Contextual information access and storytelling in mixed reality using hypermedia

This article describes gaming and storytelling activities in a mixed environment that integrates the real and virtual worlds, uses an augmented reality paradigm, and is supported by a structuring and presentation framework for use in context-aware mixed-reality applications. The basis of the framework is a generic hypermedia model that can handle different media elements, objects, and relations between spaces and locations in physical and virtual worlds. A main component of the model deals with providing contextual content according to the state of the application and the person using it. A storytelling layer was also defined, mainly by using the contextual mechanisms of the base model. This layer provides abstractions to storytelling applications that reflect the morphology of common story structures and supports gaming flow. The framework is being tested in a gaming and storytelling environment that integrates the real world, media elements, and virtual 3D worlds.