TELLING STORIES TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA DREW DAVIDSON A LITTLE BIT - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TELLING STORIES TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA DREW DAVIDSON

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME

STORIES • Fairytales, Folktales, Myths, Legends, Fables • Narratives, Fictions, Tales, Dramas • Once upon a time… Everyday… But one day… Because of this… Until finally… And ever since then… The moral of the story is… - Kenn Adams

(QUICK) HISTORY OF STORYTELLING • Oral (Performance, Music, Art, Dance • Drawing (Cave, Rock • Writing (Tattooing, Wood, Clay, Parchment, Canvas, Paper • Mass Printing (Books, Newspapers • Analog (Photo, Radio, Film, Television • Digital (Computers, Internet, Mobile, Social

STORIES & HISTORY • Humans are Hard-Wired for Stories • Stories are *Not* History • Seduction of Narrative, Not Understanding Reality of Events • Emotional Impact and False Sense of Comprehension Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form. - Jean Luc Godard History is written by the victors. - Winston Churchill

TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA • Similar but Different • Technology More of a Tool • Media More about the Making of Meaning

STORYTELLING, TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA • Writing • Printing • Radio • Film • Television • Internet

STORIES • Creativity • Technology - Media • Engagement • Exploration The story is not in the plot but in the telling. - Ursula K. Le Guin

STORYTELLING & COMPUTERS • Writing • Text • Reading

WRITING • Programming • Binary • Code • Writing • Applications • Storage • 1s and 0s

TEXT(S) • Documents • Webpages • Images • Movies • Games • Etc.

INTERFACE • Input and Output • On Screen, In Space • OS • GUI • Designed Experience

READING • Hardware & Software • New Media Literacies • Interactivity • Multimedia • Social • Immersion

(NEW) STORYTELLING • Agency • Interactivity • Across Media • What Stories Are and Can Be

(NEW) STORYTELLING • Director, Writer, Painter, Choreographer, Curator, Artist, Programmer, Designer • Co-Author, Reader, Guest, User, Theater Goer, Movie Goer, Museum Visitor, Player

NEW STORIES • Performances • Problems • Promises

PERFORMANCES • Agency • Reading, Writing • Compelling, Engaging

PROBLEMS • Spoilers • FAQs • IP • Messy

PROMISES • Ownership • Read/Write • Fan Fiction • Avatars

STORY JOURNEY • New “Writing” & “Reading” • Across Mediums • Interactive • Engaging

ACROSS ALL MEDIA

HOW?

FINDING MEDIA • Social Thinking Skill • Books, Music, Video, Games, etc • City or College

INTERNET • Search • Recommendation, Aggregation • Long Tail • Persuasive Profiling • So Much

POST-SECRET WORLD • No Secrets • Personally • Globally

3 POST-SECRET ASPECTS • Personal Privacy & Oversharing • 24/7 Pop Culture Media Coverage • Spoilers Everywhere

PERSONAL PRIVACY & OVERSHARING • Share Personal Info • Post Secrets, Pictures, Videos • Everyday Star

SPOILERS • Wikipedia • IMDB, GameFAQs • Web

24/7 COVERAGE • Pop Culture • Previews • Demos • Blogs

SNACKABILITY • How Convenient and Easy it is to Eat a Snack • “Twelve Easy Pieces” NY Times 2006 • “Snack Culture” Wired 2007

STORIES & SNACKS • You Can’t Eat Just One • Just One More…

SNACKABLE MEDIA • Characteristics • Design

CHARACTERISTICS • Time • Complete Part of Experience • Micro/Macro Challenges/Rewards • Reduce Friction

SNACKABLE DESIGN • Bite-Sized Story • Chunking • Flow • Fun

STORIES & MEDIA • Across & Between • Text • Audio/Visual • Interactive

STORIES ACROSS MEDIA • Connected • Continued • Collected

STORY EXPERIENCE

TRANSMEDIA STORIES • Storytelling across Multiple Forms of Media • Multimodal Representations • Various Entry Points • Social Authorship • Franchise, Marketing, Native

ACROSS MEDIA • Books, Comics, Movies, TV, Web, 
 Games, Mobile, Toys, Music, etc. • Goals & Glue • Transparency, Ubiquity • Ethics, Literacy • Tentpoles & Rabbit Holes • Story Tree

GOALS & GLUE • Threads Across & Between Media • Connections • Throughline • Purposes for Deeper Engagement

TRANSPARENCY | UBIQUITY • Fitting into Our Lives • Distributed All around Us • Easy to Use • Cloud Media • Snackable

ETHICS | LITERACY • Privacy & Freedom • IP & CC • Open Source • Read/Write • Attention/Cognition

TENTPOLE • Central Media Experience • Supports All Other Media

RABBIT HOLE • Entry Point into Fictional Universe • Down into the Story

STORY TREE • Trunk • Heart of the Tale • Branches • Inter-related Threads

EXPERIENCE • Critical Creation • Ultimate Design Goal • For the User, Player, Guest… • Interest Curves, Flow, 
 Procedural, Interactivies 


INTEREST CURVES, FLOW, PROCEDURAL, INTERACTIVITIES

INTEREST CURVES

FLOW

PROCEDURAL

INTERACTIVITIES

ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY

VR/AR/MR/XR & STORIES • Immersion • Agency • Spatial & Physical

IMMERSION • Embodied • Within the Story • 360

AGENCY • Choices • Decisions • Impacts

SPATIAL & PHYSICAL • Mobility • Involved • Perspective

AI/ML & STORIES • Adaptive • Co-Creative • Replicative • Restrictive

ADAPTIVE • Real-Time • Flow • Pacing, Ending(s)

CO-CREATIVE • Assisting • Simplifying • Enhancing

REPLICATIVE • Mimicry • Fake Reality? • A/B

RESTRICTIVE • Data • Limitations, Biases • Similarities, Differences

ATTENTION & STORIES • Sensors • Analytics • Recommendations • Choices

SENSORS • Eye Tracking • Galvanic Skin Response • Heartbeat

ANALYTICS • Algorithms • Emotional • Persuasive

RECOMMENDATIONS • Trends • Profiles • Connections

CHOICES • Illusion • Abundance • Indirect Control • Autoplay

HUMANS & STORIES • Ludic Narrans • Aesthetic Intelligence • Creative Chaos • Communication • Transcendence

LUDIC NARRANS • Homo Ludens • + • Homo Narrans • = • Ludic Narrans • Playful Stories

AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE • Not just Art Appreciation or Art Criticism • Experiential, Social, Making Meaning Together • Poetics, New Poetics • Creative Cognition • A Philosophical Exploration • What Do We Mean? • How Do We Know?

CREATIVE CHAOS • Diversity is Valuable & Challenging • Inclusion Leads to Innovation • Supportive Orchestration • Making The Magic, 
 Changing the World

COMMUNICATION • Organization • Presentation • Interpretation

TRANSCENDENCE • Limitations • Empathic • Creativity - Curiosity • Personal - Universal • Awe - Wonder

STORYTELLING No amount of technology can solve a bad idea. 
 - Brenda Bakker Harger

MORE STORIES PLEASE • More & Different • Perspectives & Experiences • Diverse & Inclusive • Product & Process • Culture & Community • Difference & Progress • Do It Together & Change the World

TELLING STORIES • Technology & Media • Creating Culture • Medium is the Message

…AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? - Neil Gaiman • Thanks! • Questions? • waxebb.com/slides • drew@andrew.cmu.edu