03 July 2012

Dickens: Dark London app brings together literature, heritage and innovation.

Dickens: Dark London. Source: The Museum of London

The Museum of London celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth with a special exhibition and an innovative app that showcases the life and the works of the British novelist. 

 Dickens: Dark London is an app with a series of interactive graphic novels designed for iOS (iPhone and iPad operating system) that was launched for the “Dickens and London” exhibition. The app is an innovative way to bring literature and cultural heritage to the public and create an original toolset to introduce Dickens’s literature to large number of people.
Alex Werner, Curator of the exhibition Dickens and London at the Museum of London, underlines the advantage of this strong relation between innovation and heritage present on the app. “Dickens observed and described London in an exceptional way. He takes us into the dark corners of the city. This app is a new take on Dickens, marrying the inky graphic novel style of illustration with the author’s lively voice. As G.K. Chesterton wrote ‘Dickens had the keys to the street’. This new app is a 21st century key that will open the door onto dark London” he said. 
While roaming the streets of the City the users can discover information and find out the atmospheres as Dickens himself used to do to gather inspiration from the people and places he observed. The app – including the story “Seven Dial” – is downloadable from the App Store free of charge, while more stories are available as in-app purchase for 1.59€.
With Dickens: Dark London app, the Museum wants to add other dimensions to the interactive cultural experience: the time. Using geo-localization and historical maps, in fact, this app allows comparing side by side the 1862 Victorian London with the contemporary one. 
Fostering the innovation and the cross-fertilization of culture, media and urban environment is an option already shown by Museum of London. The Museum previously developed another app for iPhone and iPad, called Streetmuseum, which aims to create a position-aware virtual link between the city and the museum widely exploiting augmented-reality possibilities.

Stefano Sbarbati

Source: The Museum of London

More info: The Museum of London: Mobile and Apps