The XY&Z of Digital Storytelling: Dramaturgy, directionality and design
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Talk presented at Museums & the Web 2015 in Chicago on April 9, 2015. Co-authored with Tim Svenonius, it's a reflection on how digital narratives have become more efficient--for instance, cross-platform compatible--but less affecting, and an appeal to find more original ways to tell our stories.
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The XY&Z of Digital Storytelling: Dramaturgy, directionality and design
- 1. The XY&Z of Digital Storytelling Dramaturgy, directionality and design Peter Samis Tim Svenonius Assoc. Curator, Interpretation Senior Content Strategist Museums & the Web 2015 Chicago April 9, 2012
- 2. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via http://www.vox.com/ As of 2013…
- 3. 19 minutes per day of analog reading…
- 4. 26 mins/day for box games, card games, & leisure computer use including web surfing…
- 5. And almost 3 hours for television…
- 6. “Part of me believes that if film had been invented before the book, books may never have happened.” –Ken Taylor, Philosophy professor @ Stanford
- 7. So what are some implications for the way we write stories online?
- 8. That first moment when the ground falls away…
- 9. More bait on the hook: animated data viz.
- 10. Moment of Truth 1. Since it was first published in 2012, how many of you have read Snow Fall? 2. How many of you have finished it?
- 11. Speaking of avalanches, our attention, too, gains velocity as it moves down the page.
- 12. X/Y content model X = Browse Y = Deep Dive
- 14. Avge Web page visit: < 1 min. 80.3% of time spent “above the fold” –Jakob Nielsen, 2010, 2011
- 15. Will anyone reach the end of the article?
- 16. Or has attention- deficit behavior become our new normal? With publishers aiding and abetting, inserting diversions along the way?
- 17. If so, why are we still telling stories in long columns of text?
- 18. We now specialize in browsing.
- 19. Here’s the X-Y playing out in apps and books, like exhibition catalogs.
- 21. And less time-based, random-access Grids
- 22. A vast landscape of teasers.
- 23. Retail becomes electric. “Staff Picks” have turned into an invisible algorithm.
- 24. Aggregators offer stories loosely connected by rubric:
- 25. And display them in a pleasing, sequential manner…
- 26. We have moved into a world of standardization, which has brought us great boons: • Search-Engine optimized • CSS-conforming • Cross-platform • Mobile-compatible • Plays well with aggregators • Socially shareable
- 27. Is what we’re dealing with simply the replacement of Flash by WordPress?
- 28. Has immersive interactivity become limited to the world of games and big screen cinema…
- 29. …in the theater or at home?
- 30. Is it either full Fantasy or sober Journalism?
- 31. “Here’s to the crazy ones…”
- 32. “They’re not fond of rules.” –Apple ad
- 33. From creative improv to a “rappel à l’ordre” Picasso, Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde, 1911 Picasso, Three Women at the Spring, 1921
- 34. Is that where we are today?
- 35. Recommender systems and endless browsing are a weak substitute for deep contact. There is a pent-up desire for new experience— an adventure that seduces & draws us along.
- 36. Unlike the decay curve of weak ties, we seek a story that revitalizes and renews our energy.
- 37. So if browsing has indeed replaced reading, what are the implications for storytelling?
- 38. One proposal: The Met’s Artist Project http://artistproject.metmuseum.org/1/walton-ford/
- 39. What will be an equivalent that combines video, text, and image?
- 40. “The deepest z-axis you can ever imagine is in every artwork.” –Bill Viola Nantes Triptych
- 41. What we really seek is that elusive Z- axis, taking us right to the heart of our attention— —where it meets the artist’s intention.
- 42. Stories where the impetus to move forward is encoded in the meeting of interface and content. “Navigation can become content in itself & create a reflexive, liquid information architecture.” -Harald Kraemer
- 43. We want intuitive access: the right balance of Control Surprise Visual pleasure Reward Renewing & replenishing the energy invested.
- 44. Where the X of browsing allows for easy Y plunges without sucking us into long-form text, and yet delivers a Z of depth… with economy.
- 45. A worthy goal. Let’s try it.
- 46. Thank you.
Editor's Notes
- Get ready for one of those deplorable statistics! Actually, since 2013 it’s a safe bet that computer leisure time has gone up, and if anything, reading has… well, gone down.
- Until it just departs, flying right off!
- The Dependability of Inherited Forms
- —but not multi-threaded
- Instant and tantalizing promise. A vast landscape of teasers.
- —but not multi-threaded
- —but not multi-threaded
- Where content was matched to form… where form is more neutral, a more universal container. The poetics of visual/conceptual exploration have given way to a magazine aesthetic graced with occasional cinematic moments.
- Remember Steve? With all his “Think Different” campaigns, he still imposed a rigid set of interface conventions on iPhone and iPad app developers…
- to the point of not allowing them to publish if they did not conform.
- Witness how excited people were when Snow Fall was first published—when we see something genuinely new.
- In doses commensurate with our attention.