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<div id="content"><h1 id="title">Title</h1>
<h3 id="thesis-description">Thesis Description</h3>
<p>
<p>I would like to clarify and introduce some terms for you in order to
read this text in the desired way. For a while, we will stay in the
bight of this journey as we move into forming loops, theories and ideas
on how interactive picture books can be used to foster curiosity for
reading and creativity for children. I am building a web platform called
Wink that aims to contain a children’s story I wrote and am making into
an interactive experience, in relation to my research. <br> Through this
bight of the thesis, I feel the necessity to clarify my intention of
using knots as a “thinking and writing object” throughout my research
journey. Although knots are physical objects and technically crucial in
many fi elds of labor and life, they are also objects of thought and are
open for wide minds’ appreciation. Throughout history, knots have been
used to connect, stop, secure, bind, protect, decorate, record data,
punish, contain, fl y and many other purposes. So if the invention of fl
ying -which required a wing that was supported using certain types of
knotswas initiated with the knowledge of how to use strings to make
things, why wouldn’t a research paper make use of this wonderful art as
an inspiration for writing and interactive reading? <br> KNOTS AS
OBJECTS TO THINK WITH There is a delicate complexity of thinking of and
with knots, which ignites layers of simultaneous connections to one’s
specifi c experience; where one person may associate the knots with
struggles they face, another may think of connecting or thriving times.
In a workshop in Rotterdam, I asked participants to write three words
that comes to mind when they think of knots. There were some words in
common like strong, chaotic, confusing and anxious. On the other hand,
there were variations of connection, binding, bridge and support.
Keeping these answers in mind or by coming up with your words on knots
and embodying them in the practice of reading would make a diff erence
in how you understand the same text. <br> Seeing how these words,
interpretations of a physical object were so diff erent to each other
was transcendental. In this thesis, I am excited to share my
understanding of knots with you. My three words for knots are
resistance, imagination and infi nity. Keeping these in mind, I
experimented with certain reading modes as you will see later on. <br>
Knots are known to be used 15 to 17 thousand years ago for multiple
purposes. These purposes were often opposing each other. For example, it
could be used to let something loose or to restrain it; for pleasure or
pain; for going high above or down below… I believe this diversity of
uses can also be seen in how people approach knots as an idea or a
metaphor. One can think it represents chaos where someone else might see
it as a helpful mark. Essentially, this diversity is what got me
interested in knots years ago and since then, I have found ways to
implement this “loop of thought” in my daily life and research methods.
<br> There are two main reasons to why I chose to write this essay in a
“knotted” format. One is that I would like to share my process and
progress of research on this project and this involves “thinking with an
object”, in this case types of knots. In Evocative Objects, Sherry
Turkle, who is a sociologist and the founder of MIT initiative of
technology and self, refers to the object in the exercise of thinking as
emotional and intellectual companions that anchor memory, sustain
relationships and provoke new ideas. I completely agree with this
statement through personal experience. The second reason is that I see
this as an opportunity to experiment if I can use knots as an
interactive (which is not in knots’ nature since they are mainly
practiced in solo) and playful element in writing. This is also why I
would like to take a moment to mention what happens to the interplay of
processes in which we call thought when we think with knots in specific.
<br> For Turkle and Seymour Papert, who is a mathematician, computer
scientist and educator that did remarkable research on constructivism,
being able to make a reading experience tangible, or even physically
representable makes the process of thought more concrete. Concrete
thinking in this sense is a way of thinking that I adapted to in the
past years, where you think with the object and imagine it vividly
during the process and address meanings to it as you read or write
along. This way it’s easier to compartmentalize or attribute certain
parts of a text to an imagined or real physical item which makes the
mind at ease with complex chains of thought. Imagine you are reading a
story… What if you think of the string itself as the journey and the
slip knot (which is a type of stopper knot) as a representation of an
antagonist because of its specific use in hunting, would this change
your approach to reading this story? I believe so… <br> What if instead
of a slip knot a Bowline was on the string, would that represent
something else in the story because of its usage in practice. A Bowline
is commonly used to form a fi xed loop at the end of a string; it’s
strong but easy to tie, untie. Due to these qualities, we can imagine
the bowline to represent the conclusion in a story. What if we have a
Square Knot, how would that change the course of a narrative? Square
knot is used to bundle objects and make the two ends of the same string
connect. From just this, we can use it to represent the connection
between the beginning and end of a story. My point is, there are
limitless implementations on how to use knots in literature because of
their versatile purposes and the narrative vocabulary they create.
