A Rutgers graduate student is leveraging digital tools to preserve the cultural landscape of Camp Kilmer, a historic World War II army encampment. In today’s AI-driven environment, Kimberly Tryba seeks to honor its legacy by recognizing its historical significance and advocating for the continued use of its grounds.

 

client

Kimberly Tryba
Rutger’s University

agency

Independent

Role

UX Strategy, UX Architect, UI Visual System

 

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Epic Need: Create an interactive and immersive digital experience that preserves and brings to life the historical significance of Camp Kilmer, once a pivotal World War II staging ground. By leveraging modern technology, this initiative aims to educate and engage students and visitors at Rutgers’s Livingston Campus, allowing them to innovatively explore its rich past.

Problem Statement: Many students and visitors remain unaware that Rutgers’s Livingston Campus was once Camp Kilmer, a significant processing and embarkation center during World War II. Over time, the site’s stories, contributions, and historical relevance have faded, leaving a critical piece of history largely unrecognized. Without an engaging method to experience its past, the site risks being overlooked by newer generations. The challenge is to bridge this historical gap and create an interactive, educational experience that makes history accessible, relevant, and engaging for today’s tech-savvy audience.

Consumer tension: The appreciation of history is often lost in the fast-paced digital age, particularly among Gen Z, who rely heavily on interactive and experiential learning. Traditional plaques and museum exhibits may not capture their attention or convey the depth of historical narratives. Additionally, the absence of visible markers or engaging storytelling at the Livingston Campus leaves no tangible connection to its historical identity. The goal is to seamlessly integrate history into the daily experience of students and visitors, fostering a sense of place and legacy.

Solution: To revive and sustain the historical significance of Camp Kilmer, an AI-powered, location-based mobile app will be developed to guide users through the campus while immersing them in its World War II history. The app will do the following:

  • Provide an Interactive Walking Tour: Using geolocation, users can follow guided paths through key historical sites, triggering contextual information, stories, and historical imagery as they move.

  • Enhance Learning with Multi-Sensory Experiences: Integrating audio narratives, augmented reality (AR) reconstructions, haptic feedback, and immersive storytelling, the app will recreate the atmosphere of 1942, bringing history to life.

  • Personalized Exploration: Users can customize their journey by choosing themes such as "Life at Kilmer’s Military Strategy & Operation “or "Cultural Impact on New Jersey”.

  • Increase Accessibility & Engagement: By incorporating voice navigation, adjustable text sizes, and gamified challenges (e.g., trivia, historical role-play scenarios), the app will be inclusive for all users, making history fun and informative.

  • Encourage Community Participation: The app can feature oral histories from veterans, archival materials from the Rutgers library, and a social sharing component, allowing students and visitors to contribute reflections and experiences.

This initiative will transform the Livingston Campus into an interactive learning space by integrating cutting-edge technology with historical education. It will ensure that Camp Kilmer’s legacy is preserved and experienced by future generations.

 

Research and Background

Camp Kilmer: A Historical Military Hub

Located in Central New Jersey, Camp Kilmer was a United States Army camp activated in June 1942 as a staging area for troops. It was part of the New York Port of Embarkation and organized under the Army Service Forces Transportation Corps.

Role in World War II

During World War II, Camp Kilmer served as the largest processing center for troops preparing for deployment to the European Theater of Operations. It processed approximately 2.5 million soldiers, both those heading overseas and those returning home.

Post-War Functions

After the war, Camp Kilmer transitioned to various roles, including:

  • Training Center: It became a site for Army Reservists and National Guard units.

  • Refugee Processing Center: The camp housed and assisted displaced persons and refugees.

  • Military Transportation Hub: During the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Camp Kilmer continued to serve as a transportation and logistics center for military personnel.

Closure and Legacy

Camp Kilmer officially closed in 2009, but its historical significance remains, highlighting its impact on military operations and humanitarian efforts throughout the 20th century.

 

Goals and KPI’s

 

Users

 

Experience Strategy Pillars

1. Immersive Storytelling Through Multi-Sensory Experiences

  • Utilize audio narratives, augmented reality (AR), and haptic feedback to recreate the atmosphere of 1942.

