Tusitala https://www.tusitalabooks.com Creating novel literary experiences with tech Thu, 23 Nov 2023 04:45:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cropped-tusifoxLogo_300x300px-32x32.png Tusitala https://www.tusitalabooks.com 32 32 How we created our very own 3D AR Bookmark https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/11/22/how-we-created-our-very-own-3d-ar-bookmark/ Wed, 22 Nov 2023 00:00:58 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11506 Augmented Reality (AR) has surged in popularity over recent years, given its ability to offer immersive and interactive experiences in various domains.  Tusitala has also been exploring AR and other extended reality (XR) technologies in our projects, so we thought it would be interesting to produce a unique AR-based souvenir that could introduce people to...

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Augmented Reality (AR) has surged in popularity over recent years, given its ability to offer immersive and interactive experiences in various domains. 

Tusitala has also been exploring AR and other extended reality (XR) technologies in our projects, so we thought it would be interesting to produce a unique AR-based souvenir that could introduce people to our work. We decided to develop a 3D AR bookmark that links to a selection of our favourite past projects and social media accounts, rather than just redirecting the users to a single website.

To create that, we used the open-source web framework, A-Frame, developed by Mozilla for building AR and virtual reality (VR) experiences.

Getting Image Targeting Right

A common challenge with AR is that AR apps sometimes struggle to understand and adapt to the physical environment. This can lead to virtual objects not properly aligning with the real world, causing unnatural and unrealistic interactions.

For example, AR apps may experience drift in tracking, which means the virtual content overlaid on real-world environments may gradually shift away from its intended position. This is especially noticeable in situations where the user moves around or the environment changes.


To get around this, we made use of visual markers within the bookmark. These markers can be recognised and tracked easily by the AR system, which allows the accurate alignment of markers and content. For our bookmark, we used a simple set of oval layers with a solid background as the markers.

However, we later realised that such simple designs are not recommended for markers. Ideally, a marker or targeted image should be complex and contain many details because that would provide more feature points, which in turn enables stable image tracking.


Image credit: mindar.org 

What an unstable marker image looks like

Resolving the unstable marker image

A typical marker-based AR relies on the target image (i.e. the marker) to maintain its position: when the target image moves, the AR moves with it.

Since we had an issue with AR system not being able to continuously track and recognise the marker due to its simplicity, we had to stop the image tracking once the AR was triggered and retain its position from where it was triggered. This means that if the bookmark were removed from the camera feed, the AR would retain its position even if the user looks around, which is not ideal.

That’s when we had to use SLAM, which can track the real world while maintaining an AR object’s position.

What is SLAM?

SLAM stands for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. It is a class of algorithms used in the field of computer vision, robotics, and augmented reality to understand the position and orientation of a device (such as a camera or sensor) within an environment and to create a map of that environment in real time. 

Through specific algorithms such as PTAM (Parallel Tracking and Mapping), SLAM enables AR devices to accurately determine their position and orientation within the physical environment – but using data from the device’s sensors (e.g. cameras, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes depth sensors), without relying on external markers. This is essential for tracking the real world and aligning virtual objects or information with it. Without precise positioning, AR experiences would be disjointed and thus less immersive.

Refining the AR experience

After we used 8thWall’s SLAM engine for our project, the visual marker worked perfectly fine. One problem remained: we wanted the 3D object to appear as though it were emerging from beneath the ground, which required a sense of perspective.

Before refinement – no sense of perspective

To solve this, we used hider elements to create an invisible overlay that serves as the ‘ground’, which can hide then reveal virtual content. When the AR animation starts, the hider element makes the 3D objects appear to be emerging from our bookmark.


Making 3D objects interactive

Finally: we wanted to make our 3D objects clickable, such that when users tap on the social media icons, each will open the embedded webpage in a new tab. In this way, we could have multiple links leading people to view different projects and pages.

Here, we used WebGL raycasting. Raycasting can detect what object you are looking at when a user taps or interacts with the object, thus making items ‘clickable’. This is often used for tasks such as object picking, interaction with 3D elements, collision detection in games, and determining what objects are in the user’s view in AR and VR applications. 


We created a custom component that traverses the 3D model to look for matches with the part of the 3D model the user has tapped, then call a function that executes the link by opening a new web browser tab. Pop-up instructions were also added to ensure that the AR experience is user-friendly.


Final Product


My colleague Christine brought some of our new AR bookmarks on her recent trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair this October, and they proved to be quite popular!

There’s so much more to create and explore in the world of AR, and I’m excited to see what our next AR project will be.

For those interested, I found a good read for more tips here: Things to note before developing your image-targeted AR.)

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Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/11/02/exploring-the-frankfurt-book-fair-literature-art-and-technology/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 02:57:44 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11485 I was at the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair (18 – 22 October 2023) recently, in the capacity of an exco-member of the Singapore Book Publishers Association. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest international trade fair for books, with more than 4,000 exhibitors from 95 countries and a packed calendar of events over the five-day...

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I was at the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair (
18 – 22 October 2023) recently, in the capacity of an exco-member of the Singapore Book Publishers Association.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest international trade fair for books, with more than 4,000 exhibitors from 95 countries and a packed calendar of events over the five-day annual event.

Luckily, I managed to get some time to explore the fair, including the five art and technology projects below:

Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology

1. FANGØ a Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google Obfuscator:  “a defensive weapon against surveillance capitalism”, created by artist Martin Nadal as a DIY project for anyone to build.

2. Hineini, a Judeoqueer choose-your-own-adventure story by Ariel Jacob and Joshua Gundlach.

Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology

3. AI sonnets by Slovenian digital artist Vuk Cosic. His earlier work converted toxic tweets into AI sonnets.

4. D’ORO D’ART – The Grand Voyage by Federico Solmi challenges the essence of traditional bookmaking, weaving it together with the stimulating allure of video art. 

Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology

5. Symbiosis is a performative,  multi-sensory and multi-user VR installation that redesigns the human body. Itis accompanied by a publication and 3D prints of imaginary biological creatures in the world.

 

On the first public day (Saturday), I roamed the extremely crowded exhibition halls and saw a few interesting immersive book-themed rooms by German bookstore Thalia.

This type of booth appeals to both the escape game crowd and the Instagram crowd, and is a small example of how books can be marketed in the experience economy.

Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology

Happily, I managed to attend a panel on Exploring Our Near Future and Shared Concerns, with science fiction writer Chen Qiufan and anthropologist Prof Xiang Bao.

Both are fascinating and entertaining speakers and they engaged with the ideas, audience, and each other so well. I was disappointed I missed seeing Slavoj Zizek in person, but bought one of his books at the Penguin Random House sale.

