This document discusses storytelling across different forms of media and technology. It covers how storytelling has evolved from oral traditions to digital forms. Key topics include the relationship between stories, history, and truth; how different technologies have shaped storytelling; transmedia storytelling across multiple platforms; and how new technologies like VR, AI, and attention tracking may further impact storytelling. The overall message is that storytelling, technology, and media work together to create culture, and diverse, inclusive stories can make positive change.

1. TELLING STORIES
TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA
DREW DAVIDSON

2. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME

3. STORIES
• Fairytales, Folktales, Myths, Legends, Fables
• Narratives, Fictions, Tales, Dramas
• Once upon a time… Everyday… But one day… Because of this…
Until finally… And ever since then… The moral of the story is…
- Kenn Adams

4. (QUICK) HISTORY OF STORYTELLING
• Oral (Performance, Music, Art, Dance
• Drawing (Cave, Rock
• Writing (Tattooing, Wood, Clay, Parchment, Canvas, Paper
• Mass Printing (Books, Newspapers
• Analog (Photo, Radio, Film, Television
• Digital (Computers, Internet, Mobile, Social

5. STORIES & HISTORY
• Humans are Hard-Wired for Stories
• Stories are *Not* History
• Seduction of Narrative, Not Understanding Reality of Events
• Emotional Impact and False Sense of Comprehension
Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.
- Jean Luc Godard
History is written by the victors.
- Winston Churchill

6. TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA
• Similar but Different
• Technology More of a Tool
• Media More about the Making of Meaning

7. STORYTELLING, TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA
• Writing
• Printing
• Radio
• Film
• Television
• Internet

8. STORIES
• Creativity
• Technology - Media
• Engagement
• Exploration
The story is not in the plot but in the telling.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

9. STORYTELLING & COMPUTERS
• Writing
• Text
• Reading

10. WRITING
• Programming
• Binary
• Code
• Writing
• Applications
• Storage
• 1s and 0s

11. TEXT(S)
• Documents
• Webpages
• Images
• Movies
• Games
• Etc.

12. INTERFACE
• Input and Output
• On Screen, In Space
• OS
• GUI
• Designed Experience

13. READING
• Hardware & Software
• New Media Literacies
• Interactivity
• Multimedia
• Social
• Immersion

14. (NEW) STORYTELLING
• Agency
• Interactivity
• Across Media
• What Stories Are and Can Be

15. (NEW) STORYTELLING
• Director, Writer, Painter, Choreographer, Curator, Artist,
Programmer, Designer
• Co-Author, Reader, Guest, User, Theater Goer, Movie Goer,
Museum Visitor, Player

16. NEW STORIES
• Performances
• Problems
• Promises

17. PERFORMANCES
• Agency
• Reading, Writing
• Compelling, Engaging

18. PROBLEMS
• Spoilers
• FAQs
• IP
• Messy

19. PROMISES
• Ownership
• Read/Write
• Fan Fiction
• Avatars

20. STORY JOURNEY
• New “Writing” & “Reading”
• Across Mediums
• Interactive
• Engaging

21. ACROSS ALL MEDIA

22. HOW?

23. FINDING MEDIA
• Social Thinking Skill
• Books, Music, Video, Games, etc
• City or College

24. INTERNET
• Search
• Recommendation, Aggregation
• Long Tail
• Persuasive Profiling
• So Much

25. POST-SECRET WORLD
• No Secrets
• Personally
• Globally

26. 3 POST-SECRET ASPECTS
• Personal Privacy & Oversharing
• 24/7 Pop Culture Media Coverage
• Spoilers Everywhere

27. PERSONAL PRIVACY & OVERSHARING
• Share Personal Info
• Post Secrets, Pictures, Videos
• Everyday Star

28. SPOILERS
• Wikipedia
• IMDB, GameFAQs
• Web

29. 24/7 COVERAGE
• Pop Culture
• Previews
• Demos
• Blogs

30. SNACKABILITY
• How Convenient and Easy it is to Eat a Snack
• “Twelve Easy Pieces” NY Times 2006
• “Snack Culture” Wired 2007