Topologists are still trying to identify seemingly infi nite numbers of
combinations which we simply call “knots” and I see this as an
inspiration to keep writing. <br> One example of the wondrous
versatility and potential of knots is how they are used to archive and
encrypt information. Incan people from the Andes region recorded
information on Quipus, dating back to 700 CE. Quipus are textile devices
consisting of several rows of cotton and/or camelid string that would be
knotted in a specifi c way to record, store and transmit information
ranging from accounting and census data to communicate complex
mathematical and narrative information (Medrano, Urton, 2018). Another
example is the Yakima Time Ball, which was used by North-American Yakama
people to show life events and family aff airs. This is why I humbly
decided to document my research process with a Quipu of my own. I am
trying to symbolize the twists, decisions and practices throughout this
year with knots of my choosing. I was inspired by Nayeli Vega’s
question, “What can a knot become and what can become a knot?” <br>
WEAVING INTO THE TEXT This thesis expects participation from its reader.
You have the option to have a mode of reading, where you will be guided
by strings to start reading from a certain section according to the type
of reader you are and read the loops one by one until the end, weaving
through the text. To determine the string or mode of reading, there are
some simple questions to answer. The three modes of reading are combine,
slide, build . After you discover the starting point with the yes or no
map in the upcoming pages, you will continue the reading journey through
the strings of diff erent colors that will get you through the text.
This way, the linear text will become in a way, non-linear by your
personal experience. Bear in mind that you can choose to read this
thesis from beginning to end as a single string too if you wish so. <br>
Combine mode of reading is for readers who are more interested in the
journey and the connections between process and result. Slide mode of
reading is for more laid back readers who aren’t looking to connect
ideas but are more focused on the motivation and purpose of the project.
Build readers are detail oriented and academic readers who would prefer
a “traditional” lead to reading. <br> Alongside the different strings to
follow the text, there will be little drawings in the margins as seen
above, which will have diff erent representations like in a Quipu.
Certain knots represent the experiences that raise interesting
opportunities for research and distinct events I went through while
making the project and underneath the drawing you can fi nd the relation
to the knot itself explained. For example if I couldn’t manage to do
something I planned to do, this will be represented with a broken knot.
Bend knots which are used to connect two strings, will be representing
the relation between theories and my ownexperiences/motivations. Hitches
which are knots that are formed around a solid object, such as a spar,
post, or ring will be representing the evidence or data I have collected
on the subject. We move on now with the working end and make some loops!
<br> This map will reveal your mode of reading. The order of reading
will be indicated with a loop sign Please hold a string in your hand as
you read the text and make knots or loops as you weave through the
reading as an exercise for concrete thinking. See you at the standing
end! and a number on top of the sign with a color. This is the numeric
order you can follow to read the thesis.</p>
<p>Working End</p>
<p>Why am I doing this? <br> My desire to write a children’s book about
grief and memory ignited when I was studying in college and doing an
internship in a publishing house in Ankara. I was struggling to process
a loss I experienced at the time and to fi nd something to cling to on a
daily basis. Then one day I started hearing a buzzing sound in my
bedroom at my family’s house. I searched everywhere but couldn’t fi nd
the source for this noise. I asked my father and he started searching
too. A couple of days passed and the buzzing was still there. <br> One
day I found a bee on the fl oor in my bedroom and realized that the bees
nested on the roof and were coming inside my room through a gap in the
lamp. I was terrifi ed because I have an allergy to bees and thought
they might sting me in my sleep. This moment was when I realized I was
so determined to fi nd this buzzing sound for some time that I forgot
about dealing with the loss I was experiencing. This made me feel very
guilty and I remember thinking I betrayed the person I lost. <br> As
funny as it may appear, I felt like I was sabotaged by these bees that I
thought were here to hurt me but in the end they made me understand that
its ok to let things go and every being does what it has to do to fi nd
its way of survival. The little habitat that they chose to create in my
room seemed like a calling or a sign that I can aff ect another living
being signifi cantly without being aware of it. This goes for
everything, no matter if some people leave us in this world, they have
living matter in us that keeps pulsing. So then I started researching
bees and their ecosystems. I read Alan Watts, Alan Lightman, Emily