Exploring the Frankfurt Book Fair: Literature, art and technology

On the last day, I indulged in one of my hobbies: scavenging for free books.

At the fair, many stands sell, give out, or simply abandon books instead of shipping and storing them. Other than the Korean literary fiction in translation that is the BTS memoir, two work-related titles that I am looking forward to reading are:

The Gutenberg Parenthesis by Jeff Jarvis

The age of print is a grand exception in history. For five centuries it fostered what some call print culture – a worldview shaped by the completeness, permanence, and authority of the printed word. As a technology, print at its birth was as disruptive as the digital migration of today. Now, as the internet ushers us past print culture, journalist Jeff Jarvis offers important lessons from the era we leave behind.

Like a Thief in Broad Daylight by Slavoj Zizek

In recent years, techno-scientific progress has started to utterly transform our world – changing it almost beyond recognition. In this extraordinary new book, renowned philosopher Slavoj Zizek turns to look at the brave new world of Big Tech, revealing how, with each new wave of innovation, we find ourselves moving closer and closer to a bizarrely literal realisation of Marx’s prediction that ‘all that is solid melts into air.’

Book reviews to come!

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Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/10/10/creative-technology-pre-alpha/ Tue, 10 Oct 2023 08:43:28 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11454 Aiming to start a community within the Creative Technology scene in Singapore, an inaugural “Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha” meetup was held on 4 October 2023 at the AI Playground at PlayPan, Peace Centre. This inaugural meetup was organised by Christine Chong from Tusitala, Jake Tan from SERIAL CO_ and Akbar Yunus from Yunora, with the venue...

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Aiming to start a community within the Creative Technology scene in Singapore, an inaugural “Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha” meetup was held on 4 October 2023 at the AI Playground at PlayPan, Peace Centre.

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

This inaugural meetup was organised by Christine Chong from Tusitala, Jake Tan from SERIAL CO_ and Akbar Yunus from Yunora, with the venue space sponsored by Gary Hong, the founder of TENSQUARE. It was a casual meet-up to help people make new friends, connect with old ones, and build a sense of community. 

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

“One of the things we want to do is to bring everyone together and to discuss how to move the community forward. I think it’s important for us to have more of these events for us to find a sense of purpose within the community.”
— Jake Tan, SERIAL CO_

With a mix of close to 100 attendees (i.e., artists, creative technologists creators, designers, researchers, etc.) from various institutions and organisations, the event started with a fun icebreaker before a town-hall session facilitated sharing of thoughts on the creative tech industry.

You can view the archived comments here.

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

Several problems highlighted the challenges of the “creative technologist”. For example, one attendee commented, “I don’t think there is enough representation of Creative Technologist in the public sector, as such they do not understand either the nuances of design and art or the intricacies behind engineering, science, and programming.”

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

However, as the conversations started to flow, this young community also shared ideas of what they wanted to see and get out of a Creative Technology Community. 

The conversations will continue on Telegram.

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

While this was only a “pre-Alpha”, the organisers emphasised that they were not figureheads of the industry, but simply wanted to create a diverse community in this industry that can organically grow, evolve and choose its representatives. 

“We wanted to do a DAO, which may be a bit ambitious, but essentially we want it to be decentralised, as having energy from different people and different contributions brings a totally different perspective.”
— Christine Chong, Publisher, Tusitala

Creative Technology: Pre-Alpha

As the night ended, curious passerbys peeped in wondering if this was a new club venue, only to find a weird mix of creatives and techies discussing serious things, such as the future of the Creative Technologist.

Special thanks to all the amazing volunteers and supportive sponsors for making this happen.

Photo credits: Vivian Fung

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Two digital narrative storytelling conferences https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/09/26/two-conferences/ Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:00:42 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11402 When I introduce Tusitala, I often use the word “digital storytelling” as shorthand for the kinda weird stuff that we do. I felt a strange comfort in knowing that this is a common problem with my international colleagues in the field, which is also known as “digital publishing”, “amplified publishing”, “new media”, and “electronic literature”....

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When I introduce Tusitala, I often use the word “digital storytelling” as shorthand for the kinda weird stuff that we do. I felt a strange comfort in knowing that this is a common problem with my international colleagues in the field, which is also known as “digital publishing”, “amplified publishing”, “new media”, and “electronic literature”.

In July, I attended an industry + academic conference MIX Amplified Publishing: Storytelling in Immersive Media in London, and an academic + practitioner conference organised by the Electronic Literature Organisation in Coimbra, Portugal. For the former, I presented a paper sharing our experimental work with head-mounted AR, while for the latter, our choose-your-own-adventure story Crossroads was selected for the exhibition.

It was a pretty intense two weeks, from presenting while still jetlagged in London to having 8am to 10pm days for four days in Portugal. On top of exposure to new ideas, amazing people, and great work, my three main takeaways are new possibilities in terms of:

1. Presenting digital literature as an exhibition

Most of our work, especially during the COVID-19 period, were screen-based and I often cite the “problem of discoverability” as an issue with screen-based individual work. The Digital Storytelling exhibition at the British Library and the ELO exhibitions opened my eyes to the possibility of this mode of presentation, which doesn’t have to be expensive or extensive. The children’s e-lit exhibition even provided chairs for a longer engagement with each work.

2. Presenting digital literature as a performance

Because phone or screen-based work is so prone to interruptions, another way of fully occupying a user’s attention is to present it as a performance. I’m not sure why we’ve never thought of this before, but I loved how poet/performer J. R. Carpenter brought in a live musician for An Island of Sound, and how Terhi Marttila performed a live reading of her work Gray Hairs by tapping through the digital work. You can read descriptions of the other fascinating performances at the ELO here.

Introducing the performance of a digital poem with the poet in the back on the left, and the musician on the right The poet sits in the middle of the stage and taps the poem, while the audience sees the same screen

 

3. Sharing digital literature via workshops

My favourite parts of the ELO conference were definitely the two-hour workshops that started at 8am (!) every morning.

I was interested in running a netprov workshop, which is improvised live writing over the internet. For the exercise, we used Reddit to improvise a scenario in which we are assistants to AI assistants; the facilitators wanted us to move away from us thinking of AI as evil to thinking of them as needing sympathy. I’m irrationally proud of my post about assisting an AI dating avatar app, so you can view it here.

Another workshop I enjoyed was a playthrough and sharing of a project to digitalise a 16th-century boardgame about morals and vices – basically an early gamification of the sin narrative. The workshops made me think more about providing more hands-on workshops for our community of writers and artists.

