Introduction
Maribel and I are going to present this topic to the class in a seminar on Wednesday 9th October 2013. We have been given five key readings (listed below) to use as a foundation for our presentation, but will collaboratively conduct further research in order to gain a more solid overview of the topic. We will aim to use video/image references at various points in the presentation to help engage with the audience and will pose a question at the end to serve as a debate topic, which will hopefully evoke participation from all members of the group.
We have decided to divide the presentation into two sections; Maribel will talk about the evolution of storytelling, relating to advances in technological developments and I will focus more specifically on storytelling through mobile platforms, which is relevant to our first practical assignment. I will largely narrow my research to this field, but may draw comparisons between storytelling using mobiles and storytelling using other platforms.
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Research / Resources
Key Reading:
Punday, D. (2011) From Synesthesia to Multimedia: How to Talk about New Media Narrative in New Narratives: Stories and Storytelling in the Digital Age Ruth Page and Bronwen Thomas (eds). University of Nebraska Press, U.S.
Alexander, B. (2011) The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media, Praeger, California. Chapter 2. The First Wave of Digital Storytelling
Alexander, B. (2011) The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media, Praeger, California. Chapter 3. The Next Wave of Digital Storytelling Platforms
Alexander, B. (2011) The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media, Praeger, California. Chapter 8. Mobile Devices: The Birth of New Designs for Small
Screens
Page, R. (2012) Stories and Social Media: Identities and Interaction, chapter 6 – Narrative and commentary in Collaborative Storytelling, Routledge, New York.
Further Reading:
Page, R. (2012) Narrative and Commentary in Collaborative Storytelling in Stories and Social Media Stories and Social Media: Identities and Interaction (eds). Routledge, New York
Bolter, J. and Grusin, R. (1999) Remediation: Understanding New Media, London: MIT, Introduction and Chapter 2.
Cameron, A. (1995) ‘Dissimulations, the illusion of interactivity’, in Millenium_Film Journal, special issue on Interactivities, no 28, spring
Eku W. (2002) ‘Interactive Storytelling: The Renaissance of Narration’ in Reiser, M. and Zapp, A. (eds.). New Screen Media: Cinema/Art/Narrative, London: BFI
Manovich, L. (1998) ‘Database as Symbolic Form’. Available online in the ‘articles’ section of Manovich’s site: http://www.manovich.net/ For a fuller version of this argument, see Manovich, Lev (2001) ‘V. The Forms’, in The Language of New Media, MIT: London.
Murray, J. (1998) ‘Digital TV and the Emerging Formats of Cyberdrama’ and ‘Hamlet on the Holodeck?’, in Hamlet on the Holodeck, MIT: London. See also Hamlet on the Holodeck Resource Page. Available online at: http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~murray/hoh/hoh.html
Stallabrass, J. (2003) Internet Art: The on-line clash of culture and commerce London: Tate Publishing – see chapter “Interactivity”.
Manovich, L. (2001) The Language of New Media. MIT Press: London, pp.55-61.
Darley, Andrew (2000), Visual Digital Culture, Routledge, London (see A back story: Realism, simulation, interaction, p11- 36)
Huhtamo, Erkki (2000) 'From cybernation to interaction: a contribution to an archaeology of interactivity' in Lunenfeld, Peter (eds)The Digital Dialectic, MIT Press.
Kiousis, Spiro (2002) 'Interactivity: a concept explication' in New Media and Society. 4 (3) pp 355-383
Hayles, Katherine (2002) Writing Machines. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Manovich, L. (2001) ‘Illusion, Narrative, and interactivity’ in Manovich, L. (ed.). The language of new media, London: MIT Press.
Alexander R. (2006) Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Academic Talks:
Joe Sabia: The technology of storytelling (2011)
Elan Lee: The Evolution of Storytelling (2010)
Oren Jacob: The future of interactive storytelling (2013)
Case Studies:
Mass Effect 3 – Interactive Storytelling (Gaming, 2012)
The Journals of Mama Mae (iPad app, 2012)
The Future of Storytelling:
Stuff from the future – What is the future of storytelling?
Presentation Overview - Initial Draft
1. Introduction
· What is meant by digital storytelling? (Definition)
· The historical evolution of digital narratives and digital storytelling platforms
· Current trends in digital storytelling (Web 2.0 era)
2. Case Study
**To be decided – an example of a digital narrative, a description of its medium and how/why it fits under this classification. Show a video/image sequence to reinforce.**
3. What effects have the development of technologies in the Web 2.0 age had on digital narratives? (Debate)
· One of us presents positive case (that it is a good thing).
· One of us presents a negative case (that it is a bad thing).
· Involve group in discussion/debate
4. Conclusion
· Summary of presentation.
· Possible hypothesis for argument.
· Answer questions from group.
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Mobile Storytelling
Storytelling through mobile devices
· Bryan Alexander quote (The New Digital Storytelling, Chapter 9 – Mobile Devices: The Birth of New Designs for Small Screens)
‘Mobile’ relates to a portable, digital device that has a similar set of features (usually touchscreen/keyboard and wireless internet connection capabilities). Smartphones, Tablets & E-Readers.
· Why has there been a surge in the development of mobile storytelling?
- Huge numbers of mobile subscriptions across the world.
- Devices are portable, connectible and integrable.
- Technology presents new ways to interact and experience content (touchscreen interface, audio, video, and location services.
- Provides more opportunities to consume traditional forms of storytelling (particularly e-readers and video streaming services).
· Joe Sabia (iPad Storyteller) Not what he’s talking about but how he tells story (shows how mobile devices can be used to tell stories).
Examples of mobile storytelling
· Games (Fix it Felix, film tie-in)
· Interactive story apps (Penguin, Choose your own adventure – user-driven narratives)
· E-books
· Social networking – personal stories in real-time
· In-built camera / photographic apps
· Video streaming apps (YouTube, Vimeo)
· Augmented reality
· QR codes
· Traditional functionality of mobile phone – text messaging, video & voice calls
Case Study: Toy Talk
· App development company focused on interactive stories for children (ex-Pixar animators)
· Show website
· The Winston Show (Conversation with a character)
· Mainly utilizes microphone and camera so that child feels as though they are in story
· Good example of storytelling app that uses the technology in the device to improve the readers’ experience.
Issues concerning narrative discourse
· Lisbeth Klastrup quote (Telling and Sharing? Understanding Mobile Stories & the Future of Narratives) – Danish new media scholar.
- Blurring distinction between author/audience
- User has control over the outcome of the narrative through the decisions they make
· Daniel Punday quote (From Synesthesia to Multimedia)
- ‘Multimodality’ different senses evoked using various semiotic channels
- Cultural and material history can be lost when using technologies to experience stories in favour of constructing models of the ‘main elements of human perception.’
- Users focusing on the fun parts (interaction) but not taking in the content of what they are reading or experiencing.
Group discussion
How has digital media affected the way we consume stories?
How is technology changing the way we tell stories in the digital era?
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