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Polku is a location-based storytelling application created by MA students Johanna Lumme from Visual Communication Design, and Robbert Groenendijk, Pekka Lammi and Anna Puura from New Media Design and Production. The application was awarded the second prize in Think Ink Innovation Contest 2020.

The Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland’s biennial Think Ink innovation contest aims to bring forth new, innovative concepts in the media industry. This year the theme was solutions in digital storytelling and concepts in media and learning.

The initial idea for Polku sprung to life when Robbert Groenendijk and Johanna Lumme were discussing Lumme’s children’s book series Viidakon Väki, and thinking of new ways of telling stories. In Viidakon Väki, the characters move into the city and while adapting to the new ways of living, funny little mishaps occur. The team found that immersing oneself to the story via location-based storytelling would make the reading experience even more engaging. At first the idea was to create a single-case project, but because of the technical nature of location-based storytelling, the team thought of creating a generalised platform for other storytellers to contribute as well.

As Polku proceeded to the second phase of the competition, the team was supported by the foundation with 10,000 euro to further develop the idea. To introduce how the platform would work, Lumme created a custom story of Viidakon Väki that guides the users around Helsinki city center. To create the platform, the team invited Anna Puura and Pekka Lammi to help with the design and development of the application.

With the award of 25,000 euro to continue with the project, the team aims to release the application and invite more storytellers to join the platform.

The team:
Concept: Johanna Lumme & Robbert Groenendijk
Story: Johanna Lumme
Development/programming: Pekka Lammi & Robbert Groenendijk
Design: Anna Puura

Read more about the Think Ink innovation contest .
Read more about Polku .