When I first came back to Singapore in July exhausted, I was unsure if the two conferences were worth the time/money/effort, but reflecting on the way it has broadened my perspective and how more ideas have come to me in the months since, it seems like they might be!

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Writing a Rap with AI Creative Writing Tools like TextFX https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/09/19/writing-rap-with-ai-textfx/ Tue, 19 Sep 2023 00:00:10 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11368 To explore AI and keep current on its various possibilities, Tusitala sets aside time every month for learning sessions led by a team member. The first session, run by Christine, was based on TextFX, an AI experiment designed to help rappers, writers, and wordsmiths expand their creative writing process. Powered by Google’s PaLM 2 large...

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To explore AI and keep current on its various possibilities, Tusitala sets aside time every month for learning sessions led by a team member. The first session, run by Christine, was based on TextFX, an AI experiment designed to help rappers, writers, and wordsmiths expand their creative writing process.

Powered by Google’s PaLM 2 large language model, via the PaLM API, TextFX consists of 10 tools, each designed to explore creative possibilities with text and language. It was created in collaboration with the American rapper, Lupe Fiasco, drawing inspiration from the lyrical and linguistic techniques he has developed throughout his career.

We first watched the introductory video together, Christine provided an overview of the different tools, and then team members were asked to write a poem or rap within 15 minutes using the platform. We then revealed our works, had a laugh, and shared our process and insights with each other. Read our AI-assisted creative works at the end of the post!

Understanding TextFX

Before we come to our final rap results, let’s look at what the 10 functions within TextFX are:

  • Simile = Create a simile about a thing or concept.
  • Explode = Break a word into similar-sounding phrases.
  • Unexpect = Make a scene more unexpected and imaginative.
  • Chain = Build a chain of semantically related items.
  • POV = Evaluate a topic through different points of view.
  • Alliteration = Curate topic-specific words that start with a chosen letter.
  • Acronym = Create an acronym using the letters of a word.
  • Fuse = Find intersections between two things.
  • Scene = Generate sensory details about a scene.
  • Unfold = Slot a word into other words or phrases.

Creating Raps with AI Creative Writing Tools: TextFX

The experiment and our learnings

We wanted to experience how generative language technologies can empower the creativity and workflows of artists and creators, or even turn us into one. Some of us ended up with poems, some raps sounded like lyrics of a song, and Christine even had an audio soundtrack to accompany the rap.

This little experiment actually taught us a few noteworthy things:

1. TextFX helps expand on our ideas and create new prompts

In the mastery of AI tools, using prompts efficiently is a science that is not necessarily intuitive. Prompt engineering requires a blend of creativity, user understanding, technical knowledge, data analysis, and continuous learning. It’s not just about coding; understanding human psychology, language, and context is equally important.

That’s where TextFX helped us. Its “Explode”, “Unexpect” and “Chain” functions were very useful in bringing about ideas and words that one might not be able to generate alone. For example, who would have thought of – in the case of using the word “fruits”:

  • “flutes (musical instruments)” (Explode function) (useful for rhyme)
  • “fruits that are all wearing tiny sombreros” (Unexpect function)
  • “fruits, tree, branch, break, leg, walk, shoe, leather” (Chain function)

With new ideas generated, our search for information can be made better with these new prompts.

2. Complement your work with other AI tools

While some of us worked within TextFX alone, others used different AI tools to support their process.

In the new world of AI, those who master the use of more than one tool could be at an advantage. They would be able to expertly toggle between each tool to help them where it works best.

For example, Evelyn, Vaibhav and Rina used ChatGPT as well to help them start or assist in the process and complement the tools in TextFX.

3. Everyone’s process is different

While it was fun reading the raps we created at the end of the 15 minutes, it was more valuable learning how each person developed their end product.

Some moved structurally and developed their ideas in a linear format, while others started from an overall theme and tried to fill the sentences along the way, rearranging them in the process.

Eventually, we learned that AI tools could help us expand our ideas, but the final product was still a result of each person’s creativity.

Overall, this experiment raises more questions, best left for another discussion in the future:

  • Could a non-writer actually become a writer with these tools?
  • Would a creative writer actually feel stifled or lose their original creativity, because of the increasing dependency and “temptation” to use such tech tools?
  • Lastly, is the process as important as the final product – is the process also the product?

As Liu Xiaoyi wrote in his article “potential shortcomings and other aspects of writing with artificial intelligence”:

“Scriptwriting is a process of creative writing, which in some ways, is a process of anti-system and extreme individuality. Therefore, it may be a false proposition to try to program the creative process of writing. The road for AI to carry out scriptwriting may still be a long one.”

What do you think?

Ok you’ve been waiting! It’s time to review our Raps now:

Here are our 15-minute raps just for laughs – it’s certainly far from perfect. Given time (and with a lot of help from AI), we might just become accomplished poets and lyric writers.

Sam
Life’s too short to eat bad food
Steak without a knife, cuts no good
Like money our much-loved currency
A gift — feels like a curse to be
They say it’s source of pleasure
I think it’s a painful treasure
If money could be chocolate bars
I’d be happy as a pig on mars

Comment:
Used TextFX functions “POV”, “Explode”, “Fuse”, “Unexpect”, and “Simile”

Creating Raps with AI Creative Writing Tools: TextFX

Christine
in medias res res res res…
Rest, rest, rest, rest (no)
It’s stress, stress, stress, stress
Stress, stress, stress, stress (AI)
Poetry, artificial rap
Poetry, can I take a nap (no)
Poetry, coming from a lab
Scientific trap, every day I learn
Getting on my nerves
Brain whirling and churns

Comment:
Rap to be read in tune with Korean Rapper J-Hope’s “Arson
Used almost all functions but liked the TextFX functions “Chain” and “Acronym” the most.

Vaibhav
I wake up in the morning, feeling kinda slow,
But there’s one thing that gets me ready to go,
The smell of freshly brewed coffee, it’s a delight,
Mix it with steamed milk, yeah, that’s just right.

I take a sip, feel that warmth in my soul,
The caffeine’s like a drug, it’s takin’ control,
Once I start, I can’t stop, I’m on the grind,
Gotta have that java, it’s a one-of-a-kind find.

Comment:
Used TextFX functions “Simile”, “Chain”, “Unfold”, “Explode” and “Scene”, then used ChatGPT

Evelyn
In the wild, where the circuitry unfolds,
There’s a bot with a mission, stories yet untold.
Gathering nuts and bolts, in their digital claws,
Assembling parts with precision, no room for flaws.
Bots in nature’s dance, breakin’ all the laws.

