The StorySpinner Sculptural Reader

This demo is of a hypertext reading system called StorySpinner. It follows the sculptural hypertext methodology and has been used as a test bed for experimenting with the authoring of narrative flow in automatically generated stories. Readers are able to select and read one of two available stories. Reading a story involves selecting tarot cards which are mapped to chunks of story text based on possible interpretations of the cards and information concerning current story state

StorySpinner: Controlling Narrative Pace in Hyperfiction

This paper describes the StorySpinner system, a sculptural hypertext reader used as a test bed for experimenting with the authoring of narrative flow in automatically generated stories. An overview of the system is presented along with discussion and conclusions arising from initial user trials

Tiree Tales: A Co-operative Inquiry into the Poetics of Location-Based Narratives

In a location-based story a reader's movement through physical space is translated into movement through narrative space, typically by presenting them with text fragments on a smart device triggered by location changes. Despite the increasing popularity of such systems their poetics are poorly understood, meaning limited guidance for authors, and few authoring tools. To explore these poetics we present a co-operative inquiry into the authoring of an interactive location-based narrative, `The Isle of Brine', set on the island of Tiree. Our inquiry reveals both pragmatic and aesthetic considerations driven by the locations themselves, that affect the design of both the Story (narrative structure) and Fabula (events within the story). These include the importance of paths, bottlenecks, and junctions as a physical manifestation of calligraphic patterns, the need for coherent narrative areas, and the requirement to use evocative places and to manage thematic and tonal discord between the landscape and the narrative

A Reusable, Extensible Infrastructure for Augmented Field Trips

This paper describes a reusable pervasive information infrastructure developed as part of the Equator IRC, designed to allow the construction of literacy based eLearning activities on top of material created as part of a more traditional visitors system. The architecture of the system is described along with details of the creation of the curated material and the subsequent adaption of the system by local primary school teachers to create a literacy experiences. Results of the first trials of the system are presented with conclusions drawn and discussion of future directions

The StoryPlaces Authoring Tool: Pattern Centric Authoring

Building authoring environments for constraint-based inter- active narratives (sculptural hypertexts) is challenging, as dealing di- rectly with functions and variables is alien to many authors and requires them to think at a lower level than story structure. We propose an ap- proach that uses higher level constructs based on common structural patterns, which are then translated behind the scenes into a set of con- straints for a sculptural engine. We present the StoryPlaces authoring tool that applies this idea with the patterns of Locking and Phasing and allows for the creation of constraint-based locative hypertext ction. Our work shows how the poetics of interactive narratives can be used in the software design process to create more accessible authoring tools

Location location location: experiences of authoring an interactive location-based narrative

Location-based narratives are a form of digital interactive storytelling where a reader's physical movement triggers narrative events. Unlike traditional hypertext the poetics of these narratives is poorly understood, meaning that it is difficult to build effective authoring tools or to train new writers. In this paper we present our experience of authoring an interactive location-based narratives, focused on the creation of a story 'The Isle of Brine' set on the island of Tiree. Our experience highlights the primacy of location in the authoring process, and both pragmatic and aesthetic considerations for the design of the narrative

Exploring (the poetics of) strange (and fractal) hypertexts

The ACM Hypertext conference has a rich history of challenging the node-link hegemony of the web. At Hypertext 2011 Pisarski [12] suggested that to refocus on nodes in hypertext might unlock a new poetics, and at Hypertext 2001 Bernstein [3] lamented the lack of strange hypertexts: playful tools that experiment with hypertext structure and form. As part of the emerging Strange Hypertexts community project we have been exploring a number of exotic hypertext tools, and in this paper we set out an early experiment with media and creative writing undergraduates to see what effect one particular form – Fractal Narratives, a hypertext where readers drill down into text in a reoccurring pattern – would have on their writing. In this particular trial, we found that most students did not engage in the structure from a storytelling point of view, although they did find value from a planning point of view. Participants conceptually saw the value in non-linear storytelling but few exploited the fractal structure to actually do this. Participant feedback leads us to conclude that while new poetics do emerge from strange hypertexts, this should be viewed as an ongoing process that can be reinforced and encouraged by designing tools that highlight and support those emerging poetics in a series of feedback loops, and by providing writing contexts where they can be highlighted and collaboratively explore

On Links To Be: Exercises in Style #2

This contribution extends the discussion of the types and uses of links bootstrapped by Mason and Bernstein’s “On Links: Exercises in Style”, focusing on how authors use marginalia and annotations as links to the future. We argue that the development of a common semantics of “links to be” is needed in order to systematise individual authorial practices, provide greater interpretive understanding for readers and enable the development of new tools. We present examples on different types of annotations from the Holographic Vernon Lee project (HoL) and provide our own exercises to formulate a preliminary framework of links to be