Dickinson, Maurice Sendak, Meghan O’Rourke, Oliver Sacks, Joanna Macy,
Rilke, Montaigne and theories on order in chaos, correlative vision,
harmony of contained confl icts and the mortality paradox. I wrote a lot
and erased a lot and fairly fi gured out the wisdom of not knowing
things. <br> Years passed and I wrote and deleted and rewrote the story
that I am working on to make interactive today so many times and was
waiting on it because it always felt incomplete. In a way it will always
be incomplete because of the natural ambiguity the topic carries. Years
later, grief was back in my life with the loss of my grandfather. So
therefore, the story I wrote and abandoned changed again as I attempted
to rewrite it as a diff erent version of myself with a diff erent
understanding of death. And this went on… The story remained hidden and
I forgot why it ever existed in the fi rst place. <br> Last year when
two earthquakes hit Syria and Turkey, I was drowned like everyone I
know, by a collective trauma and grief. Then this horrible feeling fl
ared up by neglect and desperation. It was and still is impossible to
mourn so many strangers at the same time. I lost two dear friends, I was
furious, away from home, mostly alone and remembered vividly my failed
attempt to understand or place grief in one of the piles in my mind.
<br> Previous months, I was working on this story (yes, again) but
didn’t know how to tackle the text because it was so diff erent to what
I was experiencing now, when compared to the last time I rewrote it. A
tutor asked me why I wrote this story in the fi rst place and I couldn’t
remember. I kept tracing back to 2016 and step by step, remembered why,
as told above. The consciousness that this story is actually a personal
history of how I went through grief in diff erent stages of my life,
made me realise that it doesn’t have to be or even can be a perfect
story. <br> In the end with the experience I had with loss, I believe
the story turned out to be an ode to remembering or might I say an ode
to not being able to forget or an ode to the fear of forgetting <br>
Loop 2 The effect of storytelling knowledge on kids’ development and
creativity. What can we learn from open ended and multiple ending
stories? ability to form basic stories or to express their emotions
through fi ctional characters or events. Children are not born with a
wide vocabulary of emotions and expressions. They learn how to read,
mimic and express their feelings over time. The more children read,
write and are exposed to social environments, the more they widen their
sense and ability of expressing themselves. The language gained as kids
comes in many forms and storytelling plays a crucial role in this
development. The exposure to stories prepares the kids to the era of
reading and writing. Children come to understand and value feelings
through conversation (Dettore, 2002). When children are off ered to read
or share stories, they also learn to understand people around them
better and gain emotional literacy. <br> Storytelling has been a means
of communicating with others for many centuries. It is not only a way to
discuss important events, but also a way to entertain one another
(Lawrence &amp; Paige, 2013). Stories have been told orally, in writing
or with drawings for thousands of years and some of these stories are
still alive. This is because language is a living thing that travels
through time and still remains brand new. When necessary, it just adapts
form, evolves and blends in with the changing world. Children comprehend
the idea that they have a story to tell by hearing other stories and
this ignites the imagination. We tend to forget many things but almost
everyone remembers one small story they heard or read when they were a
kid, this moment we remember is the moment a certain story sparked for
us. <br> Nowadays storytelling takes many forms. For example, some
readers’ story might even begin from here although it isn’t the
beginning. Interactivity is one of the storytelling forms that can
signifi - cantly improve children’s creativity. This is mainly because
children as readers or listeners get to contribute and aff ect the
story. This of course requires and improves creative and active
thinking. Getting the chance to choose a path for a fi ctional character
gives the child the freedom and confi dence of constructing a world, a
character or an adventure. Although this is essentially “writing” as we
know it, children think of this as a game, yet to discover they are
actually becoming writers. What kind of reward can we expect from active
participation in a story? Narrative pleasure can be generally described
in terms of immersions (spatial, temporal, emotional, epistemic) in a fi
ctional world (Ryan, 2009). When we are set to create or co-create a
world, the narrative has eff ects on us such as curiosity, suspense and
surprise. At this point, we start creatively producing ideas to keep
these three emotions. <br> Interactive storytelling reminds everyone but
especially children that there are limitless endings to a story that is
solely up to the maker’s creation. Learning to think this way instead of
knowing or assuming an end to a story, I think infl uences the
children’s decision making abilities and sense of responsibility towards