Comment:
Used TextFX functions “Explode”, “Unexpect” and “Fuse”, with ChatGPT

Foler
Ramyeon is like air.
You don’t think about it much.
But when you don’t have it, you start to realise how important it is.
Air is the only thing that makes farting funny.
Air is the only thing that keeps us alive.
My ramyeon was like a warm hug, comforting and delicious,
and it fills me with a sense of peace and contentment.

Comment:
Used TextFX functions “Simile”, “Explode”, “POV“, “Unexpect” on the word Ramyeon

Rina
People all around, ready to shout,
Youthful energy, we’re letting it out.
Releasing others’ trapped emotions, no doubt,
Life’s too short to fear, let’s be human, no drought.

In this world so vast, we find our way,
Expressing ourselves, come what may.
With courage and heart, we’ll seize the day,
Embracing our humanity in every single way.

So let the music play, the rhythm and beat,
We’ll dance to the groove of our own heartbeat.
No more holding back, we’ll take a seat,
In the theater of life, where our stories will meet.

In this symphony of existence, we’re the stars,
Breaking down the walls and tearing through bars.
With love and connection, we’ll mend the scars,
Because life’s too precious, no time for bizarre.

Together we’ll rise, together we’ll fall,
Facing it all, standing tall.
With passion and fire, we’ll give our all,
For being human, we’ll cherish the call.

Comment:
Used TextFX functions “Chain” and “Acronym”, then ChatGPT

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little red comma – Behind the scenes (Part 2): Creating your own spoken word track https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/07/01/little-red-comma-creating-your-own-spoken-word-track/ Sat, 01 Jul 2023 10:00:18 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11288   In part one, we discussed some of the different concepts and formats used in our literary adaptations for the second edition of little red comma, which was released between August 2022 and February 2023. This part looks at three poems originally written in mother tongue languages: “Chinatown I” by Tan Chee Lay, “A Story,...

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In part one, we discussed some of the different concepts and formats used in our literary adaptations for the second edition of little red comma, which was released between August 2022 and February 2023.

This part looks at three poems originally written in mother tongue languages: “Chinatown I” by Tan Chee Lay, “A Story, or History, Perhaps?” by Abdul Ghani Hamid, and “The Sunbird I Lost” by Krishnamurthy Mathangi.

To foreground the aural qualities of the languages, we decided on an audio-led concept that allowed users to create their own spoken word track in an interactive, ‘hands-on’ and custom digital reading experience.

little red comma – Behind the scenes: Creating your own spoken word track (Part 2)

Engaging with literature in mother tongue

According to a 2021 report by Singapore’s National Institute of Education on the reading habits of bilingual children here, children enjoyed and were more at ease reading books in English than their mother tongue.

Since the little red comma series features local poets and authors, the selection of literary works included writing in one of each major mother tongue language in Singapore – Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.

Using sound effects and voiceovers

The poems and short stories selected for this edition of little red comma centre on a common theme of how identity and belonging is indelibly associated with physical landmarks. All three mother tongue language poems, for instance, either focus on or mention different locations in Singapore such as Chinatown, Siglap and Katong in the eastern part of Singapore, as well as Whampoa.

However, as evocative as images and maps can be, we wanted to try something different – using sound and voice instead to engage people. With young readers generally less proficient in non-English languages and thus less likely to read or listen to works originally written in these, our team felt there was an opportunity to emphasise the sonic aspects of the languages and their beauty.

As the poems are also highly descriptive and emotive, music pieces of varying tempos from fast to slow were included to match the mood of each poem. Sound effects drawn from the text were also used, such as the sounds of Chinese dialects and street market noises from “Chinatown I”.

 

Listen to a sample soundtrack created of “Chinatown I” by Tan Chee Lay

 


Creating your own unique soundtrack

When entering the microsite, you are first given two options: to either listen to the poem read out in its original language, or record your own voiceover.

 

Listen to a sample soundtrack created of “The Sunbird I Lost” by Krishnamurthy Mathangi

 


The next step invites further engagement with the poem by playing around with sound effects inspired by words and phrases in the text. As the voiceover plays, you get to tap on an interactive disc with various music and sound effects, to play these at different points in the poem as it is narrated.

Once the poetry reading has finished playing, your custom soundtrack can then be downloaded and shared with friends! And if you don’t like how it sounds – simply restart the experience and continue playing with the site to record different sound compositions to your liking.

little red comma – Behind the scenes: Creating your own spoken word track (Part 2)

Here’s another sample soundtrack created of “A Story, or History, Perhaps?” by Abdul Ghani Hamid

 


little red comma – Behind the scenes: Creating your own spoken word track (Part 2)

 

To invite closer reading of the poetry, we added another feature on the microsite too: an option for users to record their own reading of the poem. This challenges people to practice reading poems in their own mother tongue, to create a customised spoken word track that is truly their own.

 

 


Create your own spoken word tracks

littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - Chinatown I littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - A story, or history, perhaps? littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - The Sunbird I Lost

Chinatown I
by Tan Chee Lay
Originally written in Chinese and translated into English by Teng Qian Xi, “Chinatown I” is a poem about the polyphony of Chinese dialects that once filled Singapore’s Chinatown.

A Story, or History, Perhaps?
by Abdul Ghani Hamid
Originally in Malay and translated into English by Annaliza Bakri, “A Story, or History, Perhaps?” (2008) is a melancholic rumination on sweeping transformations of the land and intergenerational change in the eastern part of Singapore.

The Sunbird I Lost
by Krishnamurthi Mathangi
Originally in Tamil and translated into English by the author, this poem reflects on both everyday and life-changing encounters in a neighbourhood.


Educator’s Guides

For educators looking for ideas on how you can use literary works in the classroom, Esplanade Offstage offers the following educator’s guides:

little red comma educators guides

little red comma educators guides - Chinatown I (mandarin)
 

For English literature and language arts learners

A Story, or History, Perhaps? by Abdul Ghani
& Chinatown, I by Tan Chee Lay

Explore the main themes of social history and urban development and consider how texts explore sociocultural practices, beliefs and values.

For Chinese language learners

Chinatown, I by Tan Chee Lay
These educators’ guides are contributed by Nah Dominic, a PhD candidate at Singapore’s National Institute of Education.

 


About little red comma 

little red comma fuses Singapore literature with digital media, through web adaptations of diverse works by established and emerging homegrown writers as well as literary pioneers.

The second edition of the series featured a total of seven works, with one adaptation launched each month from August 2022 to February 2023, featuring original soundscapes, audio readings and illustrations by local creatives.

Commissioned by Esplanade Offstage, little red comma is produced by digital storytelling studio Tusitala and supported by the National Arts Council.

