by Beth Coleman ¹

• ¹ Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This course covers techniques of creating narratives that take advantage of the flexibility of form offered by the computer. The course studies the structural properties of book-based narratives that experiment with digression, multiple points of view, disruptions of time and of storyline. The class analyzes the structure and evaluates the literary qualities of computer-based narratives including hypertexts, adventure games, and classic artificial intelligence programs like Eliza. With this base, students use authoring systems to model a variety of narrative techniques and to create their own fictions. Knowledge of programming is helpful but not necessary.

Course Description

The contemporary understanding of communication and narrative is quickly shifting in a world where media is ubiquitous. This course explores the properties of non-linear, multi-linear, and interactive forms of narratives as they have evolved from print to digital media. The "language of new media" is the thematic used in this course to discuss contemporary and historic forms of non-linear narrative. Writers on communication culture, gaming, television, digital aesthetics, contemporary art and film, as well as synchronic narrative will be addressed. The course is structured as a theory and practice class: students will produce short papers and a final media project. The focus is to develop critical tools to analyze contemporary media as well as a minimal level of practical implementation. We will look at writers including Borges, Julian Dibbell, Steven Johnson, Friedrich Kittler, Jan Murray, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, films by Quentin Tarantino and Chris Marker, and game culture platforms such as Second Life, LARPs and ARGs, and various MMOs. This course is open to students of all levels, with assignment modification for graduate students.

Students will develop digital and non-digital collaborative projects that explore the complex relationships of narrative and interactivity in a hands-on, workshop format. The goal of this course is to expand our understanding of narrative and refine our skills in the critical analysis of interactive formats through a combination of project development, readings on the theory and practice of non-linear/interactive narrative, and close analysis of digital and non-digital narratives.