their creations. It is basically the same in theatre where if an actor
chooses to create an imaginary suitcase on stage, they can’t simply
leave this object they created on stage and exit the scene because the
audience will wonder why the actor didn’t take the imaginary suitcase as
they left. In this case, when kids decide to choose a path or item or
any attribute for a character in a story, they feel responsible and
curious to see it through to the end or decide what to do with it. This
interactivity therefore creates a unique bond between the reader/writer
and the text. <br> There are many theories on how to approach
interactive literature for children. Multi-literacy theory and digital
literacies are some of the theories which I fi nd relevant to my aim
with Wink. Multiliteracy theory in a nutshell is an education oriented
framework that aims to expand traditional reading and writing skills.
This theory was developed by the New London Group. They were a
collective of scholars and educators who addressed the changing nature
of literacy in an increasingly globalized, digital world. The theory
explores multiple modes of communication consisting The sense of
storytelling settles for kids, starting from age three. By this time,
children have the of multimodal communication, cultural and social
contexts, critical inquiry, socio-cultural learning theory and
pedagogical implications. Multimodal communication focuses on the
variety of communication techniques. This was groundbreaking in the 90s
because of its acknowledgment of a diverse range of literacies and its
departure from traditional approaches to literary texts. This theory
includes new media and communication studies such as visual, digital,
special and gestural literacies. <br> I kept this theory in mind as I
chose the interactivity elements to use in the picture book. I think the
usage of multiple media such as sound, image and games is a good way to
start and diff erentiate from a regular interactive e-book. The fact
that this theory has an educational perspective and is taking the
rapidly changing qualities of literature seriously, made me consider it
as a guide in designing the prototype. <br> Looking through the
perspective of multiliteracies, questions come up for me that lead to
the rest of this thesis: What is an interactive picture book? Is it a
book? Is it a game? Is it an exercise? What is it defi ned as? How can
we design an interactive reading environment without confusing children?
<br> Loop 3 Diff erences and similarities between interactive e-books
and storytelling games Storytelling games and interactive e-books have
many things in common. To begin with, they both centralize the narrative
to engage the audience. While both of these formats are storytelling
tools, e-books tend to stay more in a linear narrative and format when
compared to storytelling games where the audience is commonly the main
character. Reading experiences are also a way to be in the shoes of the
narrator or the character but in a storytelling game, you embody the
mission and the experience overrules the story most of the time. In the
specifi c example of a child, storytelling games are complicated and
puzzle driven where the player has missions to complete. Whereas in an
interactive e-book, the missions are solely based on the interactive
elements implemented in the text and images. Another diff erence is that
the visual world in an interactive e-book is less cinematic and has
limited movement. The imagery plays a massive role in a storytelling
game where the world created is off ered to the player. In an
interactive e-book, the text itself is designed to be playful and ready
for readers to discover. The main diff erence in my opinion that
separates these two methods of storytelling is the reward. In a game, we
expect to be rewarded by a victory, passing a level or unlocking
something throughout the experience. In an interactive e-book, we work
with the story and in return we expect a good experience and there is no
reward other than that. But, the whole design of interactivity involves
aspects of a game where the reader –not the player- is captured by
surprise eff ects or elements that come up on the pages. This ignites
curiosity but not ambition, which is a good start to foster the love for
reading. <br> Loop 4 Ways of using interactivity in digital platforms
CASA theory, also known as the Cognitive-Aff ective-Social Theory of
Learning and Development, is a framework used in educational psychology
to understand how learning occurs within the context of cognitive, aff
ective, and social factors. Research on cognitive learning with keeping
in mind the limited attention span and memory factors. For children in
specifi c, I think these are very important factors to keep in mind when
trying to design an interactive experience. This is because children get
bored very easily and can be disengaged because of failure of
solving/understanding something in a story. This is something I kept in
mind as I wrote for children and chose the interactive elements in the
story. <br> Finding the balance between making the interactive element
surprising and making it easy to interact with is the key to designing
for kids in this scenario. We don’t want to make them struggle and use
the limited attention span in a non-engaging way but we want to keep the
