Hyperlinks and Story Arcs: Building Non-Linear Narratives Online

What does it mean to build a non-linear story in the 21st century? Our storytelling tools are increasingly fragmented in the digital world but, at the same time, the web is opening up all sorts of exciting possibilities. The digital tools at our fingertips, from simple hyperlinks to complex animations, mean we can create non-linear narratives that exist as the perfect storytelling format for the web.

Transcript

1. Hyperlinks
   &
   Story Arcs
   Building Non-Linear Narratives Online
   

   View Slide

2. Hello.
   Senongo Akpem @senongo
   

   View Slide

3. nairaland.com/naptu2
   Kwagh-hir
   

   View Slide

4. Pixel Fable
   pixelfable.com
   

   View Slide

5. So...
   How do we tell
   non-linear stories?
   

   View Slide

6. Start with
   narrative content
   blocks
   

   View Slide

7. ernestgoh.com
   wat.
   

   View Slide

8. narrative
   content blocks
   video
   links
   text
   audio
   location
   images
   data
   

   View Slide

9. narrative
   content blocks
   video
   links
   text
   audio
   location
   images
   data
   

   View Slide

10. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

11. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

12. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

13. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

14. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

15. narrative
    content blocks
    video
    links
    text
    audio
    location
    images
    data
    

    View Slide

16. Organizing your
    narrative content
    

    View Slide

17. wikipedia.org
    Go deeper.
    

    View Slide

18. fluid content
    strategy is critical
    for non-linear narratives
    

    View Slide

19. Create experiences that are not just
    hierarchical or linear, but flexible,
    modular, relational, and semantic.
    -Sara Wachter-Boettcher
    

    View Slide

20. Set narrative goals
    

    View Slide

21. Create narrative schedules
    

    View Slide

22. Conductrr
    tstoryteller.com
    

    View Slide

23. non-linear narratives
    depend heavily on
    your audience
    

    View Slide

24. One of the challenges facing designers
    of intelligent storytelling systems
    is how to balance tension between
    user and author control.
    -Joshua Tanenbaum & Angela Tomizu
    

    View Slide

25. discovery
    feedback
    ‘what is’ vs ‘what if’
    

    View Slide

26. Hi
    hi.co
    

    View Slide

27. discovery
    feedback
    ‘what is’ vs ‘what if’
    

    View Slide

28. Death is Certain
    dice.gwil.co
    

    View Slide

29. discovery
    feedback
    ‘what is’ vs ‘what if’
    

    View Slide

30. Designing cohesive
    narratives
    

    View Slide

31. Create
    threads.
    

    View Slide

32. visual threads
    interactive threads
    spatial threads
    

    View Slide

33. Whale Hunt
    thewhalehunt.org
    

    View Slide

34. visual threads
    interactive threads
    spatial threads
    

    View Slide

35. #MurderProject
    unlinear.tv
    

    View Slide

36. View Slide

37. visual threads
    interactive threads
    spatial threads
    

    View Slide

38. Voices From The Collosseum
    colosseum.bridgingmedia.net
    

    View Slide

39. Knowledge... can now be accessed
    through a network of links in which a
    spatial relation between component parts
    can be preserved.
    -person
    -Janet Marles
    

    View Slide

40. create
    one central thread
    through your narrative
    

    View Slide

41. A few
    examples.
    

    View Slide

42. View Slide

43. extra narrative
    

    View Slide

44. View Slide

45. An Idea Lives On
    anidealiveson.org
    

    View Slide

46. View Slide

47. disjointed narrative
    

    View Slide

48. View Slide

49. View Slide

50. Life After Wartime - Bystander
    lifeafterwartime.com
    

    View Slide

51. parallel narrative
    

    View Slide

52. View Slide

53. Moon
    unahistoriaquedalavuelta.com/en
    

    View Slide

54. View Slide

55. database narrative
    

    View Slide

56. View Slide

57. Inequality Map
    newyorker.com/sandbox/business/subway.html
    

    View Slide

58. micro narrative
    

    View Slide

59. View Slide

60. View Slide

61. Lost Nigeria
    lostnigeria.com
    

    View Slide

62. This is my call for more
    non-linear
    storytelling.
    

    View Slide

63. Transmedia storytelling is the ideal
    aesthetic form for an era of collective
    intelligence.
    -Henry Jenkins
    

    View Slide

64. Thank You!
    @senongo
    (slides, tools, and more at senongo.net)
    

    View Slide

65. fin.
    

    View Slide