New York Times Future of News —

City News ARchive

Reimagining the way we interact with and experience New York Times' News Archive

Summary —

Process*

How might we reimagine New York Times as a contextual layer on top of the world, via phone-based AR or AR glasses?

Identifying Goals —

Research₀₁ *

First, we analyzed NYTs Mission & Approaches...

Our goal was to understand what it really means to become a contextual layer on top of the world.

We then dived deeper into NYTs current AR/VR Stories & Experiences...

Most of those experiences focus on turning news into 3D stories than can easily be experienced from the comfort of a user's home, as suggested in NYTs article: "Augmented Reality: How We'll Bring the News Into your Home".

Simultaneously, we conducted some qualitative user research...

...to better understand how users currently interact with, receive and search for news and how, when and where do they do so. From these conversations, we were able to identify 5 different types of users and key insights about their experiences.

(Synthesis - How, When & Where)
Key Insights

• Device: Users receive and interact with news mostly on their mobile phones.
• Notifications & Briefings: Some users rely on morning briefings on smart home devices, while others read headlines and notifications for general fast updates.
• Commute: Many users listen to the Daily Podcast on their commutes.
• Keywords: Users typically search the app for keywords on specific topics of interest
• AR/VR Content: Few have actually explored any AR/VR content on the NYTs app. Those who have were mostly excited about the technology and to see how it works.
• Context: Users remain disconnected from surroundings while experiencing news.

Approach —

Identifying Opportunities₀₂ *

Synthesis & Opportunity

After synthesizing our initial research and during our brainstorming sessions, we noticed a gap in the way we receive news using XR technologies related to out-of-home experiences. 

Guiding Questions

As a result, we rephrased our question to:

And as a brainstorming method, we then came up with a series of sub-questions that triggered different ideas and concepts:

Concept

Evaluating & Validating

To evaluate and validate our idea, we conducted a second round of research. The first step was to (1) validate the feasibility of this idea by searching the resources available by the New York Times while the second step was to (2) validate the value and need for such an experience for users by conducting another user research.

(1) NYT Research: Evaluating Feasibility & Resources

While searching the New York Times website, we came across NYT Time Machine and Archive pages - which are very navigable archives that consist of stories covered by NYTs since the 1850s till present. By simply searching some keyword(s), these archives show all results of articles that contain the inserted word(s). Stories can additionally be filtered by date or certain period of time.

(2) User Research: Evaluating Value & Validating Interest

For our second user test, we asked users about the type of news they typically search for or like to learn more about on their commutes in the city and if they currently have a method of receiving or searching for this information. We also asked them to share with us something they recently learnt or discovered on their commutes in the city and if and how they interacted with this information.

Concept Modification

After our second round of research, we modified of our guiding questions to:

And then modified our concept to become: A platform that leverages the NYT archives to build a large-scale geotagged AR experience in the city. This experience approaches space as a medium and interface for news that allows users to search and scroll through time for stories of interest in different locations across the city.

Such an experience allows NYT to “digitize & hybridize” traditional newspaper stories in a new form using AR technologies, to keep this content alive and turn it into a way to drive and deepen citizen engagement and user’s connection to their cities.

UX Flow —

Design₀₃ *

To build this experience, and based on the insights from our research process, we defined features and key ideas to include in our app and specified user scenarios for each. We then developed the information architecture and designed our wireframes.

Demo —

Prototype₀₄ *

Scenarios —

MVP Features₀₅ *

#1 AR Scan Articles in an Area

Users can scan surroundings for stories and scroll through time to discover more stories at different moments in history. When users are close to certain plaques, they can also scan those plaques for AR experiences of some stories.

#3 All Articles Related to a Place

Once focused on a point in space, a list of articles shows up. Users can choose whichever they like to read or save for later.

#4 Recommeded Articlles & Commute Experience

The app provides users with an option of tracking their commutes and visualizing interesting stories users have passed by. Articles are collected based on a user's preference, previously saved. A notification system can also alert users of hidden stories they might have encountered on their paths.

#5 Manage Interests

This information will be used to customize a user's experience with the app. By choosing interests, users get notifications whenever they are around stories they may like.

#6 Notification System

Users will get notified based on their previously set preferences as they walk past stories they might be interested in.