reading interesting enough so they want to continue. Digging deeper into
how to do this, I found Children Computer Interaction (CCI) study very
useful. This study examines how children of diff erent ages and
developmental stages interact with digital devices and how these
interactions can support their growth. This made me think about digital
gestures; how they change through generations and how to use these to
design a platform where children can navigate easily and freely. CCI
suggests that when introducing a new media to children its better to
start easy and clear when they try it. Through this I think the best
easy interaction is the tap or click for children. It is easy to do,
instinctive and common. So I decided to base the interactive elements on
click animations. There are multiple ways to use digital gestures in
storytelling to make the experience more intriguing. These are usually
elements such as sound, animations, voice-overs that are ignited with a
click or tap by the reader. For children younger than 5, its usually
just tapping over the page and experiencing an action-reaction. For
older kids between the ages 6-8, I made some workshops to fi gure out
which types of interactive elements are most useful in engaging them in
the reading process. It is true that sound and animations are very
inclusive and it is engaging for kids to fi nd out which part of a page
is interactive by clicking on images. Another thing I found out is that
kids enjoy being a part of the story. For the prototype of Bee Within
(the story I am using to test interactivity also can be read in the
appendix) I will focus on color, sound and click based animations
according to the results of my research. Loop 5 What is the target age
group for the designated prototype and why? It is tricky when it comes
to choosing the right age spectrum for children’s interactive
literature. Children between the ages 3-5, referred to as preschoolers
have more developed social skills and day by day increasing interest in
play. They can take on roles in imaginative play scenarios. They can
also share and take turns more, listen and think about rules of a game.
They can form friendships and connections easily. School age children
are between the ages 6-12, which is Wink’s chosen age group is a little
diff erent. These kids can form more rooted friendships and engage in
more complex narratives. They learn to negotiate and compromise around
this time as well. This age group is desired for Wink because kids this
age are open to creative problem solving, connecting events and
comprehending slightly more complex narratives. Moreover, this age group
would benefi t the most from the interactive stories and the reading
process because of the developmental phase they are in. The average
amount of time children between these ages use on a daily basis is
depending on their parents and circumstances. But to be fair, it is
often not less than 2 hours. If a child isn’t very interested in
spending these hours reading a book, why not ask them: “Would you like
to be a part of a story?” Today, kids from age 3 can use digital
gestures successfully and experience these as simple as fl ipping the
page of a book. This is why it is fairly easy to create an interactive
picture book which kids can navigate themselves and be able to browse
through with or without their parents. But for Wink, I chose to design
for older kids because I want to experiment on multi-leveled narratives
and I want to avoid the risk of confusing children. <br> Loop 6 Limits
of interactivity in narratives for children and why do we have less
modes of reading and writing for children? Although there are many
upsides of creating digital environments for children due to their
advanced skills in technology from early ages, there are also risks
involved in this where the kid can be overwhelmed and confused due to
the autonomy they receive. Reading a story is supposed to be eff ortless
and a good free time activity but with interactive picture books, it is
slightly more than that and more complicated as an experience. First of
all, with the story at hand, called Bee Within, there are two other
stories in one. Although the main story is about a little girl’s
journey, kids get the chance to hear the Queen Bee’s story and the
tree’s story as well. This is not a must but if they interact with
certain pictures on the page, they will be led to the bee’s perspective
or the trees. This is where the storyline can get a little bit
complicated for younger kids. The child reader at this point should be
able to follow the main storyline after visiting the side quests or
stories presented in the interactive book. To create this balance I
tried to limit the interactive elements I used in the main story. I
tried to keep the picture animations limited and focused more on the
storylines. Another aspect I am concerned about after the workshop I did
with the kids, is the risk of confusion due to an undefi ned and
multimodal design for a “book”. Kids tend to be confused when they can’t
defi ne things or are asked to improvise without knowing the
purpose.They know what a book is and that it is similar to what they
encounter on the screen. But the method of reading and interacting with
Bee Within is diff erent than what they are used to. This concerns me
