Research with/in/on Interactive Digital Narrative

(also listed as Technology, Learning, and Development)

Colette Daiute, Ed.D., Professor, Psychology and Education, Graduate Center, City University of New York,

Course Type: Interactive Digital Narrative Foundations, Social Science, Research Methodology

University	Department	Level	Credits	Length	Medium
Graduate Center, City University of New York	Psychology ; Educational Psychology ; Urban Education ;Digital Humanities	Graduate/ Ph.D. & M.A.	3	15 Weeks	In-person

Course Description

This course provides conceptual foundations of interactive digital narrative (IDN) for social science graduate students. In addition to gaining knowledge and appreciation of IDN, students who take this course design research on potential uses for learning, well-being, and social change. Course readings, workshops, and assignments highlight system-process-product complexity, with dynamics including interactivity, game mechanics, choice poetics, polyvocal characters, play, intersubjective pivots, multi-modality (text, AR, VR), immersion, and diverse kinds of player engagement. The course also focuses on contemporary methodologies, such as virtual workshops, data capture, retelling, meta-cognitive replay, and AI-assisted data analysis. We consider the technical qualities of IDN within cultural and ethical contexts (education, museums, community organizations, mental health practices), diversity (designer/player gender, racial, ethnic identifications), equity (sensitivity to bias, accessibility), and inclusion. Class sessions begin with the professor’s brief lecture, a student presentation analyzing an IDN example for potential research, and full-class discussion about the readings and presentation. The course includes a basic hands-on experience with authoring in Twine to familiarize students with how it works and to encourage their further pursuit of IDN design.

Course Objectives

Define interactive digital narrative (IDN).
Identify the unique affordances of IDN with exemplars.
Analyze IDN affordances relevant to inquiry on learning, well-being, social change.
Write a proposal for research on the mediational function (processes, impacts) of a specific artifact relevant to student’s interest and program goals.

Weekly Outline

Week 1. What is Interactive Digital Narrative?

Koenitz, H. (2015). Towards a specific theory of interactive digital narrative. In: Koenitz, H.,Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., Sezen, T.I. (eds.) Interactive Digital Narrative: History, Theory and  Practice, pp. 91–105. Routledge, New York, London (2015)

Murray, J. (2012). Inventing the medium. The MIT Press. Selected chapter: Affordances of interactive digital narrative.

Koenitz, H., Barbara, J., Eladhari, M.P. (2021). Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN) as Representations of Complexity: Lineage, Opportunities and Future Work. In: Mitchell, A., Vosmeer, M. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13138. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_49

Week 2. Contexts and Cautions for Good, Necessary Uses of Digital Media

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. NYU Press.

Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, I.F., Smith, A.D.R., To, A., Toyama, K. (2020). Critical race theory for HCI. CHI’20: Proceedings of the 2020. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. April, pp 1 – 16. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376392

Crooks, R. (2022). Toward people’s community control of technology: Race, access, and education. Field review: http://ssrc.org

Week 3. Materiality of Interactivity: Tools and Systems

Dubbelman, T. (2016). Narrative game mechanics. F. Nack and A.S. Gordon (Eds.): ICIDS 2016, LNCS 10045, pp. 39–50, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-482798_4.

Gray, K.L. (2020). Intersectional tech: Black users in digital gaming. Louisiana State University Press. Chapter 5: #Techfail: From intersectional (in) accessibility to inclusive design.

Kontopodis, M. & Perret-Clermont, A-N. (2015). Educational settings as interwoven socio-material orderings: an introduction. European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10212-015-0269-2

Week 4. Playing and Imagining as Foundations for Learning, Well-being, and Social Change

Bettelheim, B. (1975/2010). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. Vintage. Selected chapters.

Grinblat, J., Manning, C., Kreminski, M. (2021). Emergent narrative and reparative play. Ludonarrative concepts. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.). In: Mitchell, A. and M. Vosmeer (eds.): ICIDS 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 208 – 216.

Cullinan, C., Mulder, D., Overman,W., Visscher, M., Zaidi, A., Bueno Lerez, M.R., & and Bidarra, R. (2021). Exploring multiple perspectives in citizenship education with a serious game. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 293 – 306.

Week 5. Symbolic Mediation of Interaction and Intersubjectivity

Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and Language. (pp.1 – 8; 52 – 81). Harvard University Press.

Raphael, C., C. M. Bachen, C.M. & Hernández-Ramos, P.F. (2012). Flow and cooperative learning in civic game play. New Media and Society, 14, (8), 1321–1338.

Daiute, C., Murray, J.T., Wright, J., Calistro, T. (2022). Intersubjective pivots in interactive digital narrative design learning. In M. Vosmeer & L. Holloway-Attaway (eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Interactive Digital Narrative, 2022. Springer.

