Transmedial Museum Experiences: the case of Moesgaard

La intenció d'aquest article és dilucidar l'incert estat ontològic de l'experiència museística transmèdia, que defineixo com la trobada estètica d'un usuari amb aquest objecte complex que és la conjunció d'un artefacte històric, una etiqueta informativa i unes històries fictícies en diferents plataformes de mitjans. Combino el mapatge teòric del concepte d'experiència museística transmèdia amb un estudi de casos de tres exposicions transmèdia presentades al museu Moesgaard d'Aarhus, Dinamarca

Introduction: Videogames and the Fantastic

Instroduction to the Special Issue. Susana Pajares Tosc

The Networked Reception of Transmedial Universes – an Experience-Centered Approach

Building upon ten years of empirical work, this paper reflects on how to study increasingly complex user engagement with transmedial worlds. We examine our own analytical evolution from an initial aesthetic orientation to our current effort to incorporate the user´s own perspective through qualitative and quantitative studies. We argue that mapping user experience requires a sophisticated and holistic analytical approach - particularly, due to the popularity of social media platforms. We conclude the article by developing the concept of "networked reception" to characterize new kinds of transmedial world experience afforded by social media, which allow users to distribute and communicate not only the content of media texts but also their own experience and reception of transmedial world “texts”

Meta-Literacy in Gameworlds

This paper proposes the notion of "meta-literacy", understood as the player's ability to navigate between spheres of reality and/or cross boundaries when interacting with a gameworld. We examine how meta-aesthetics functions in vide ogames and argue that it is relevant at both the fictional level (intertextual literacy) and at the ludic level (self-referential literacy). The user will have to activate their meta-literacy in order to understand relationships between the levels of a video game, several different video games or the video game itself and "reality". We present examples in every category and show how players naturally navigate this complexity. We propose that meta-literacy works in this media as an ability to recreate a bridge between the ludic and the fictional, to use our game repertoire, and to connect disparate levels of reality in an aesthetic experience that is no less unified than that of other art forms. We'll conclude that accounting for meta-literacy is indeed relevant for understanding the pleasures of inhabiting not only gameworlds but also virtual worlds of all kinds.Este artículo propone el concepto de «metaalfabetización», entendida como la habilidad del jugador para navegar entre las esferas de realidad y cruzar fronteras, al tiempo que interactúa con el mundo lúdico. Examinamos cómo funciona la metaestética en los videojuegos y sostendremos que resulta relevante tanto en el nivel ficcional (alfabetización intertextual) como en el lúdico (alfabetización autorreferencial). El usuario deberá activar su metaalfabetización para comprender las relaciones entre los niveles del videojuego, distintos videojuegos o el propio videojuego y la «realidad». Presentamos ejemplos en cada categoría y mostramos cómo los jugadores navegan con naturalidad tal complejidad. Proponemos que la metaalfabetización funciona en este medio en tanto que habilidad para construir un puente entre lo lúdico y lo ficcional, para utilizar nuestro repertorio lúdico y para conectar niveles no semejantes de realidad en una experiencia estética que no resulta menos unificada que otras formas artísticas. Concluiremos que es necesario tener en cuenta la metaalfabetización para comprender los placeres de habitar no solo mundos lúdicos, sino también mundos virtuales de todo tipo.Aquest article proposa el concepte de «metaalfabetització», entesa com l'habilitat del jugador per navegar entre les esferes de realitat i creuar fronteres al mateix temps que interactua amb el món lúdic. Examinem com funciona la metaestètica en els videojocs i sostindrem que resulta rellevant tant en l'àmbit de ficció (alfabetització intertextual) com en el lúdic (alfabetització autoreferencial). L'usuari haurà d'activar la seva metaalfabetització per comprendre les relacions entre els nivells del videojoc, diferents videojocs o el videojoc i la «realitat». Presentem exemples en cada categoria i mostrem com els jugadors naveguen amb naturalitat en aquesta complexitat. Proposem que la metaalfabetització funciona en aquest mitjà com a habilitat per a construir un pont entre el que és lúdic i el que és ficcional, per a utilitzar el nostre repertori lúdic i per a connectar nivells no semblants de realitat en una experiència estètica que no resulta menys unificada que altres formes artístiques. Conclourem que és necessari tenir en compte la metaalfabetització per a comprendre els plaers d'habitar no només mons lúdics sinó també mons virtuals de tot tipus

Playing With the City: Street Art and Videogames

In this paper we introduce and describe the phenomenon of videogame street art as a specific kind of street art. We consider its materiality and significance, and conceptualize it in the light of a double manifestation of play: the playful appropriation of the city by the artist and the fact that Street art encapsulates the act of playing videogames in a visual form. Digital play spills out of our computer screens and occupies the urban space with the explicit intention of involving spectators, who are invited to play in symbolic ways that actualize nostalgic memories of gaming and can be related to a more general “play turn” in our culture. </p

Children’s storytelling in virtual worlds: a critique

"In this chapter, we offer a critique of the growing use of virtual worlds for children, particularly as tools to teach children the basic elements of storytelling: language, narrative, the creative imagination, and generativity in applying learned skills. We argue that virtual storytelling is not like other forms of storytelling, particularly for children, who are still developing these abilities. There is evidence that digital storytelling through virtual worlds lacks many of the positive aspects of non-digital storytelling, and may even inhibit the development of imagination in children. In this chapter, we review the literature on children and virtual worlds, focusing on the importance and development of the creative imagination in children. We discuss the visualization hypothesis – a theory that was developed to explain how television produces a reductive effect on the imagination because it presents the user with ready-made visual images – and generalize it to new media, including virtual worlds. We posit the ‘displacement hypothesis’, which states that when manufactured content is supplied ready-made to the individual, then it displaces the creative and imaginative processes that the individual would otherwise supply for him or herself. The more immersive the medium, the more psychological dimensions are captured by this displacement – such as sound, the visual, narrative content, time, space, physical presence – the more reductive are the effects on the individual’s imagination. We conclude that further research is needed in order to determine the long-term effects of virtual worlds on child development, and that in the meantime virtual worlds are an inappropriate medium for children’s storytelling." (From publisher description)Peer reviewe