<aside> 🎉 Update 1: Our paper has been selected for the inaugural Arts Track at IndiaHCI 2023!

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<aside> 🎉 Update 2: An updated paper has been selected for TEI 2024!

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KaavadBits is a tabletop installation embodying the kaavadiya-jajman (narrator-patron) perspective of kaavad baanchana, the Indian storytelling tradition of reciting the kaavad.

The Rajasthani art form of kaavad.

For diegetic worldbuilding of tales from Panchatantra, a compilation of ancient Indian animal fables, the narrator takes the physical form of a tree, with which the audience interacts using tokens for a seamless multi-modal storytelling experience.

The tree canopy resembling the kaavadiya.

Building on the related explorations, we propose a design that immerses the audience through choice, character and question-based interactions, followed by insights from its user study and directions for future work.

A) First LED lighting up after onboarding is complete. B) User placing figurine on the central platform. C) User pulling the left branch at a diverging point in story and its mechanism.

An overview of KaavadBits user interaction workflow

We realised the design for KaavadBits over multiple iterations involving sketches and cardboard prototypes. Our earlier iterations explored a design where the tokens were placed on the kivads, with the screen having circular cutouts to show the characters and their dialogues and the flow of time being controllable using a mechanical crank, akin to a bioscope.

A) Initial sketches exploring various layout designs. B) A prior iteration inspired by combining kaavad with bioscope. C) Concept sketch for the showcased design.

We aim to strike consequential tangible, technological and narrative explorations into various lesser-known traditional forms of storytelling that may inspire new interaction techniques, ultimately preserving the art form.