Week 6. Socio-technical Mediation of Emotions

Murray, J., Mateas, M., Wardrip-Fruin, N. (2017). Proposal for analyzing player emotions in an interactive narrative using story intention graphs. In Proceedings of FDG’17, Hyannis, MA, USA, August 14-17, 2017, 4 pages. DOI: 10.1145/3102071.3106367

Sagae, K., Gordon, A.S., Dehghani, M., Metke, M., Kim, J.S., Gimbel, S.I., Tipper, C., Kaplan, J. & Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2013). In M.A. Finlayson, B/ Fisseni, B. Löwe, & J.Christoph Meister (Eds.) A data-driven approach for classification of subjectivity in personal narratives. Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative. pp. 198–213. Dagstuhl Publishing, Germany.

Loderer, K., Pekrun, R., Lester, J.C. (2018). Beyond cold technology: A systematic review and meta-analysis on emotions in technology-based learning environments. Learning and Instruction, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.08.002.

Week 7. Character and Human Development

Barbara, J., Haahr, M. (2021). Who am I that acts? The Use of Voice in Virtual Reality interactive narratives. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 3–12.

Chew, E. & Mitchell, A. (2020). Bringing Art to Life: Examining Poetic Gameplay Devices in Interactive Life Stories, Games and Culture, 15(8), 874-901.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/10.1177/1555412019853372

Fisher, J. A. (2021). The ontology of mixed reality agents: Memorializing the dead and dying. In M. Rauterberg (Ed.). HDII2021, LNCS 12795, pp. 177 – 196.

Week 8. Dynamic Culture in Interactive Digital Narrative

Sellier (2021). Encouraging self-expression and debate in RecovR: A research-creation project to build a ludo-narrative model for a sustainable impact on cultural diversity and inclusivity. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 410–415.

Litt, E., Zhao, S., Kraut, R., & Burke, M. (2020). What are meaningful social interactions in today’s media landscape? A cross-cultural Survey. Social Media + Society, 6 (3). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/2056305120942888

Nisi, V., Dionisio, M., Barreto, M., Nunes, N. (2018). A mixed reality neighborhood tour: Understanding visitor experience and perceptions. Entertainment Computing, 27, 89-100.

Week 9. Digital Mechanics in Human Relationships

Mawhorter, P., Mateas, M., Wawrdrip-Fruin, N. (2015). Generating relaxed, obvious, and dilemma choices with Dunyazad. In AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment, 58 – 64.

Gordon, E. & Baldwin-Philippi, J. (2014). Playful civic learning: Enabling reflection and lateral trust in game-based public participation. International Journal of Communication, 8 (1), 759–786.

Berge, PS. (2021), ICIDS, Queer structures and narrative possibility in PbtA Tabletop Roleolaying games. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 179 – 192.

Week 10. Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Meaning-making

Pinkard, N. (2019). Freedom of movement: Defining, researching, and designing the components of a healthy learning ecosystem. Human Development, 62:1–26. DOI: 10.1159/000496075 1933 – 1953.

Bouchardon, S. & Fulop, E. (2021). Digital narrative and Temporality. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 307 – 311.

Week 11. Creating Support Systems – Roles, Responsibilities, and Issues

Koenitz, H. & Eldhari, M. P. (2019). Challenges of IDN research and teaching. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-33894-7_4

Higgs, J. M., Athanases, S. Z., Williams, A. P., Martinez, D. D., Sanchez, S. L. (2021). Amplifying historically marginalized voices through text choice and play with digital tools: Toward decentering whiteness in English teacher education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 21(3), 583-612. Higgs

Kovacs-Cerovic, T., Micic, K., Vracar, S. (2021). A leap to the digital era – what are lower and upper secondary school students’ experiences of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia? European Journal of Psychology of Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00556-y

Week 12. Interactive Digital Writing

Dunlop, K. (2021). Emergent gameplay, emergent essaying. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 193 – 202.

Fisher, J.A. (2022). Epistemic rhetoric in virtual reality: Interactive factual narratives. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, Article 845489.

Samuel, B., Mateas, M., Wardrip-Fruin, N. In F. Nack and A.S. Gordon (Eds.) (2016). The design of writing buddy: A mixed-initiative approach towards computational story collaboration. ICIDS 2016, LNCS 10045, pp. 388–396, 2016. DOI:, 10.1007/978-3-319-48279-8 34.

