The Metamorphosis of Kishikishi: Exploring Audience Experiences Telling the Same Story Just Different Media

Stories have been transforming over time in line with societal changes in values and practices, but also its mediums from oral, to written to digital. In our quest to enhance reading experiences of young Namibian children who are not part of an established reading culture we describe how the experiences change with the medium of narration of Kishikishi, a traditional Namibian story. We first recall its value as a told story and how it translates into a written format as an illustrated children book. Transferring the book onto a digital notice board has shifted the reading experience from an individual to a collective activity. Gamifying the story into a reading app added value in terms of attracting children to engage with the story while feeling involved and in control. Whereas enhancing the paper book with augmented reality features created the expected novelty effect. The intent of telling the same story with various media was to gain an appreciation for the variety of created audience experiences. Emerged design themes, such as performative aspects, illustrations and animations, stimulation and engagement, as well as bonding are to inform further developments of technologies aiming at enhanced reading experiences.