ReadAR, Playful Book Finding Through Peer Book Reviews for Multi-faceted Characters in AR.

One important element to provide reading enjoyment and to persuade children to read (more) is providing children with books that fit their interests. We structure filtering and recommendation of books in a playful way via animated 3D characters. These characters have an unusual mix of characteristics that can be related to categories of books, while at the same time aiming for overcoming a filter bubble effect. In our Augmented Reality application the characters playfully ‘structure’ the process of book review and searching. We tested the prototype during two within-subject sessions, testing reflecting on the book as well as searching for books, with respectively 18 and 15 participants. When comparing to a regular ‘writing a book report’-approach, children indicated they would more likely want to use the app again for providing feedback about the book to peers as well as for finding books. Although they wanted to look again for the books and watch the accompanying localised video reviews from their peers, almost half did not want to record videos themselves again which points out a clear challenge for future improvements.