  • Enable users to experience historical reconstructions of Camp Kilmer by integrating archival materials, oral histories, and digital storytelling.

  • Provide geolocation-based guided tours that trigger contextual content dynamically as users explore the site.

2. Personalized Exploration & Self-Guided Tours

  • Allow users to choose themes based on their interests, such as "Life at Camp Kilmer," "WWII Military Operations," or "Refugee Stories."

  • Provide customized tour paths based on user preferences, ensuring a unique experience tailored to their learning style and historical curiosity.

  • Offer progress tracking and saved tours so users can continue their journey at their own pace.

3. Accessibility & Inclusive Design

  • Implement voice navigation, adjustable text sizes, and alternative content formats (e.g., transcripts for audio guides) to cater to diverse user needs.

  • Introduce interactive gamification elements (e.g., trivia, scavenger hunts, historical role-play) to make learning fun and engaging.

  • Ensure the app is usable by all age groups, including students, veterans, historians, and casual visitors.

4. Community-Driven Engagement

  • Feature oral histories from veterans, archival Rutgers library materials, and user-contributed reflections.

  • Provide a social sharing component, allowing visitors to share their experiences, insights, and photos.

  • Encourage user participation through collaborative storytelling and interactive discussions.

5. Seamless Integration with Modern Technology

  • Design an AI-powered recommendation system that suggests locations, stories, and challenges based on user behavior.

  • Implement real-time geolocation tracking for seamless navigation through historical landmarks.

  • Offer offline functionality to ensure access to historical content even without an internet connection.

 

Jobs-to-be-done

🔍 Discover & Explore

Job: When I'm visiting a historical site like Camp Kilmer,
I want to discover meaningful stories and landmarks around me in real time,
so I can explore the site at my own pace and feel more connected to the history.

🎧 Multi-Sensory Learning

Job: When I’m engaging with historical content,
I want to experience immersive storytelling through audio, AR, and haptics,
so I can better understand and feel the emotional impact of the past.

📚 Personalized Thematic Exploration

Job: When learning about a place like Camp Kilmer,
I want to choose specific themes like "Life at Camp" or "Military Architecture,"
so I can dive deeper into the topics that interest me most.

🧓 Community & Remembrance

Job: When I have a family member who served during WWII,
I want to contribute their story and photos to a shared archive,
so I can honor their memory and connect with others who have similar histories.

🎮 Gamified Learning for Younger Audiences

Job: When using the app with younger users or students,
I want to access trivia, challenges, and role-playing missions,
so we can make learning about history fun, interactive, and repeatable.

🗺️ Real-Time Navigation

Job: When I’m physically on-site at Camp Kilmer,
I want to be guided using GPS to nearby landmarks and audio experiences,
**so I don’t miss any key points of interest during my visit.

🛠️ Accessibility & Control

Job: When I’m using the app in different environments or have unique needs,
I want to adjust text sizes, narration speed, and haptic levels,
so I can have a comfortable and accessible experience.

 

How This Strategy Shapes the UX/UI Approach

  • Contextual bottom navigation ensures seamless access to key features while users explore, keeping the experience intuitive and location-aware.

  • Flexible design system that supports new historical content, user contributions, and future feature expansion — making the platform future-ready.

  • Immersive elements like AR overlays, archival video snippets, and interactive graphics bring history to life and foster deeper engagement.

  • Adaptive content delivery tailors tours and themes based on user behavior, interests, and engagement — making every journey feel personal.

 

Main Menu Navigation

The Camp Kilmer mobile app offers a seamless and immersive experience through three primary sections: Dashboard, Interactive Map & Guided Tours, and Themes & Community. The Dashboard serves as a personalized launch point, dynamically adapting to each user’s location and history by highlighting nearby tours, saved favorites, and new content. Through the Interactive Map & Guided Tours, users can explore Camp Kilmer in real time using GPS-based navigation, unlocking rich storytelling through audio narration, augmented reality, and archival visuals as they move. Finally, the Themes & Community section invites deeper engagement, allowing users to explore historical topics like “Life at Camp Kilmer” and contribute their own stories, reflections, and family memories—creating a living, evolving archive that blends personal experience with historical preservation.

