Public Empowerment through AI and Transmedial Play

Abstract

This project aims to investigate the feasibility of playful and interactive media for public empowerment. The thesis investigates the integration of game design, transmedia storytelling, and generative AI towards an ‘open research game’ for public awareness of smart home device security. By using an experimental, practice-based game design research approach, the thesis examines how transmedial play and AI can be leveraged as powerful tools for empowerment, more so than traditional methods. The research incorporates a ‘critical play’ framework to iteratively develop an ‘open research game’, leading to the development of an experience where players simultaneously communicate physically through a communications board, and digitally through smart device AI characters. The findings suggest that integrating these technologies, tools and methods can significantly increase user engagement and awareness, providing new pathways for the further development of tools and research towards public empowerment.