Visual Literacies

Picturing the UP is a quest-based iPhone/iPad educational game created in the ARIS learning environment platform. The game situates contemporary digital photography in relation to historic archival research, as well as mobile technologies. In this game, players visit historical locations in the Upper Keweenaw Peninsula in order to learn more about their histories and to compare the past and present. More specifically, players first encounter a historical photograph of the location, and then meet a location guide that provides historical background. Next, they access a contemporary photograph of the location and receive a secret prize.