Week 13. Revisiting Human-Technology Debates for Research and Practice with Digital Media

Mott, M., Mott, B., Rowe, J., Ozer, E., Giovanelli, A., Berna, M., Pugatch, M., Tebb, K., Penilla, C., Lester, J. (2021). “What’s important to you, Max?”: The influence of goals on engagement in an interactive narrative for adolescent health behavior change. In A. Mitchell & M. Vosmeer (eds.): Interactive storytelling: 14th International Conference on Interactive Digtial Storytelling, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Proceedings, 2021, LNCS 13138, pp. 379 – 392.

Udupa, S., Maronikolakis, A., Hinrich Schütze, H., & Wisiorek, A. (2021). Ethical scaling for content moderation: Extreme speech and the (In)Significance of artificial intelligence. Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and Public Policy.

Mejia, R. & Bulut, E. (2019) The cruel optimism of casual games: Neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and the valorization of play. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 36 (2), 156–170

Week 14. Outcomes and Process

Hainey, T., Connolly, T.M., Boyle, E.A., Wilson, A., Razak, A. (2016). A systematic literature review of games-based learning empirical evidence in primary education. Computers and Education, 102, 202 – 223.

Meluso, A., Zheng, M., Spires, H.A., Lester, J. (2012). Enhancing 5th graders’ science content knowledge and self-efficacy through game-based learning. Computers and Education, 59, 497 – 504.

Shakya, H.B., & Christakis, N.A. (2017). Association of Facebook use with compromised well-being: A longitudinal study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 185 (3), 203 – 211. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kww189

Week 15: Research Proposal Presentations

Daiute, C. (2014). Designing dynamic narrative research. In Narrative inquiry: A dynamic approach. (pp. 31 – 67). Sage Publications.

Doctoral Student Council, Graduate Center, City University of New York. Doctoral Student Research Grant Call for Proposals, www.gc.cuny.edu/doctoral-and-graduate-students-council/current-doctoral-student-fundingPrzeworski, A. & Salomon, F. (1995). On the art of writing proposals. SSRC.org

Reading

Listed with weekly topics above

IDN Artifacts

Examples are included in the Professor’s weekly mini-lectures and in-class workshops (such as Papers Please, When Rivers Are Trails, Sims3, Facade). The major exposure to the diversity of IDN artifacts occurs with students’ exploration and selection for presentations with analysis of the unique qualities as relevant to their own research interests.

IDE and IDN Authoring Tools

Twine basic

Major Assignments (being assignments whose value is of 25% or more)

DUE EACH WEEK:

Reflection paragraph for brainstorming research on/with/in interactive digital narrative.

Suggested guidelines: Write one paragraph reflecting on readings for the week, including

1) an opening sentence mentioning an IDN concept, mechanic, or purpose in the reading(s), compared to what you previously knew/though about narrative;

2) two sentences about your surprise, speculation, or inspiration when reading the articles;

3) two sentences on how you might extend a concept or practice to your own research interest;

4) a final sentence including a question for expansive class discussion.

ONCE DURING THE SEMESTER:

In-class presentation Studying digitally-mediated learning, well-being, social change

Each student (or pair of students) selects an IDN example mentioned in a reading (or of the same genre), explores it prior to class, and presents an example with a research question and basic design. (The Prof presents an example and template the first week of class.) Presentation mentions the potential context of use, participants, and research goal for learning/development, well-being, or social change; specific IDN affordance embedded in the study; potential issues (such as bias, resources) and how might your study address those issues; draft research question; sketch of the research design; potential contribution. After the presentation with the benefit of class discussion, the student summarizes the presentation in a 500-word paper accompanying the presentation visuals.

MIDTERM:

Essay analyzing a unique and promising affordance of digital narrating for learning and development:

Write a 1000-word essay about a digital affordance that you would be interested in studying in relation to learning, well-being or social change. This paper should include a rationale/argument for the study with supporting literature review in the student’s field and from this course. Central will be the analysis of interactive digital narrative features as interesting to explore and/or as mediators of other processes.

Evaluation criteria for the essay:

(1) Clear and concise definition of a focal affordance of interactive digital narrative, with citations and examples;

(2) Compare this affordance to mediational details of interventions in your field, which you might also consider as promoting learning, well-being, Persuasive rationale for the study – purpose, foundational literary, context, role of interactive digital narrative, potential contribution;

(3) Extend this analysis to an idea for a research study including an IDN example with this affordance. What would be the purpose and guiding question for the study?

FINAL PAPER:

Write a research proposal including for a purpose relevant to your interests.

Evaluation Criteria for Research Proposal (adapted from the DSRG guidelines).

(1) Importance of the proposed research as expressed in the rationale and supporting literature

(2) Clear integration of interactive digital narrative (added for this course)

(3) Evidence of a well-designed methodology – data collection and analysis

(4) Potential contributions