Content, progress and pedagogy of the
module
Objectives
The course introduces state of the art frameworks, concepts and
techniques in order to enable students to design, implement and
evaluate Interactive Digital Narrative products that involve the
use of storytelling in the latest emerging technological platforms.
It presents key concepts and issues from the Interactive Digital
Narrative and Storytelling fields, such as:
- Design trade-offs between different forms of narrative
immersion (spatial, temporal, emotional, epistemic) and the
different forms of interactivity (both, from the technological and
from the narrative points of view).
- Trades-off between user agency and authorial control over the
narrative’s coherence.
- How to include the user in the narration process (i.e.:
perspective taking, and points of view technologies)
- How to harmonize the interactivity of the narrative with
different technological affordances (e.g. haptic devices, tracking
technologies, avatars and artificial agents, embodied interaction,
etc.).
- Interactive narratives as rhetorical devices (for persuasive
communication).
- How to investigate user experience in narrative-based immersive
and interactive applications (exploring topics such as immersion,
engagement, narrative cognition, suspensión of disbelief,
believability, and dramatic engagement, for instance).
- Evolving and emerging paradigms in Digital Interactive
Narratives such as Transmedia Storytelling, Environmental
Storytelling, IDNs for representing complexity and big data,
Extended Realities for IDNs, Adaptive Narratives, Storyworld
construction, and Location-based technology for IDNs.
- The dimensions of ethics and social responsibility in
interactive and immersive narrative technology.
Students get the chance to work with projects and cases from
different domains of applications: games and serious games,
edutainment, interactive storytelling, virtual and augmented
reality, interactive documentaries, museum science, cultural
experiences, performing arts, social media, healthcare apps,
immersive journalism, and art installations.
Learning objectives
Knowledge
Students who complete the module will obtain:
- knowledge about state of the art frameworks and methodologies
for Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN) and immersive
storytelling
- understanding of the design implications of narrative
structures in different applications of immersive and interactive
media
- knowledge about new emerging and innovative technological
platforms and paradigms for Interactive Digital
Narratives
- understanding about the socio-cultural context and the ethical
implications of interactive and immersive narratives in digital
culture
Skills
Students who complete the module will be able to:
- apply established and novel concepts and methods for designing
interactive narratives in interactive and immersive media
- synthesize rhetorical strategies with aesthetic and design
choices for IDNs in specific domains of application
- choose and implement appropriate concepts and frameworks for
evaluating user-experience in interactive digital
narratives
Competences
Students who complete the module will be able to:
- effectively monitor and interpret current and future trends in
technological convergence in order to engage in innovative
interactive narrative design
- develop novel concepts and frameworks for applying interactive
digital narratives in different cultural and commercial
domains
- reflect on, and consider the ethical implications and the
social responsibility aspects of using narratives and rhetorical
devices in interactive and immersive systems
Type of instruction
Refer to the overview of instruction types listed in § 17.
Exam
Prerequisite for enrollment for the exam
- To be eligible to take the exam, the student must timely have
handed in any mandatory assignments
Exams
Name of exam | Narratives in Interactive Systems |
Type of exam | Oral exam based on a project |
ECTS | 5 |
Permitted aids | With certain aids:
See semester description |
Assessment | 7-point grading scale |
Type of grading | Internal examination |
Criteria of assessment | The criteria of assessment are stated in the Examination
Policies and Procedures |