Examining Augmented Reality as a Platform for Situated Ethnography through the Lens of the ARIS Wisconsin Uprising Game

This review explores the use of the Augmented Reality Interactive Storytelling (ARIS) platform to create geographically situated educational and ethnographic video games on mobile Apple devices like iPhones and iPads. Using the example of a game our research team developed to document the Wisconsin Uprising of 2011, we detail in this review the technical capabilities, formats, and features of ARIS, along with their respective merits and limitations. We also consider theoretical implications of presenting ethnographic fieldwork through interactive ethnographic games. ARIS games demand heavy editing and the fictionalization of ethnography, but offer opportunities for players to interact with fieldwork in ways that challenge traditional notions of ethnographic representation.