1.
What is a hybrid
ecosystem of
narra2ves?
Kai Pata

2.
What is a hybrid ecosystem?
• According to Nicolas Nova, “hybrid ecologies”
correspond to a shi? from media spaces (linking
physical spaces through digital medium), mixed
reality environments (blurring borders between
physical and digital), ubiquitous compu2ng
(embedding digital into physical environments) to
hybridiza2on (that merging features into a mixed
natural and digital environment).
• Real and virtual ‘spaces’ and ‘places’ – are these
terms sufficient to describe a ‘hybrid
ecosystem’?

3.
Hybrid space and narra2ve self
• The everyday ac2vi2es of many networked
individuals flow and connect real world with
virtual worlds.
• The extension beyond our real spaces towards
virtual ones makes us distributed beings
spa2ally and ac2vity‐based.
• Is a hybrid narra;ve one of our new way of
being?

4.
Favorite digital extensions in hybrid
ecosystem
Can we map our
ac2vity flow in
hybrid
ecosystem?

5.
We hybridize places
• In the course of ac2on we hybridize places
enabling for ourselves interac2on with the space
using tangible, visible, audible, olfactory cues.
• We no2ce, use and signify meaningful
dimensions of the space and make them into our
places.
• We extend ourselves into the hybrid space, being
part of our places through ac2vi2es, emo2ons
and meanings.

6.
What is a hybrid ecosystem?
• Hybrid Ecosystems define the system in which
interac2ons take place among organisms and between
organisms and other inanimate items in hybrid
ecosystem.
• Hybrid ecosystems func2on as a result of our hybrid
percep2on as a peculiar explora2ve strategy.
• Hybrid percep2on is not simply triggered by
environmental en22es being processed by a perceiver.
Rather it relies on the process of embodiment and
extending the embodied in which previously embodied
sensory‐motor ac2va2on paSerns are coupled with
sensory‐motor ac2on poten2al triggered by the mutual
interac2on of newly perceived environmental features
and selected references conveyed by media.

7.
Elabora2ng and
collabora2ng
Monitoring
Muta2ng stories Loca2ve sensing
Paths in
Loca2ve sensing hybrid
landscape

8.
Visibility within hybrid ecosystems
Monitoring the ecosystem is part of the ‘game’
Ecosystems are not closed to visitors and contributors

9.
Standards: Monitoring mashed
narra2ves is most popular

10.
Ecosystems exist beyond geographical
places

11.
Hybrid
narra2ves as
digital
graffi2?
Hybrid graffi2 flows between the real
place and the virtual narra2ve

12.
Embedding self to the narra2ves

13.
Shadow signatures as digital
watermarks on narra2ves
Some2mes narrator is a part of the picture as a shadow.

14.
Places evoke personal stories
Day two
Day one
Day three

15.
Used by Geroli
Reusing and
muta2ng the
content
Reused by Auli
Originally uploaded by Olga

16.
Personal
stories:
comparing
other
pictures with
own

17.
Your memory filters stories

18.
Your emo2on filters the story
Smile and the world
will smile back:)
In Red Narra2ve, I tried to express my emo2ons visually (signs, leSers, places, abstract
shapes). I chose red because this color is expression of hidden hyper feelings and thoughts
(trying to come over the sickness, par2cipa2ng in different events, avoiding the depressive
moments, some failures in studies, errors in some situa2ons, organiza2ons, contrasts of
emo2ons, lack of sun, winter, spring feelings, etc). This is a conceptual collec2on of
“similar” photos labeled in “red”.

19.
Image repositories as triggers of
personal narra2ves
How would you describe happiness?

20.
Entangled dimensions as triggers
Perceiving several dimensions
simultaneously enables to tag
loca2vely ac2vi2es, emo2ons
and even these percep2ons
that we cannot really transfer
through virtual reality.

21.
Playing with literary narra2ves
From the legend
Estonia is a country of legends.
'When you fly into Estonia,
you go over Lake Ülemiste,
which lies high up to the east
of the city. The lake has an
inhabitant, according to local
myth – the 'Ülemiste
Elder' (Ülemiste vanake), who
by legend comes to the city
gates every Thursday and asks
'Is Tallinn finished yet?' To
which the residents answer,
'No, not yet' – if they answer
'yes', the figure would then
flood the city.

22.
Entangled
dimensions in
books

23.
Collabora2on
emerges without
planning
Places are powerful triggers
Embedding feelings to places

24.
Themes are followed
Buildings and places are personified and loaded emo2onally

25.
Collabora2on triggers: food

26.
Collabora2on triggers: emo2ons

27.
Collabora2on: ac2vity on the picture
triggers curiosity

28.
Dedica2ng content as a
form of collabora2on
Dedicated image

29.
A tram narra2ve example
Adding content to another story
• Yesterday I walked around and
recorded some city sounds ‐ like
tram and trolleybuses speaking
out next stop names, voices on
the streets and so on. Had an
idea that maybe Geroli would
like to enrich her
tram narra2ve with a sound file
as well. But of course I picked
the wrong tram :)

30.
Picking up themes

31.
Map explora2on from the pool of
narra2ves

32.
Map as the trigger for narra2ves

33.
Mapped stories: Narra2ve
paths in the city
Make your narra2ves sequen2al on the map by using My
maps of the Google Map.
Start a map and draw your path on the map.
The Flickr images can be pulled as a new layer on top of
your personal map and you can search only specific tags
enrich your map.

34.
Collabora2vely
Love
ac2vated city
dimensions trees
Let’s imagine that you wish to collaborate on the map.
One person switches on one tag dimension and adds
something on the collabora2ve map.
Another collaborator may switch on totally different tag
and the images direct to make more adds on the map.

35.
Stories as narra2ve
dimensions
The tag onto‐space of my stories
Another way to look at the
tag data at dendrogram
shows also three clusters, so
actually I WAS wri2ng three
stories.
I have wriSen three stories:
‘an ecology story’ is about my percep2ons related to theory of narra2ve
ecology;
‘an invasion story’ is about natural world invading as ar2facts; and
‘ sustainable message story’ is about messages that are recycled on
ar2facts.

36.
Contact: Kai Pata kpata@tlu.ee
blog: hSp://2hane.wordpress.com