 

Dashboard

The Dashboard acts as the user’s personalized home screen. It dynamically adapts based on location and usage, showcasing nearby tours, featured historical moments, saved favorites, and new community submissions. This space gives users quick access to continue previous tours, receive notifications, and dive into curated content—making history feel current and personally relevant.

 

Contextual Navigation

The Camp Kilmer app features a contextual bottom navigation system that dynamically adapts to each main section of the app, offering users only the most relevant tools and shortcuts depending on where they are in their journey. Instead of a fixed universal menu, the bottom navigation shifts to match the user’s intent. For example, within the Interactive Tour, users see options like “Map,” “Next Stop,” and “Audio Guide,” while the Dashboard surfaces personalized actions like “Nearby Sites,” “Favorites,” and “Latest Tour.” This smart navigation enhances focus, minimizes clutter, and supports an intuitive flow, creating a fluid experience that always feels purposeful and user-centered.

🏠 Dashboard

  • Home – Personalized welcome with featured tours, highlights, and user activity.

  • Explore – Discover new experiences, trending stories, or hidden historical gems nearby.

  • Favorites – Quick access to bookmarked tours, stories, or locations for easy return.

  • Alerts – Real-time notifications about events, new stories, or user contributions.

🗺️ Interactive Tours

  • Map – Live GPS-enabled map guiding users through immersive, location-based tours.

  • Audio – Rich storytelling with synchronized narration that brings history to life.

  • Sites – Directory of historical landmarks with detailed info and visuals.

  • Routes – Smart suggestions for themed or user-curated walking routes with progress tracking.

🧵 Themes & Communities

  • Themes – Curated collections around topics like infrastructure, wartime culture, or notable moments.

  • Culture – Human-centered stories about soldiers, families, and daily life at Camp Kilmer.

  • Stories – A living archive of user-generated memories, interviews, and reflections.

  • Challenges – Gamified learning through trivia, roleplay missions, and interactive engagement.

 

Interactive Tour

The heart of the Camp Kilmer mobile experience is an interactive, GPS-enabled walking tour that guides users through historically significant sites across Rutgers' Livingston Campus. As users move through the physical environment, the map updates in real time, triggering contextual content such as audio narratives, archival photos, and augmented reality overlays that visually reconstruct Camp Kilmer as it stood in 1942.

The tour experience is designed to be intuitive, accessible, and immersive, offering a flexible path through key landmarks while tracking the user’s progress. With features like “Next Stop” indicators, location-based storytelling, and multi-sensory content, the map transforms the campus into a living museum—blending history, technology, and personal exploration.

Interactive Tour Landing Page

Themes & Community

This area allows users to dive deeper into Camp Kilmer’s legacy by exploring thematic collections such as “Life at Camp Kilmer,” “Construction & Infrastructure,” and “Cultural Moments.” Community-powered features like Veteran Voices, photo archives, user-submitted stories, and discussion boards foster a sense of shared memory and participation. It’s where personal storytelling meets historical preservation.

What’s coming next?
This project is currently in progress.

The next phase of the 0 to 1 product journey will focus on expanding the design system and accessibility features. Users will be able to customize settings for AI-driven assistance and haptic feedback. They can also manage their profiles, adjust preferences, and easily access their saved and bookmarked experiences for a more personalized and inclusive exploration.

 

What I accomplished:

 

1.

Pitched a Scalable Digital Experience to Rutgers University:

Developed and presented a comprehensive concept to Rutgers stakeholders for an immersive mobile app that preserves and revitalizes Camp Kilmer’s historical relevance, positioning the project as a digital extension of the university’s cultural heritage initiatives.

 

2.

Projected Strong Campus Adoption & Engagement:

Designed with Rutgers students, faculty, and visitors in mind, the app is expected to see high adoption rates—potentially reaching 5,000+ users annually—by embedding the experience into campus orientation, history courses, and alumni events.

 

3.

Built a Blueprint for Real-World Implementation:

Created a fully fleshed-out UX and content strategy, including interactive maps, AR-based storytelling, and community-sourced content, laying the groundwork to transform the prototype into a living, educational experience on the Livingston campus and beyond.