Visit all the microsites here

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Concepts behind little red comma works (Part 1) https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2023/06/01/little-red-comma-concepts/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 08:00:52 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11265 Tusitala first worked on little red comma for Esplanade Offstage back in 2020, when we created six digital adaptations of local poets and authors’ works. Much to the team’s delight, we were commissioned again for the second edition of little red comma, which saw seven literary adaptations published monthly from August 2022 – February 2023.  Here, we...

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Tusitala first worked on little red comma
 for Esplanade Offstage back in 2020, when we created six digital adaptations of local poets and authors’ works. Much to the team’s delight, we were commissioned again for the second edition of little red comma, which saw seven literary adaptations published monthly from August 2022 – February 2023. 

littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - Chinatown Ilittleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - A story, or history, perhaps?littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - Mustafa Centre - A Fact Sheetlittleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - Tanjong Rhu by Minfong Ho
littleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - The Ostrich of Kampong Glamlittleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - The Sunbird I Lostlittleredcomma by Esplanade Offstage - Pocket Cities

Here, we look back at some of the different approaches we took to highlight interesting themes in the various works.

Mustafa Centre. A Fact Sheet” by Pooja Nansi

In this poem, we get a glimpse of the brief history of the iconic Mustafa Centre by adopting a ‘reverse reading’ approach, in which readers click on footnotes to reveal the body text.

little red comma - “Mustafa Centre. A Fact Sheet” by Pooja Nansi

Why did we choose this unconventional reading experience? Footnotes typically provide additional but non-essential information on the main subject matter.

By focusing on the footnotes, readers instead experience a poetic interpretation of the facts first, which presents Mustafa Centre as a metaphor for the immigrant experience in Singapore.

The design was kept simple with a typography-led style and minimal visuals, to emphasise this effect. Users had to first click on the footnotes in order to trigger the body text in the poem, and in just 12 footnotes, one uncovers the entire poem.  

Tanjong Rhu” by Minfong Ho

“Tanjong Rhu”  is a story about protagonist Mr Li recalling incidents that happened shortly before his mother’s demise.

One challenge with presenting this story was how to keep it engaging since it is long, and how to convey a sense of time given the mix of present-day events as well as flashbacks.

Since memories often come to us in fragments and objects can bring to mind events of the past, we wanted to create a process of reflection and remembering that the protagonist experiences.

We thus divided the story into smaller parts which involved different treatments: ‘reverse reading’ for flashbacks, and a normal scroll for present-day sections.

little red comma - “Tanjong Rhu” by Minfong Ho
‘reverse reading’ by clicking on images to trigger the main body text

little red comma - “Tanjong Rhu” by Minfong Ho
There is a common idea of “seeing”, which we represented throughout the site design and theme by asking users to look for something, mirroring Mr Li’s view.  

The Ostrich of Kampong Glam” by Kane Wheatley-Holder

When we read about this short story about a male ostrich that escaped en route to the Singapore Zoo, the first thing that came to mind was how Google Street View (GSV) would be the most suitable in conveying this story set in Kampong Glam.

little red comma - “The Ostrich of Kampong Glam” by Kane Wheatley-Holder

This approach spotlights site-specific writing as GSV allows users to virtually navigate through places mentioned in the story.

Moreover, as GSV presents photographs of real places, while illustrations superimposed over these emphasise the fictional, we were able to visually recreate the contrast between the humorous story of a wild ostrich roaming Kampong Glam and the narrator’s serious, investigative approach to the incident.

Using GSV invites questions of how a physical space influences a story and interpretation. This was not a first for Tusitala: in 2020 and 2021, we created Stories on Site: The Kallang River Quest and Stories on Site: On Trek to Otter Greatness, which both integrate the experience of reading with virtual exploration of real-world places online.

 


About little red comma 

little red comma fuses Singapore literature with digital media, through web adaptations of diverse works by established and emerging homegrown writers as well as literary pioneers.

The second edition of little red comma was launched in seven parts, from August 2022 to February 2023 on Esplanade Offstage, featuring original soundscapes, audio readings and illustrations by local artists and creatives. 

Commissioned by Esplanade Offstage, little red comma is produced by digital publisher Tusitala and supported by the National Arts Council.

Visit all the microsites here

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At the Crossroads – of Mental Health and the Workplace https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2022/11/16/crossroads-mental-health-and-the-workplace/ Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:33 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11135 Officially launched this November, Crossroads is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure game aimed at exploring how mental health challenges are perceived within the workplace. This is a joint initiative between Tusitala and The Tapestry Project, a grounds-up, non-profit online publication that champions first-person accounts of everyday Singaporeans touched by mental illness and recovery. A workplace adventure on...

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Officially launched this November, Crossroads is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure game aimed at exploring how mental health challenges are perceived within the workplace.

This is a joint initiative between Tusitala and The Tapestry Project, a grounds-up, non-profit online publication that champions first-person accounts of everyday Singaporeans touched by mental illness and recovery.

A workplace adventure on choice making and mental wellbeing

Crossroads aims to educate viewers on what dealing with mental health in the workplace looks like, and more importantly, emphasise the immeasurable power of personal agency.

“When it comes to taking charge of one’s mental health, there is always a choice.”

Readers will get to experience the perspectives of characters at different stages of their career as they navigate potential stress factors such as an inescapable workplace culture, the pressure of climbing the corporate ladder, and the stigma of being perceived as “lesser” if they do reach out for help.

What would you do in their shoes?

The project follows three individuals as they navigate the intricacies of workplace culture at different stages of their careers. Despite their differences, each of them experience different forms of workplace challenges: 

  • Jamie is a fresh graduate who is entering the workforce, and battles feelings of loneliness as she acclimatises herself to the working world.
  • Ravitha is a seasoned producer-presenter, who pushes herself to expertly juggle multiple responsibilities in order to land a promotion.
  • Sam is a newly appointed team leader who struggles with his leadership role, and wonders if it is the right fit for him at this point in his career. 

As this is a choice-driven game, every choice continually shapes the characters’ outlooks as they each embark on a journey of self-discovery and reflection.

“We tried to keep it as diverse as possible, so it was very heartwarming to hear some say that the game was relatable.” – Euginia Tan, writer

At the official launch of Crossroads, 5 November 2022

“It’s really [about] exploring and having conversations with my fellow writers, we are actually more playwrights than story writers, and we write more dialogues so this was a bit challenging for me in creating the points and junctions where they make decisions.

