"Our Oil History" Exhibit and "Skidshack AR" App Launch

Yesterday, on the 77th anniversary of the Leduc oil find, the Canadian Energy Museum and Energy Stories Lab launched our integrated "Our Oil History" exhibit with accompanying "Skidshack AR" app!

We had a fantastic turnout of guests from Devon, Leduc, and the Greater Edmonton area.

We really wanted to rejuvenate the existing exhibit and use different approaches and technologies that could enhance the user's experience of the exhibition. Now, anybody in the world can download this app and place a three-dimensional skid shack in front of them, walk inside and experience the stories of Alberta's oil families through sound, animation and narrative.

Energy Stories Lab graduate students Zahra Jafarzadeh and Gerry Straathof played a huge role in developing the app. Zahra was the animator and Gerry was the developer. The app is very cutting edge. It’s an interactive version of augmented reality that has rarely been used in applications like these.

The lab worked closely with Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy, the curator of Natural Resources and Industrial Technologies at Ingenium in Ottawa, and Danielle Lane, the Canadian Energy Museum’s collections manager.

With this app, we're hoping to contribute first-hand narratives from people who work in our energy systems. That’s a voice we don’t hear. A lot of people talk about Alberta oil and gas workers, but we don't hear a lot from energy workers themselves. 

A special thank you to the University of Calgary's Office of the Vice President Research for funding this initiative through both the VPR Catalyst Grant, and the Transdisciplinary Connector Grant!

To read about the launch in UToday, click here. 

To read the article about the launch in the Devon Dispatch, click here.

Visitors at the exhibit and app launch, Canadian Energy Museum