19 Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 2 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4542-4.ch002 ARIS: An Open-Source Platform for Widespread Mobile Augmented Reality Experimentation ABSTRACT This chapter describes ARIS, an open source tool for creating educational games, narratives, and feld research activities on mobile devices. The tool is the result of years of design-based research into educa- tional gaming, design pedagogy, and place-based learning. It has been used in a variety of educational contexts from after-school game-design workshops to university-level language courses. Deeply com- mitted to open and democratic education, the project invites involvement at all levels and continues to innovate as a community of users matures. INTRODUCTION ARIS consists of both an authoring tool as well as an iPhone application that work together to create mobile, locative, narrative-centric, interac- tive experiences: i.e. augmented reality games. In a nutshell, augmented reality couples virtual data or representations with real world locations and contexts. This can be accomplished in many ways via the various affordances of mobile devices and their ecologies of use. A decade ago, the idea was somewhat abstract, but today the concept is a commercial commonplace (e.g. SCVNGR, Layar) even to the point of not being billed as Chris Holden University of New Mexico, USA David J. Gagnon University of Wisconsin, USA Breanne K. Litts University of Wisconsin, USA Garrett Smith University of Wisconsin, USA