because they might prefer to just read a book or play a game instead of
discovering a new thing, which they are exposed to daily because they
are always in a process of active learning. So one more thing to learn
might come as exhausting. Therefore, in designing, I want to make
interactions as clear as possible for them. Loop 7 Interactive reading
and writing examples and surveys done with kids As an improvisation
theater enthusiast myself, I tried to engage the kids with the story
through some exercises and games during the workshops. My aim was to see
how involved they want to be in storytelling. Improvisation has a
certain way of storytelling and interaction where there are either too
many options or none. You need to have good empathy and harmony with the
person you are acting with and you are designated to be creative in your
own way. I tried to use several improv games and warmups to involve the
kids in the story more and see how they see certain characters from the
picture book. My first attempt was to make a survey at the end of
workshops with kids to whether they liked it or not, but when I
researched further, surveying with kids has very diff erent methods and
complications. Most kids either really like or really dislike things.
Finding the in between emotions with a survey, ends up being vague. Most
surveys done with kids use emoticons as representation of a good or bad
or average time. Instead, I chose to observe the environment and
understand how much empathy kids can off er in an interactive reading or
playing environment. Loop 8 What does the joy of destruction and the awe
eff ect have to do with interactivity? Indeed, why did we ever start
playing games? The most important aspect of a game for me is that it
surprises you and leaves you in awe towards something you weren’t
expecting happened. I feel like every reaction I give when I’m
surprised, is a mirror of what I felt when I was playing freeze and had
to stop moving at any given time or when I found the last friend hiding
somewhere in hide and seek. This feeling of appreciation and
unexpectedness is why most people remember certain games, movies from
their childhoods very vividly. Its an introduction to a feeling we
experience maybe for the fi rst time because we don’t necessarily learn
from books how and when to feel surprised, that is why it’s a surprise;
we live it, experience it and it leaves and impression with us. <br> In
my opinion, what drives everyone as a common denominator is amazement;
because it takes us to our childhoods or distant memories where we fi
rst felt that feeling of awe. This is the main purpose behind any kind
of interactive design and I think books can be an amazing medium to
experiment this with. Specifi cally because this ancient device can take
us to numerous worlds. For me as a millennial, books give me enough
amazement as it is. But as I worked in publishing through the years and
observed, I think kids today need something more to ignite their
interest. There are so many factors in a picture book such as the image,
the text and sound which can be played with to create an experience that
is more surprising. This is the main purpose behind my research and
protoype. Today’s world being visually stimulating and serving very
short attention spans with social media, it is a tough task to insert a
story or reading experience that requires full attention and patience.
There are examples of Tiktok stories, Instagram reels, audio books and
games that try to tell stories worth listening with attention. Wink is
also an attempt to do this and I believe the key is to make an already
engaging story enriched with interactive elements that appear to you
through a click if you choose to. I think this is also the key to
nourishing a new way of storytelling. Loop 9 Interactivity in reading
and writing in history. What changed? Interactivity has always been an
experimental area in literature from inscriptions to narrative games
then to playable stories and artifi cial intelligence. I will expand
some of these examples from the rich history of interactive fi ction.
When I dig a little bit into the media archaeology there are three still
relevant aspects that strike me and change/improve my approach to Wink.
The fi rst is the need to connect that remains untouched through
centuries of human communication, the second is how there were multiple
projects concerning interactive media especially for kids that later
turned into narrative games or remained as prototypes and lastly how the
integration of media and literature has been such a grand topic even
before information and technology era. Some examples to this is music,
masks, puppets, props used in storytelling. Ancient texts with
annotations such as The Odyssey, The Mahabharata are maybe the earliest
written interactive experiences in a historical context. They are
published with notes and explanations, clarifi cations which make the
text inhabit diff erent opinions and approaches in an engaging way where
the reader can choose to hop on and off from the annotation and margin
texts. From the 70s to the present there have been many examples but I
will be focusing on a few here. One of them is, Choose your own
adventure books which allowed the reader to participate in the plot.
