Author Stephen Meadows spends his time working at “the point where imagery, narrative, and interactivity converge” (Meadows 2002). This convergence point is known as interactive narrative, further defined by Meadow in Pause and Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative as “a narrative form that allows someone other than the author to affect, choose, or change the plot” (Meadows 2002).
Probably everyone in our class remembers the video game "Legend of Zelda". It’s the first interactive narrative I remember. I watched my daughter become “Link” almost daily for years. She spent what seemed to be obsessive time creating adventures with choices this game offered her. That world was real to her. She attired herself in tights and tunic, a Peter Pan hat, and the all important plastic sword. (She went on to acquire a real sword of Spanish Toledo steel as commander of a Navy ROTC Drill Team, and lives a lifestyle that may mirror a continued “inside interaction” with the “interactive narrative” of Legend of Zelda.)
As authors of interactive narrative, we are interested in what the reader is seeing on the “canvas” or monitor (outside), and also in what the reader is imagining and feeling while viewing the creation (inside). The outside and inside inform each other in a “feedback loop”, with each round of thought and observation bringing the observer into a deeper understanding of self through reaction to the work. Meadows calls this the Perspectivist Approach, the approach writers of interactive narrative always take. I see it as closely related to the idea “form follows function”, with the outside (form) and the inside (emotion, function) interconnected, made from each other. This idea of the inner and the outer working together in some way is a powerful idea expressed in any medium. Sting sings of the colliding merger of the inside with the outside in the poignant and beautiful song “Inside” .
It seems true, then, that “interactive narrative is the most ambitious art form existing today because it combines traditional narrative with visual art and interactivity”, particularly when creating interactive narrative on the Web. It’s ambitious from a writer’s perspective because of the difficulty writers have in “letting go of the words” of traditional narrative (Redish 2004), in order to design a world with visual art and interactivity that will accommodate many reader perspectives.
If the author is creating interactive narrative on the Web, one major ambition should be to combine all the narrative, visual art, and interactivity on one viewing screen since Web readers, as a rule, are skimming to get information fast, and don’t want to scroll (Rude 2006). The Webpage functions as a map and all potential pathways or interactive narratives in the site need to be seen at once in order for the user to interact effectively. This parallels Meadows remarks about 15th and 16th century paintings where linear perspective and vanishing point gave everyone what they still want: “to be able to see it all, from our single point of view, at just the right time, and know that we get the picture” (Meadows 2002).
Websites use interactive narrative to inform, sell products, and socialize. Social networks are an example of one of the most popular interactive narratives on the Web, with Facebook leading as the largest and fastest growing network (American Libraries 2008). Social networking, aka, archiving is “a public obsession independent of any topic" (Torgovnich 2008). CNN, which connected “The Forum”, their site for political expression, to Facebook in early October, 2008 (Stelter 2008), reports that even though technical and legal hurdles remain, they hope this “experiment” with social networks will keep visitors on their site longer. True artists of interactive narrative are able to accomplish just this: keeping the visitors on their site longer.
Narratives tell the individual’s story. They tell who, what, where, when. They have an element of conflict, a point of view, and they use figurative language such as metaphors, similes, personification, and symbolism. They have climatic sequencing that leads to a sense of learning or understanding. Websites can perform like narratives. Elements of conflict may be occurring “inside” if the user is conflicted about maybe buying a product they didn’t know they “needed” until they became informed by the website narrative that they should be doing this! Narratives and websites can be persuasive.
Meadows says that “readers tend toward a process of investigation” (23). Internet readers have also been described as lazy, skimming readers who want information fast. Do Internet readers have a lower threshold for the amount of effort worth expending in investigating a website than other readers have?
American Libraries (2008 September). Facebook fastest-growing network, 39, 32.
Meadows S. (2002) Pause and Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative. New Riders Press.
Redish J. June 2008. Writing for the Web: Letting go of the words. Intercom, 4-10.
Rude C. 2006. Technical Editing Fourth Edition. Pearson Longman.
Stelter, B. (2008). Seeking broader reach for social web sites. Retrieved October 15, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/technology/internet/07social.html, B-13.
Torgovnick M. (2008). File under Fleeting. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55, B14-B16.
Melody's Homepage: I want my homepage to inform potential employers about my professional qualifications for employment as a technical communicator, science writer, editor, and webmaster. I’ll include written text describing my current projects, professional interests, a pdf file of my updated CV, links to my current projects on the web, and some photographs that convey strong, positive impressions of my professional experience.
Melody's Websites:
I want to build websites for science related organizations, and specifically, for biological or environmental organizations in academia, industry, or governmental. Presently, I am working with 2 other webmasters at the academic center CISER at http://www.ciser.ttu.edu/default.aspx. All the organizational data is in SharePoint® wikis, lists, and document libraries. Presently, I am making major changes to the student research pages at http://www.ciser.ttu.edu/hhmi/default.aspx and to the West Texas Association for Women in Science at http://www.ciser.ttu.edu/wis/default.aspx. The Technology Scholars Webpages are also under construction at http://www.ciser.ttu.edu/hhmi/technology/default.aspx
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"Meadows says that “readers tend toward a process of investigation” (23). Internet readers have also been described as lazy, skimming readers who want information fast. Do Internet readers have a lower threshold for the amount of effort worth expending in investigating a website than other readers have?"