 

As I was reading it just now, it kept coming to me, ‘is there a right decision’? And then come to think of it, there’s no so-called right decision. … So I do encourage everyone to read all the different characters and try different combinations of the choices and see what you get out of it.” – Isaac Lim, writer

Not everyone understands mental health as it should be

Working on the project has led the team to a realisation that seeking professional help and looking after mental health at work is not as straightforward as we think. 

“It’s a really hard balance to strike,” said Nicole Kay, founder-editor of The Tapestry Project. It brings us questions such as: 

  • How do we balance empathy with accountability?
  • How do we talk about things kindly and also with candour?
  • How do we look out for each other’s mental wellbeing, and whose job is it anyway?

“We don’t have all the answers but we hope that Crossroads becomes a useful tool that facilitates deeper conversations.” – Nicole Kay, founder-editor of The Tapestry Project

“That’s why we wanted to start this project. In the process of this project we also met with some challenges, and managing our own mental wellbeing became very real for us,” said Nicole.

She mentioned three key things that she would like for people to experience from Crossroads:

1. To understand different perspectives

2. To be understood

3. To be empowered to make good choices for your own mental wellbeing

 


Participants at the Crossroads launch event reading the stories of Jamie, Ravitha and Sam

Fiction as a tool to raise awareness

It is through the experiential and safe choice-making process presented in Crossroads that one starts to relate and understand others beyond oneself.

Playing as any one of the characters, the reader puts themselves in the shoes of that character and experiences their thoughts while making choices in their place. In this way, Crossroads becomes a tool that can be used for mental health awareness and education.

If you are a senior staff or a manager of a team, you might have lost touch with the sentiments of a fresh graduate starting out in their first job. Crossroads might therefore be a refreshing solution to empowering both employees and employers to consider what mental health in the workplace looks like and remind them that no matter the choices they make, help is always on the horizon.

The Crossroads experience can be conducted as a talk or an in-person workshop. If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with the team at The Tapestry Project to explore bringing this to your workplace.


Play it now
https://crossroads.thetapestryproject.sg/ 


This project is brought to you by:
Tusitala
The Tapestry Project
Euginia Tan, writer
Aswani Aswath, writer
Isaac Lim, writer
Shalani, editor

Supported by:
Artwave Studio
Common Ground
Studio Dojo

Powered by:

National Youth Council

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Making of AR Filters for Book Trips! https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2022/06/17/making-of-ar-filters-for-book-trips/ Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:45 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=11084 In Tusitala’s recent project, Book Trips, we created AR filters for each of the 15 past and present attractions featured in an online literary map of Singapore. A year ago, we created Local Flavours for Singapore HeritageFest 2021, featuring 15 local poems about hawker food. To present the poetry in a way that reflected their...

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In Tusitala’s recent project, Book Trips, we created AR filters for each of the 15 past and present attractions featured in an online literary map of Singapore.

A year ago, we created Local Flavours for Singapore HeritageFest 2021, featuring 15 local poems about hawker food. To present the poetry in a way that reflected their content, users could “order” poems off a menu through a website. Each poem came with an insightful article about the food’s history, a recipe, as well as a digital sticker pack that could be downloaded and used on Telegram or WhatsApp. (They’re still available! Check them out here).

For Singapore HeritageFest 2022 we created Book Trips, a microsite designed to take users on a literary virtual tour around 15 past and present attractions.

As part of the tour users can read a book excerpt set in the attraction, take a quiz related to the excerpt, and collect AR filters based on the attraction. To emphasise the project’s literary content and the wonder of exploring Singapore, we wanted each AR filter to be a visual representation of their book excerpt.

This was accomplished effectively with the help of 15 talented local illustrators who participated in this project by making AR filter artwork.

Why AR Filters?

When conceptualising Book Trips for this year’s festival, our team had similar aims in mind: we wanted to share interesting slices of history with people, and to do so in a way that matched medium to message.

In the process of diving deeper into the history behind these places, we started to imagine ourselves as virtual tourists in our own country.

Since photo-taking is something we often do when travelling, this naturally gave rise to the idea of creating AR filters specific to each featured attraction. We thought the AR filters could offer a fun spin on a familiar action that is such a big part of travel and tourism.

AR objects and filters also gave us the opportunity to represent places that no longer exist. For example, Change Alley used to be a bustling bazaar for trade in goods from diverse cultures. Today it is a clean and modern alley with swanky cafes and eateries visited by lunch hour business crowds instead of the traders of yesteryear.

By recreating the tourist experience through filters and photo taking, our hope was that readers might also experience the book excerpt differently – by first envisioning themselves in the setting of an excerpt, then relating that fictional setting to the real world location that inspired it.

Exploring the Potential of AR

Inherent to AR is the ability it gives users to interact with and respond personally to the location. The range of interactions that could be performed with AR filters was another characteristic we were keen to explore.

Each AR filter could contain a unique interaction that suited its respective excerpt and location, allowing users to rediscover these places in a fun way.

Creating the filters

When conceptualising AR filters in response to the excerpts, it was essential for the illustrators we engaged to not only create art that represented the excerpt or location well, but to also think about opportunities for interactions to engage users.

Tusitala’s designers conducted online briefings with the illustrators to convey the objectives we wanted to achieve. As some artists unfamiliar with AR opted out of creating the SparkAR filters, many of the filters were created in-house by our team.

This was our first venture into making AR filters as a team, and the process required extensive collaboration and troubleshooting. One challenge we had was the need to separate artwork into layers suitable for AR filter creation.

Though a tedious process, we successfully transformed illustrations submitted into the interactive filters envisioned.

Bringing Stories to Life

It was a fun challenge to work on 15 different filters, and we wanted to provide some variety in the experience offered across these.

This was done by making the filter’s artwork distinctive and allowing users the chance to play with a range of interactions:

  1. users had to tap (Great World and Tanjong Pagar)
  2. or move their heads to trigger interactions and animations (Botanic Gardens and Esplanade)
  3. or they could pinch their screens to move or resize an AR object and place it in their surroundings (Singapore Racecourse)

Furthermore, in order for these interactions to be meaningful they had to relate well to the book’s content.

For instance, The Devil’s Garden describes a fictional life in the Botanic Gardens during WWII, where workers turned to the gardens as a source of sustenance and raw materials. Here, the motion of looking up when using the Botanic Gardens filter parallels an additional concern experienced by workers in wartime.


All Book Trips AR filters were based on local artists’ interpretations of the excepts from these books

AR filters – A passing trend or something to stay?

It’s hard to say if the widespread and increasing use of social media translates into greater use of AR filters, but we are curious to see where this trend will lead and remain optimistic about the future of AR more broadly

Current AR technology already provides creatives a variety of ways to engage users through interactive features.

