SUMMARY INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING
This summary includes all lectures, example exam questions and notes.
CONTENT
Lecture 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………2
Lecture 2 Defining Storytelling and Narratives.…………………………………………………..6
Lecture 3 Analyzing an IDN……………………………………………………………………….13
Lecture 4 Experiencing (Interactive) Narratives [1].…………………………………………….16
Lecture 5 Experiencing (Interactive) Narratives [2].…………………………………………….21
Lecture 6 Q&A……………………………………………………………………………………..26
Lecture 7 Effects of (Interactive) Narratives……….…………………………………………….27
Lecture 8 Q&A……………………………………………………………………………………..32
Lecture 9 Misleading Narratives………………………………………………………………….33
Lecture 10 Wrap Up……………………………………………………………………………….40
1
,LECTURE 1 INTRODUCTION
KNOWLEDGE CLIP 1 DEFINITIONS
Historical context
Aristotle’s Poetica: tragedy versus comedy, narrative forms (epic/dramatic), dramatic
structure (beginning/middle/end; from complication to unravelling)
Plato’s De Re Publica: two fundamental modes of speech: mimesis (imitation: letting the
characters speak) versus diegesis (narration, the narrator tells about a character’s speech or
thought) showing versus telling
Russian formalism: e.g., Vladimir Propp’s morphology: narrathemes, character roles | Viktor
Šklovskij: fabula vs. sujet
Narratology including French structuralism: discipline studying narrative principles and
narrative representations (e.g., Tzvetan Todorov’s histoire vs. discours, Seymour Chatman’s
kernels vs. satellites, Gérard Genette’s focalization)
Make sure you know what the underlined terms mean.
Definitions
The term story can be used in different forms. For example as an:
Excuse: “cool story bro” with a negative undertone that is not sincere / not truthful.
Explanation: to explain a long story about what happened
Incident: a story about something you did
Instagram Stories: social media use of story
All kind of definitions
“[…] a generally accepted definition of narratives (and related terms like ‘story’ and
‘storytelling’) seems elusive and thus any hope of a simple solution on that end might be
naïve” (Koenitz, 2018, p.4)
“[...] the term narrative has such a wide range of contradictory meanings and associations for
different people and in different theories that it is practically meaningless unless specified in
great detail” (Juul, 2005)
Narrative – schools’ definition
– Story: what it is about / what has really happened regardless of what we see on a screen or on
how it is being told (fabula)
o Character: someone who is really there in real life that is experiencing the events. In a
story you tell about the character and which events he undergoes.
– Discourse: how the story is been told / presented (sujet)
o Point of View (PoV): how the story is told (from the eyes of person A or person B)
The term narrative includes both a story and its telling (discourse). So, the combination of the story
and the telling is the narrative.
A narrative consists of a:
2
, Story: A chronological, cause-and-effect chain of events occurring within a specific duration
and a specific spatial field, and perceived and experienced by a subject of consciousness.
Transmitted through a discourse: the (re)presentation of the story, which is the result of the
act of narration/telling.
KNOWLEDGE CLIP 2 NARRATIVE ELEMENT: STRUCTURE
Story structure, events and discourse structure
Story plot = Sequence of events on a timeline = Event structure
o Event = a change of state, something happening, usually involving a character
o Plot event = plot point = narrative turn
o Causality: “a cause-and-effect chain of events”,
Discourse structure – the order of narrated events
o e.g., chronological, in medias res (starting in the middle of the story), flashbacks,
flashforwards
o Discourse structures can evoke certain emotions: surprise, curiosity and suspense
Narrative element: story structure (plot)
Freytag’s dramatic arc (“pyramid”)
Other story structures:
• Aristotle: beginning - middle - end
• Three-Act structure
• Labov & Waletzky’s story structure,
including an Evaluation
• Campbell’s hero’s journey (monomyth)
• Non-European structures (e.g., African
oral storytelling)
Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) story structure
3
, Tellability
Newsworthiness / reportability / the “raison d’être” of the story
A tellable event is the critical event in the story structure (see previous slide).
The event that makes the story worth telling and worthy of the audience’s attention.
o Something extraordinary / remarkable / unexpected / wonderful.
Finding a tellable event is the starting point when you create your story structure.
Examples of tellable events:
o being acquitted in court after having left your child in a car on a hot summer day
o finding a medicine curing the medical condition you have been suffering from for
years
o being found by a humanitarian organization while fleeing from Syria under terrible
circumstances
Evaluation(s)
Also part of Labov and Waletzky’s story structure
The narrator’s comments on the significance and meaning of the events
o Answering questions like “what does this all mean?” / “so what?”
Functions to make the point of the narrative clear, the take-home message.
Explicitly present in the narrative
In the case of people forgetting to take their child out of their car on a hot Summer day?
o Evaluation = it could happen to anyone – it is a horrible mistake
Or in the case of a refugee being taken care of by a humanitarian organization?
Story structure: kernels vs. satellites
Events function as either kernel or satellite:
Kernel: obligatory event that guarantees the story’s coherence/logic | essential content of the
story | part of a story’s identity | initiates, increases, or concludes an uncertainty, so it
advances or outlines a sequence of transformations
Satellite: serves to embellish the basic plot | content that can be omitted without changing the
identity of the story | amplify or fill in the outline of a sequence by maintaining, retarding, or
prolonging the kernel events they accompany or surround.
