SYLLABUS MIT 21W765/21L49

Non-Linear and Interactive Narrative: Theory and Practice

Spring 1997

Wednesdays 2-5
Room E53-220

Assignment for Week 10: April 16, 1997

Character Contest Assignment Week 11: April 23, 1997


Janet H. Murray

Office Hour: Mondays 2-4, or email (jhmurray@mit.edu) for appointment
Office after April 1st: 9-321


Course Requirements:

Grade will be based on:

The final story project can be a substantial revision / extension of one of the earlier weekly assignments or projects (including the interactive character)

Graduate students are required to provide

This is a course in narrative with an emphasis on narrative structure. There is no requirement to learn programming or graphic design beyond the ability to make a simple web page with links.

Reading List

Web-based Resources List


Week 1

February 5 THE AESTHETICS OF DIGITAL NARRATIVE

JHM: Overview of properties of digital medium and design principles electronic narrative

In class lab: Examine projects from previous year

Students present: Critique of previous year's projects



Week 2

February 12 JOURNEY, WEB, AND TRAIL

READ:

Analysis of kinds of navigational or digressive movement

In class lab: HTML practice

Begin thinking about Project #1 Assignment, due March 5 and March 12



Week 3

February 19 SEGMENTATION AND CONNECTION

READ/VIEW and be prepared to discuss : Jane Wagner, The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

Assignment for Week 3

Create a hypertext representation of some part of the story

In class lab: Segmentation practice using existing web materials


Week 4

February 26 REPRESENTING TIME AND SPACE

VIEW: Alan Ayckbourne, The Norman Chronicles

Assignment for week 4: Create a hypertext representation of some part of the story

In Class Lab: Navigation as Agency


Week 5

March 5 PROJECT I WORKSHOP

Presentation of Preliminary Lexia Design, Navigational Design, and Boundary Definitions for Project I by all students for mutual critique

Project #1 Assignment

 



Week 6

March 12 PROJECT I DUE

Project #1 Assignment

Class presentations: Project I

In class lab: Read and Critique one another's finished projects.



Week 7

March 19 PROJECT I DUE

Project #1 Assignment

Class presentations: Project I continued

In class lab: Read and Critique one another's finished projects.

 


vacation week



Week 8

April 2 FORMULAIC ELEMENTS IN NARRATIVE

READ: Morphology of the Folktale, see assignment sheet for selections

Assignment for Week 8: Morphological Analysis of a story of your choice or web page with examples of morphological variation on the WWW


Week 9

April 9 VARIATION AND JUXTAPOSITION

Conferences on Project I

Preliminary Design of Project II due in conference

VIEW: Groundhog Day OR "Parallels " episode of StarTrek

READ: Borges "The Garden of Forking Paths" and Lightman excerpt from Einstein's Dreams

Assignment for Week 9: Representation of Formulas of Variation


Week 10

April 16 CHATTERBOTS

Chatterbots Assignment for week 10

Graduate students: read Boden and Colby essays on PARRY.

Hand-in: Record of sessions with chatterbots, with annotations of what worked and what did not.

In class lab: Learn authoring system for character; review characters from last year


Week 11

April 23 THE GREAT ANNUAL ELIZA CONTEST

Students will create their own chatterbots and then interact with one another's characters. Prizes awarded to characters and interactors in various categories.

Dessert celebration afterwards.

Character Contest Assignment

Character Maker Software/ primary site

Character Maker software/ alternate site

 



Week 12

April 30 HYPERTEXT AND AUDIENCE RESPONSE

Assignment for week 12



Week 13

May 7: WORKSHOP PROJECT II



Week 14

May 14: PROJECT II DUE

In class reading and critique of one another's stories.