These still exist as picture books where you are directed to certain
pages according to the choices you make throughout the story. Along with
this were also board games and cards that required interactive inputs.
Some examples to this is exploding kittens or cards against humanity
where the player has the autonomy to be creative and fi ll in the blanks
to win the game. Simultaneously, text-based adventure games such as Zork
and Adventure were popular. Early days of computing off ered a wide
space for exploring virtual worlds. In the early 80s, hypertext fi ction
contributed to electronic literature. Hyperlinks were used as a tool to
navigate a text and choose paths of reading. This inspired me to write
this thesis with diff erent modes of reading as well. After the 80’s,
Interactive fi ction gained popularity as a genre of interacting with
text based input. Dynabook by Alan Kay was prototyped during this time
as a promising reading and writing device designed for children. <br>
The 21st century off ers a combination of text and illustrations in
augmented reality books that have animations, sound and external
interactions. These are followed by digital storytelling platforms like
Wattpad and Storybird and interactive e-book apps such as Pibocco, Bookr
and Tiny Minies. Most of these apps are dedicated to education however
and not solely to creativity. Their aim is to use creative elements to
foster education for kids. With Wink, I want to use a mainly educational
tool (a book) to foster creativity and expression. So I believe it is
the opposite purpose as to these examples in certain ways. I am trying
to combine the delicacy of a narrative where you can only be a reader
and the excitement of autonomous writing and experiencing. This is
because I think the understanding and usage of media changed in the last
years. Some tools that created the awe eff ect for users faded and left
their place to more compact designs. Although audio books were very
welcome at some point, younger users nowadays prefer book summary apps
or podcasts to them. Of course they are still used and not outdated but
there is certainly a visible change to where media is heading. Loop 10
Experimentation of creative exercises to be used in WINK. Exercises of
storytelling with words, images, drawing, sound and gestures. Before I
completed the prototype of Wink, I reached out to an international
school in Rotterdam to make a 20 minute workshop with kids between ages
6-8. The aim here was to grasp the interactive elements in the picture
book to implement in the digital framework. I wanted to see which parts
of the story the children found exiting and which ones are not so
thrilling for them. It also helped me draw the pictures for the book
accordingly and edit the text with their reactions in mind. Due to a
privacy agreement, I couldn’t record or use any data from the workshop
but I made some helpful observations from my time there. The fi rst
workshop I planned consisted of two main parts that made up 20 minutes.
The fi rst 10 minutes we read Bee Within (attached in the appendix)
together in a circle and the last 10 minutes we played little
improvisation games, focused on the three main characters in the story
(the bee, the kid and the tree). I made three groups and gave these
groups the three characters. I asked them to embody a character
throughout the workshop and be loyal to it. Each group of three had 1
minute on the stage to silently improvise their characters. They were to
use one sentence if they wanted to speak. During the fi rst part, I
couldn’t observe as I was busy reading but their teacher kindly took
notes during this time, regarding the children’ reactions to parts of
the story. I inserted the bees and trees narrative to the reading by
tossing the paper I had in my hand and picking up a new one as I kept
reading the bees and trees story. This was crucial because I wanted to
see if this multiple stories in one concept would be confusing for kids.
The teacher told me that they were excited about my gesture of juggling
papers as I seemingly read one story. They were intrigued and confused
at fi rst but they did keep up with the storyline and understood all.
Her notes basically said they were very focused and less interested in
the kids journey. They really liked the bee and were a bit confused with
the tree. There were 12 international kids and 3 of them didn’t want to
join the workshop, they wanted to observe. I told them that they could
paint and draw what they see. The drawings they made were of their
classmates acting as trees or bees. They drew their classmate with a
stinger and the other was of a classmate as a tree with his hands wide
open as he was performing. What struck me most on the second part of the
workshop was how these kids used the room so freely and in relation to
their characters. Because we read the story before the improvisation
games, some of their characters were infl uenced by how it is in the
story we read. Next workshop, I am planning to not tell the story but to
talk about it before and give context. This is because I want to see how
their understanding changes without a limitation of a story. <br> Bees
in the classroom that day were all very active and they used chairs,
tables and windows to position themselves in a higher perspective.