Discourse structure: suspense, surprise and curiosity
4
This summary includes all lectures, example exam questions and notes.
CONTENT
Lecture 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………2
Lecture 2 Defining Storytelling and Narratives.…………………………………………………..6
Lecture 3 Analyzing an IDN……………………………………………………………………….13
Lecture 4 Experiencing (Interactive) Narratives [1].…………………………………………….16
Lecture 5 Experiencing (Interactive) Narratives [2].…………………………………………….21
Lecture 6 Q&A……………………………………………………………………………………..26
Lecture 7 Effects of (Interactive) Narratives……….…………………………………………….27
Lecture 8 Q&A……………………………………………………………………………………..32
Lecture 9 Misleading Narratives………………………………………………………………….33
Lecture 10 Wrap Up……………………………………………………………………………….40
1
,LECTURE 1 INTRODUCTION
KNOWLEDGE CLIP 1 DEFINITIONS
Historical context
Aristotle’s Poetica: tragedy versus comedy, narrative forms (epic/dramatic), dramatic
structure (beginning/middle/end; from complication to unravelling)
Plato’s De Re Publica: two fundamental modes of speech: mimesis (imitation: letting the
characters speak) versus diegesis (narration, the narrator tells about a character’s speech or
thought) showing versus telling
Russian formalism: e.g., Vladimir Propp’s morphology: narrathemes, character roles | Viktor
Šklovskij: fabula vs. sujet
Narratology including French structuralism: discipline studying narrative principles and
narrative representations (e.g., Tzvetan Todorov’s histoire vs. discours, Seymour Chatman’s
kernels vs. satellites, Gérard Genette’s focalization)
Make sure you know what the underlined terms mean.
Definitions
The term story can be used in different forms. For example as an:
Excuse: “cool story bro” with a negative undertone that is not sincere / not truthful.
Explanation: to explain a long story about what happened
Incident: a story about something you did
Instagram Stories: social media use of story
All kind of definitions
“[…] a generally accepted definition of narratives (and related terms like ‘story’ and
‘storytelling’) seems elusive and thus any hope of a simple solution on that end might be
naïve” (Koenitz, 2018, p.4)
“[...] the term narrative has such a wide range of contradictory meanings and associations for
different people and in different theories that it is practically meaningless unless specified in
great detail” (Juul, 2005)
Narrative – schools’ definition
– Story: what it is about / what has really happened regardless of what we see on a screen or on
how it is being told (fabula)
o Character: someone who is really there in real life that is experiencing the events. In a
story you tell about the character and which events he undergoes.
– Discourse: how the story is been told / presented (sujet)
o Point of View (PoV): how the story is told (from the eyes of person A or person B)
The term narrative includes both a story and its telling (discourse). So, the combination of the story
and the telling is the narrative.
A narrative consists of a:
2
, Story: A chronological, cause-and-effect chain of events occurring within a specific duration
and a specific spatial field, and perceived and experienced by a subject of consciousness.
Transmitted through a discourse: the (re)presentation of the story, which is the result of the
act of narration/telling.
KNOWLEDGE CLIP 2 NARRATIVE ELEMENT: STRUCTURE
Story structure, events and discourse structure
Story plot = Sequence of events on a timeline = Event structure
o Event = a change of state, something happening, usually involving a character
o Plot event = plot point = narrative turn
o Causality: “a cause-and-effect chain of events”,
Discourse structure – the order of narrated events
o e.g., chronological, in medias res (starting in the middle of the story), flashbacks,
flashforwards
o Discourse structures can evoke certain emotions: surprise, curiosity and suspense
Narrative element: story structure (plot)
Freytag’s dramatic arc (“pyramid”)
Other story structures:
• Aristotle: beginning - middle - end
• Three-Act structure
• Labov & Waletzky’s story structure,
including an Evaluation
• Campbell’s hero’s journey (monomyth)
• Non-European structures (e.g., African
oral storytelling)
Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) story structure
3
, Tellability
Newsworthiness / reportability / the “raison d’être” of the story
A tellable event is the critical event in the story structure (see previous slide).
The event that makes the story worth telling and worthy of the audience’s attention.
o Something extraordinary / remarkable / unexpected / wonderful.
Finding a tellable event is the starting point when you create your story structure.
Examples of tellable events:
o being acquitted in court after having left your child in a car on a hot summer day
o finding a medicine curing the medical condition you have been suffering from for
years
o being found by a humanitarian organization while fleeing from Syria under terrible
circumstances
Evaluation(s)
Also part of Labov and Waletzky’s story structure
The narrator’s comments on the significance and meaning of the events
o Answering questions like “what does this all mean?” / “so what?”
Functions to make the point of the narrative clear, the take-home message.
Explicitly present in the narrative
In the case of people forgetting to take their child out of their car on a hot Summer day?
o Evaluation = it could happen to anyone – it is a horrible mistake
Or in the case of a refugee being taken care of by a humanitarian organization?
Story structure: kernels vs. satellites
Events function as either kernel or satellite:
Kernel: obligatory event that guarantees the story’s coherence/logic | essential content of the
story | part of a story’s identity | initiates, increases, or concludes an uncertainty, so it
advances or outlines a sequence of transformations
Satellite: serves to embellish the basic plot | content that can be omitted without changing the
identity of the story | amplify or fill in the outline of a sequence by maintaining, retarding, or
prolonging the kernel events they accompany or surround.
Discourse structure: suspense, surprise and curiosity
4