31. STORIES & SNACKS
• You Can’t Eat Just One
• Just One More…

32. SNACKABLE MEDIA
• Characteristics
• Design

33. CHARACTERISTICS
• Time
• Complete Part of Experience
• Micro/Macro Challenges/Rewards
• Reduce Friction

34. SNACKABLE DESIGN
• Bite-Sized Story
• Chunking
• Flow
• Fun

35. STORIES & MEDIA
• Across & Between
• Text
• Audio/Visual
• Interactive

36. STORIES ACROSS MEDIA
• Connected
• Continued
• Collected

37. STORY EXPERIENCE

38. TRANSMEDIA STORIES
• Storytelling across Multiple Forms of Media
• Multimodal Representations
• Various Entry Points
• Social Authorship
• Franchise, Marketing, Native

39. ACROSS MEDIA
• Books, Comics, Movies, TV, Web,
Games, Mobile, Toys, Music, etc.
• Goals & Glue
• Transparency, Ubiquity
• Ethics, Literacy
• Tentpoles & Rabbit Holes
• Story Tree

40. GOALS & GLUE
• Threads Across & Between Media
• Connections
• Throughline
• Purposes for Deeper Engagement

41. TRANSPARENCY | UBIQUITY
• Fitting into Our Lives
• Distributed All around Us
• Easy to Use
• Cloud Media
• Snackable

42. ETHICS | LITERACY
• Privacy & Freedom
• IP & CC
• Open Source
• Read/Write
• Attention/Cognition

43. TENTPOLE
• Central Media Experience
• Supports All Other Media

44. RABBIT HOLE
• Entry Point into Fictional Universe
• Down into the Story

45. STORY TREE
• Trunk
• Heart of the Tale
• Branches
• Inter-related Threads

46. EXPERIENCE
• Critical Creation
• Ultimate Design Goal
• For the User, Player, Guest…
• Interest Curves, Flow,
Procedural, Interactivies

47. INTEREST CURVES, FLOW, PROCEDURAL, INTERACTIVITIES

48. INTEREST CURVES

49. FLOW

50. PROCEDURAL

51. INTERACTIVITIES

52. ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY

53. VR/AR/MR/XR & STORIES
• Immersion
• Agency
• Spatial & Physical

54. IMMERSION
• Embodied
• Within the Story
• 360

55. AGENCY
• Choices
• Decisions
• Impacts

56. SPATIAL & PHYSICAL
• Mobility
• Involved
• Perspective

57. AI/ML & STORIES
• Adaptive
• Co-Creative
• Replicative
• Restrictive

58. ADAPTIVE
• Real-Time
• Flow
• Pacing, Ending(s)

59. CO-CREATIVE
• Assisting
• Simplifying
• Enhancing

60. REPLICATIVE
• Mimicry
• Fake Reality?
• A/B

61. RESTRICTIVE
• Data
• Limitations, Biases
• Similarities, Differences

62. ATTENTION & STORIES
• Sensors
• Analytics
• Recommendations
• Choices

63. SENSORS
• Eye Tracking
• Galvanic Skin Response
• Heartbeat

64. ANALYTICS
• Algorithms
• Emotional
• Persuasive

65. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Trends
• Profiles
• Connections

66. CHOICES
• Illusion
• Abundance
• Indirect Control
• Autoplay

67. HUMANS & STORIES
• Ludic Narrans
• Aesthetic Intelligence
• Creative Chaos
• Communication
• Transcendence

68. LUDIC NARRANS
• Homo Ludens
• +
• Homo Narrans
• =
• Ludic Narrans
• Playful Stories

69. AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE
• Not just Art Appreciation or Art Criticism
• Experiential, Social, Making Meaning Together
• Poetics, New Poetics
• Creative Cognition
• A Philosophical Exploration
• What Do We Mean?
• How Do We Know?

70. CREATIVE CHAOS
• Diversity is Valuable & Challenging
• Inclusion Leads to Innovation
• Supportive Orchestration
• Making The Magic,
Changing the World

71. COMMUNICATION
• Organization
• Presentation
• Interpretation

72. TRANSCENDENCE
• Limitations
• Empathic
• Creativity - Curiosity
• Personal - Universal
• Awe - Wonder

73. STORYTELLING
No amount of technology can solve a bad idea.
- Brenda Bakker Harger

74. MORE STORIES PLEASE
• More & Different
• Perspectives & Experiences
• Diverse & Inclusive
• Product & Process
• Culture & Community
• Difference & Progress
• Do It Together & Change the World

75. TELLING STORIES
• Technology & Media
• Creating Culture
• Medium is the Message

76. …AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
• Thanks!
• Questions?
• waxebb.com/slides
• drew@andrew.cmu.edu
- Neil Gaiman