AR filters are only a small foray into the vast world of potential AR experiences, and – for both Tusitala and the illustrators we work with – we hope this project will be a stepping stone to bigger, more daring experiments with the technology.


Come explore Singapore through our literary map!

Read the excerpts, play simple mini-quizzes, and take touristy photos with our 15 AR filters created by local artists.

BOOK TRIPS by Tusitala
A programme of the Singapore HeritageFest 2022
2 – 29 May 2022
https://booktrips.tusitalabooks.com

About Tusitala
Tusitala is a digital storytelling studio that reimagines the future of reading where tech meets art. We use our expertise in technology, user experience, and design to transcend the traditional boundaries of print and digital.

About Singapore HeritageFest
The Singapore HeritageFest (SHF) is the National Heritage Board’s signature annual outreach event that celebrates the many facets of Singapore’s diverse heritage and culture. SHF works with individuals, groups and communities to co-create programmes and offerings. This allows the festival to uncover lesser-known stories and narratives, engender a greater sense of ownership, and empower Singaporeans to safeguard and promote our shared heritage. The inaugural edition of SHF was staged in 2004, and since then, the festival has continued to provide on-site and online experiences with yearly themes that focus on different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.


Featured Locations / Book excerpts / Illustrators

Location
Publication / Work
Year
Author
Genre
Publisher
AR Filter Illustrator
1
Fort Siloso
Final Notes from
a Great Island
2006
Neil Humphreys
Essay
Marshall Cavendish
Don Low
2
Merlion
“Conversation
on the Pier”
2009
Paul Tan
Poem
NAC
Joy Ho
3
Esplanade
“Two Harbours”
2018
Chew Yi Wei
Essay
Marshall Cavendish
Ray Toh
4
Botanic Gardens
The Devil’s Garden
2013
Nigel Barley
Novel
Monsoon Books
Eliz Ong
5
Singapore River
“The Singapore River”
2009
Latha
Poem
NAC
Patrick Yee
6
Raffles Hotel
“Feed at the Raffles”
2013
Wong Yoon-wah
Essays
Epigram Books
Claire Low
7
Changi Airport
“Ramblings of
a Trolley Uncle”
2016
Ng Seow Hwee
Short story
Math Paper Press
Andrew Tan
(aka. Drewscape)
8
Great World
Singapore Grip
1978
J. G. Farell
Novel
Weidenfeld
& Nicolson
Rachael Lum 
9
Tanjong Pagar
Railway Station
F.M.S.R”
2014
Teo Poh Leng 
Poem
Ethos Books
Araikreva
10
Haw Par Villa
“II. The Spa at
Second Court”
2018
Yong Shu Hoong
Poem
Ethos Books
Anngee Neo
11
Singapore
Racecourse 
“The Daily Double”
1934
J. Douglas Graham
Travel
writing
Marshall Cavendish
Charmaine Tan
12
Chinatown
The River’s Song
2014
Su-chen Christine Lim
Novel
Aurora
Metro Books
James Tan
13
Kampong Glam
1819
2013
Isa Kamari
Novel 
Silverfish Books
Teo Wenn Ki
14
Little India
A Different Sky
2010
Meira Chand
Novel
Penguin
Eugenia Hoy
15
Change Alley 
“An Eastern
Petticoat Lane”
1931     
R. N. Walling
Travel writing
Marshall Cavendish
Muhammad Izdi

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10 things you can learn about Singapore tourism through literature! https://www.tusitalabooks.com/2022/04/27/10-things-you-can-learn-about-singapore-tourism-through-literature/ Wed, 27 Apr 2022 09:00:53 +0000 https://www.tusitalabooks.com/?p=10967 In Tusitala’s latest project, BOOK TRIPS, go on a wild book trip around Singapore with a literary map to discover what our local authors have written, in short stories, essays and poetry! For Book Trips, we chose 15 attractions in Singapore that we love. Every place has its own history, and people are often more...

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In Tusitala’s latest project, BOOK TRIPS, go on a wild book trip around Singapore with a literary map to discover what our local authors have written, in short stories, essays and poetry!

For Book Trips, we chose 15 attractions in Singapore that we love. Every place has its own history, and people are often more familiar with the socioeconomic or political sides of our country’s past – but did you know that there is also a book trail to be discovered? 

Many people have written about Singapore’s attractions over the years – not only contemporary local authors, but also early residents during the colonial era as well as travelers visiting the island. These works raise interesting questions: How did authors write fiction set in old Singapore? What locations concerning Singapore did they mention in their novels  or poems?

It is fascinating to look at it all. Here’s what we found!

1) It cost just 25 cents to dance with a “taxi-girl” at The Great World

 Photograph of Great World amusement park. RAFSA Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

J.G. Farrell’s 1978 novel The Singapore Grip, we learn about the years before the war when sailors would visit the Great World Amusement Park. There, “for twenty-five cents, you could dance with the most beautiful taxi-girls in the East, listen to the loudest bands and admire the glorious dragons painted on the walls.”

2) The Raffles Hotel has hosted and inspired writers like Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, and Noël Coward! 

Wong Yoon-wah’s 2013 essay, “Feed at the Raffles”, describes a visit to the hotel’s Tiffin Room – a restaurant which served variations of Indian curries with multi-cultural influences to suit Western palates. This became a speciality of the hotel and “swept many famous writers of the British Empire off their feet.” 

3) The Malay Heritage Centre at Kampong Glam used to be the Istana of Singapore’s first Sultan.

Istana Kampong Glam at Sultan Gate, 1990. Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

Isa Kamari’s novel 1819 imagines daily life at Kampong Gelam in early Singapore. The book depicts the lives of key Malay figures in the early 19th century such as Sultan Hussein and Munshi Abdullah, and describes how the kampong was a resting place for Haj pilgrims from the Malay peninsula, Sumatra and Java before they boarded ships owned by Arab merchants living in Singapore to visit the holy land. 

4) In early Singapore, you could go to Indian parrot astrologers at shophouse walkways to have your fortune told.

Photo by Vijesh K on Flickr

In Meira Chand’s 2010 novel A Different Sky, we come across a scene featuring a parrot astrologer. Parrot astrology is an ancient Indian tradition, and these fortune tellers use green parakeets which pick a “lucky card” that is then read. They were popular amongst the immigrant Indian community in early Singapore.

“When a customer stopped, Subramanium at once picked up a pack of dog-eared cards depicting Indian deities and opened the cage for a parrot to emerge. Strutting about in an ungainly dance the creature cocked its head flirtatiously whenever a fortune had to be told. Subramanium fanned out the cards on the tabletop and the bird dipped its head to choose one, picking it up in its beak.” 

