Evaluating the Digital Songlines game engine for Australian indigenous storytelling

This paper reports on a consultative development cycle with remote indigenous peoples around Australia, the protocols established for their respectful engagement, and evaluation of the digital storytelling game engine developed for them. The Digital Songlines (DSL) digital storytelling project is funded by the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID). The project has been developing protocols, methodologies and toolkits to facilitate the collection, education and sharing of Australian indigenous cultural heritage knowledge since 2004. The project explores the areas of effective recording, content management and virtual reality delivery capabilities that are culturally sensitive and involve the indigenous custodians, leaders and communities from around Australia. It investigates how players, in a serious gaming sense, can experience indigenous virtual heritage in a high fidelity fashion with culturally appropriate interface tools. This paper reports on evaluation of its effectiveness in the field.