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question--I think the "Internet reader" may be a dangerously broad overgeneralization. As a whole, yes, they are. But I think that the same might be said for newspaper/magazine readers and television-watchers. There's so much out there (from dozens to hundreds of articles and advertisements; two hundred+ channels) that we pretty much have to skim until we find something that's interesting. To assume that the "Internet reader" is an assessable, analyzable audience is probably going into fictional territory.
Because there's so much out there, yes, the threshold may be lower (or we might say that the bar set for "a good website" is higher and needs to be immediately recognizable).
So, how do we find the readers that are actually interested in investing energy in our sites? (Or, put another way, how do we make sure that they find us?)
Your questions as to "whether Internet readers have a lower threshold for the amount of effort worth expending in investigating a website than other readers have" is an interesting one. It's interesting to me because I immediately asked myself what constituted an "Internet reader?" As ease of access grows, it gets difficult to define (for me) a non-Internet reader. Yes, I realize that access issues still exist but many of our assumptions (erroneous they may be) rest on the idea that everyone is plugged in at some level and so, I don't think it is Internet readers, per se, whose reading habits have changed, but instead the reading habits of the general populace. I'm not sure, either, that it's an issue of effort but a change in the way we access information. I do things now with the Internet that I never did in the pre-Internet days. For instance, I regularly have something pop into my head that is a random question along the lines of "I wonder how many almonds make up an ounce," because I happen to be eating almonds at the moment, and know they're supposed to be good for me, and so wonder what is a serving size exactly. And then I'll jump online and find the answer to my question. It's so facile to do so, whereas in pre-Internet days I would probably just let myself wonder and not seek out the information unless it was really interesting to me. So I guess my point is that accessing information via websites is very different than how we accessed information not all that long ago. So is it a comparable comparison is what I'm wondering - between Internet readers and non? I don't think Internet readers oppose effort (as long as the site engages - the caveat). But they do have low tolerance for sites that are hard to navigate and have little resonance for them - partly, I think because there are so many other things out there waiting to engage them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Monica that Internet readers have low tolerance for sites that "are hard to navigate and have little resonance for them..." In addition, I think that Internet readers expect something worthy of time investment. If the creator of the website has some animation or a video that takes longer to load, it had better be worth the Internet reader's 30 s, 1 minute, or gasp, 5 minutes to load. The speed with which the Internet user expects results may give the impression of the Internet user having shorter attention spans or even being adverse to work. However, Internet users are a very diverse group and are hard to qualify and quantify.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment "True artists of interactive narrative are able to accomplish just this: keeping the visitors on their site longer.' You have summarized the most important part of good interative narrative, and very eloquently I might add! It is hard to retain vistors' interest, especially in our culture where the mindset is more towards instant gratification. They want to see it all and on one page, but you can't cram a whole website on one page, and that's where interative narrative can reallty help make you a stronger site and make your visitors linger.
ReplyDelete--Ashley Owen
PS When I speak of the Internet reader, I am not referring to an individual who only reads on the Internet. I am speaking of the reading habits of most people when they read on the Internet. I read books, journal articles, and I read on the Internet. I use a different style of reading on the Internet than I do when I am reading a journal article.
ReplyDeleteHere is a most excellent article from Slate about this phenomenon.
http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/
Melody, You write, "It’s ambitious from a writer’s perspective because of the difficulty writers have in “letting go of the words” of traditional narrative (Redish 2004), in order to design a world with visual art and interactivity that will accommodate many reader perspectives."
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is ambitious; I am excited to see developments and trends in interactivity.
I must admit that this trend to visual art and interactivity concerns me too. I see a generation coming who will not sit and read and thus improve their language skills but rather choose a narrative that allows them to interact.
As a parent and an instructor, I see these issues in elementary, middle, high, and college students. My college students cannot spell, and my younger students prefer to learn through video games but their reading levels and comprehension are dropping.
Interactive narrative is more fun. So how do we battle a future of a technologically savvy but illiterate generation? (I am exaggerating, but I wonder how we can involve more words with our interactive narratives.)
Melody, good to be in the same class with you again. Towards the end of your post, you have observed that “The Webpage functions as a map and all potential pathways or interactive narratives in the site need to be seen at once in order for the user to interact effectively. I do agree with you on the issue of visibility – the interactive components of an interface must be visible to facilitate action in the users. This is also what usability experts would advise. However, your statement reminded me of one of Meadows’ three principles of interactivity - Open/Closed. On page 43, Meadows argues that closed systems are boring as opposed to open systems that have greater scope for indeterminancy. According to Meadows, the pleasure that a user draws from an interactive narrative is directly proportional to the system’s capacity for supporting dynamism. The more the change/surprises, the more enjoyment a user gleans out of that system. This essentially means that “surprise” (or unpredictability) is also an important aspect in design of interactive narratives. Unpredictable responses engage readers thus drawing them deeper into a narrative. A good example would be J.K Rowling’s official website that I mentioned in my post. Each click reveals hidden pathways and secrets so that a visitor/reader is not quite sure what to expect. In fact, the principle of indeterminancy underlies the creation of almost all successful video games. Hence, it is not difficult to imagine situations in which a designer would want to conceal some interactive components and reveal them only gradually.
ReplyDeleteI really like your video game example. Video games are such interesting interactive narratives because they really use visual elements to draw the user in and keep them engaged. It is amazing how important visual narratives are today, particularly in web sites and video/computer games.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, in this week's reading (week 3) the author mentioned Age of Empires. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it has some pretty good graphics for a computer game, and they definitely draw the user in (for HOURS - my husband can literally play this game all day!).