5) The Singapore Racecourse used to be a popular attraction in pre-independence Singapore.

 Old Racecourse, 1930s. Lee Kip Lin Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

From the historical accounts in Travellers’ Tales of Old Singapore (1934), J. Douglas Graham’s diary entry, “The Daily Double” notes how the Singapore Racecourse used to be popular among tourists. There, “Betting was done on the tote on a 4 dollar unit basis and there were 24,000 members.” 

Today the racecourse is situated at the Turf Club, and its former location at Bukit Timah has now been developed into The Grandstand, a lifestyle destination. 

6) We get to imagine Singapore Botanic Gardens during World War II where survivors created brandy from tapioca!

Another interesting excerpt is from anthropologist Nigel Barley’s novel The Devil’s Garden, a work of historical fiction in which he imagines the Singapore Botanic Gardens during World War II as a “self-supporting country estate”.

“Tapioca, it had been discovered, fermented and distilled, yielded a brandy that revived the dead and almost killed the living and a steady trickle was coaxed from an apparatus housed in a lesser potting shed to raise the morale of administrative staff and soothe the semi-alcoholism of expats.”

7) We are a country that loves to spend weekends in the Changi Airport to eat, shop and play. 

Ng Seow Hwee’s short story “Ramblings of a Trolley Uncle”, published in the anthology In Transit (2016), contemplates how one can buy just about anything from Changi Airport. 

“Do you know you can buy a fridge from Changi Airport? Third floor of T3, to be precise. I never understood why an airport can also double up as a shopping mall. Changi must be the only airport in the world where you can buy a fridge or a portable airfryer.”

8) At Sentosa’s Fort Siloso, machine gun pillboxes pointed South but Singapore was invaded from the North. 

Neil Humphreys’ Final Notes from a Great Island (2006) describes the military installations as well as his late uncle Johnny’s wish to visit Sentosa after his time there as a British WWII veteran.

9) Change Alley used to be a bustling market selling all kinds of necessities.

Change Alley, 1989. Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

In R. N. Walling’s 1931 travel story “An Eastern Petticoat Lane”, Change Alley is likened to an Eastern version of London’s Petticoat Lane Market: it was a “dense crowd of Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, and Indians, bartering and selling in an atmosphere cool in comparison to the tar-macadam roads outside but delightfully stuffy, smelly, and dirty”, yet “invigorating and faintly exciting”. 

Petticoat Lane in the 1920s (Source: Wikipedia)

10) The Lion King was the first musical to launch at the Marina Bay Sands

In Chew Yi Wei’s 2018 essay, “Two Harbours”, we are brought back to the early days of Esplanade almost ten years ago. The author describes walking along the promenade after a performance, and looking over at the upcoming Marina Bay Sands which had just presented The Lion King musical and other international best-sellers. 

Fast forward to 2022: the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay is celebrating its 20th anniversary, with a year-long celebration and initiatives to become even more inclusive as an arts centre for everyone. Look out for celebrations of popular local music, specially commissioned new works by Singapore and Asian artists, and the opening of Singtel Waterfront Theatre, the Esplanade’s newest venue! 

Throughout the process of searching for and finding these various writings, whether fiction or non-fiction, we were compelled to relive the experiences of the authors and discover surprising facts about Singapore’s past.


Can’t travel literally? Travel literary

Join us on these Book Trips, and rediscover Singapore’s past and present attractions in Singapore through the eyes of local writers.

 

Play simple mini-quizzes as you explore the island anew, and take touristy photos with instagrammable AR filters created by local artists.

BOOK TRIPS by Tusitala
A programme of the Singapore HeritageFest 2022
2 – 29 May 2022
https://booktrips.tusitalabooks.com

About Tusitala
Tusitala is a digital storytelling studio that reimagines the future of reading where tech meets art. We use our expertise in technology, user experience, and design to transcend the traditional boundaries of print and digital.

About Singapore HeritageFest
The Singapore HeritageFest (SHF) is the National Heritage Board’s signature annual outreach event that celebrates the many facets of Singapore’s diverse heritage and culture. SHF works with individuals, groups and communities to co-create programmes and offerings. This allows the festival to uncover lesser-known stories and narratives, engender a greater sense of ownership, and empower Singaporeans to safeguard and promote our shared heritage. The inaugural edition of SHF was staged in 2004, and since then, the festival has continued to provide on-site and online experiences with yearly themes that focus on different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.


Featured Locations / Book excerpts / Illustrators

Location
Publication / Work
Year
Author
Genre
Publisher
AR Filter Illustrator
1
Fort Siloso
Final Notes from
a Great Island
2006
Neil Humphreys
Essay
Marshall Cavendish
Don Low
2
Merlion
“Conversation
on the Pier”
2009
Paul Tan
Poem
NAC
Joy Ho
3
Esplanade
“Two Harbours”
2018
Chew Yi Wei
Essay
Marshall Cavendish
Ray Toh
4
Botanic Gardens
The Devil’s Garden
2013
Nigel Barley
Novel
Monsoon Books
Eliz Ong
5
Singapore River
“The Singapore River”
2009
Latha
Poem
NAC
Patrick Yee
6
Raffles Hotel
“Feed at the Raffles”
2013
Wong Yoon-wah
Essays
Epigram Books
Claire Low
7
Changi Airport
“Ramblings of
a Trolley Uncle”
2016
Ng Seow Hwee
Short story
Math Paper Press
Andrew Tan
(aka. Drewscape)
8
Great World
Singapore Grip
1978
J. G. Farell
Novel
Weidenfeld
& Nicolson
Rachael Lum 
9
Tanjong Pagar
Railway Station
F.M.S.R”
2014
Teo Poh Leng 
Poem
Ethos Books
Araikreva
10
Haw Par Villa
“II. The Spa at
Second Court”
2018
Yong Shu Hoong
Poem
Ethos Books
Anngee Neo
11
Singapore
Racecourse 
“The Daily Double”
1934
J. Douglas Graham
Travel
writing
Marshall Cavendish
Charmaine Tan
12
Chinatown
The River’s Song
2014
Su-chen Christine Lim
Novel
Aurora
Metro Books
James Tan
13
Kampong Glam
1819
2013
Isa Kamari
Novel 
Silverfish Books
Teo Wenn Ki
14
Little India
A Different Sky
2010
Meira Chand
Novel
Penguin
Eugenia Hoy
15
Change Alley 
“An Eastern
Petticoat Lane”
1931     
R. N. Walling
Travel writing
Marshall Cavendish
Muhammad Izdi

The post 10 things you can learn about Singapore tourism through literature! appeared first on Tusitala.

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