reality will only be based on something of the imagination of other humans. [9] For example in the Magic of Modern London app. Thereby the media of apps eventually take over the experience of the real world and your personal reality. With the ultimate result that London can only be fully enjoyed with the intervening of a mobile device or even without being physically in London itself? Or will the apps always be a cheap and handy guide to view London from a different perspective and will the imaginative and reality easily be separated. That is something only the future can answer. Till now we can only conclude that London wouldn’t be the same without the apps.
Tweet: Your perspective and memories about London can be changed by using various apps. #MovieMapLondon #MagicinModernLondon
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[1] Reijnders, S. (2010) ‘Places of the imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour’, in: Cultural Geographies.p.39.
[2] Welcome Collection(2015) Magic in modern london http://wellcomecollection.org/magic-modern-london
[3] Reijnders, S. (201) ‘Places of the imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour’, in: Cultural Geographies.p.40.
[4] Moviemapapps (2015) Movie Map London App for Iphone. http://moviemapapps.com/. (01-05-2015).
[5] Gordon, K. (2011) Augmented reality app takes you to the movies. http://www,psfk.com/2011/07/augmented-reality-cinema-app-takes-you-to-the-movies.html
[6] Reijnders, S.(2010) ‘Places of imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour’, in: Cultural Geographies.p.39.
[5] idem:40.
[6] Croteau, D. & Hoynes, W. (2006) ‘Media, markets and the public sphere’, in: The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public sphere. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.p.23.
[7] idem:17.
[8] idem:27.
[9] The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993) Simulacrum. Clarendon Press: London.
I had never heard of these apps before and they seem very interesting and fun to do. They are your own personal tour guide through the city and the next time I'm in London I would try the Movie Map London app. I would say that this app does not only change one's perspective of the city of London, but also of the movie itself. Maybe through this app the movie in question becomes more real, and loses its imaginative, 'magical' quality.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIt's interesting to know those apps! I'm just wondering, how the app builder choose the places they want to add on the apps? How they curated them?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI agree that some of the apps are part of a complex commercial effort to generate profit. But I may not agree that the apps you describe in your blog-post are based in the dynamics of supply and demand. These kinds of apps mostly are based in white spaces dynamics and models; it means these apps are new business models created in order to respond to the disruptive and enormous changes in the markets. Moreover, these efforts are reshaping entire sectors.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenSupply and demand dynamics are more based on economic models of price determination in a market: the price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers.
Rita Orozco
I love the concept behind the apps, especially the Magic in Modern London. I also looked at the dev's website, they specialize in "location-based experience". I couldn't find the on the Play Store, but I can imagine that similar apps about other cities will pop up once enough people know about them. I am also curious on what kind of tourism it promotes. I'm wondering if the app has SNS integration (share on Twitter: I found the first #amulet!) or it's a pure solo experience. I also am curious as the app IS a solo experience in the first place or is meant for a group of people. Going around looking at a smartphone sounds unfeasible in groups to me. And of course, it would be interesting to look at the reactions from tourist guides and package travels, and how they can retaliate (can they in the first place?).
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