Children who played the kid were usually standing closer to the trees
and looked very calm. Trees were all very diff erent. One of the kids
used postits as leaves. Some of them didn’t have leaves because it is
winter. Trees didn’t move at all and the bees were buzzing all around.
“The kid” usually sat near the tree, on the tree (as in the other
performers’ lap or hugged them). Overall only 2 groups used the option
to say a sentence which were, “I want to go on an adventure” “I don’t
wanna leave Gray(the tree)” This was a good feedback for me because I
realized they are very perceptive of actions and facial expressions
rather than words. The workshop we did in the studio with XPUB 2
students was harder than the session with the kids because everyone felt
so restricted to obligations and were not comfortable to let go of
bodily control. No one actually attempted in using objects from the room
which is a huge diff erence with the kids because they drew on their
faces, used plastic bags as wings for the bee and made sounds with their
mouths as trees. The next workshop was to discover how improv would work
without reading the story fi rst. This workshop was fruitful because it
helped me realize how much information or guidance I have to off er for
children in order for them to be comfortable to participate and interact
without confusion. We made a circle and I summarized the story to the
kids, acting in the middle of the circle. This broke the ice completely
because I was a part of the workshop and they thought I was funny. For
the next part, I divided the group in three and assigned a character to
them. After this, I asked them to decide on an attitude, pop in the
middle and tell or act out their character. I went fi rst and they
followed easily. They were not under the infl uence of the story so the
performances were diff erent but they still got infl uenced by each
other, which in my opinion is inevitable. Some of the kids were
buzzing/running around, the “kids” were walking around, acting like they
are playing which I found very interesting. Some trees were small some
were mighty and old. It was helpful to see the diff erent attributions
they gave to the characters. After the circle session, they separated in
three groups: the kids, the bees and the trees. I asked each group to
come up, walk around randomly, embodying the character they chose. Then
as I rang the bell, I asked them to change the character. I asked them
to be a busy, tired, injured, happy and scared bee one by one. They kept
walking randomly and acted these feelings out. For the “kids”, I asked
them to be angry, sad, scared, and curious. For the trees I asked them
to be wise, mad, funny and happy. The results were amazing. They adapted
very quickly to the changing of emotions which showed me that this age
gap was good to work with. The trees stopped walking as I changed the
emotions and this was an affi rmation to not animate the tree with
movement but more with changing of color and tiny animations. They
mostly used arms and face expressions to show the emotions, some of them
ducked or made sounds. As I said mad, one of the kids ran and put her
red jacket on. This made me think about using color to show emotions for
the tree. It was good to see that they weren’t scared or discouraged by
negative emotions as well. We ended the workshop by drawing our
characters. It was nice to see them own their imaginary characters
enough to draw them with joy. <br> The last workshop was dedicated to
discovering the sound aspect. The tree in the story speaks in verses so
I chose one verse and read/performed it in a circle to begin with. Then
I gave them some instruments: a drum, a bell, aluminum folio, a balloon
and a bubble wrap. I asked for a few volunteers and they made sound eff
ects as I read the verse very slowly. This went good and I saw that they
like to dramatize the sounds and make them funny or unexpected. They
used the bubble wrap to make sounds for snowing or aluminum folio for
the volcano. They had great fun but I think I made a mistake by making a
few kids do foley at the same time because they didn’t know how to take
turns and were hesitant at fi rst. Then quite impressively, they made
their own system where they took turns to make eff ects for each
sentence. Then I made four groups of three. 3 kids as actors and 3 kids
as foley actors. They buddied up and made short scenes where one group
made sounds eff ects to the others acting on stage. This was the best
part of this workshop because they could lead the actors with the sounds
they made or vice versa. This I think is very important because it shows
that they like to be a part of or be eff ective to the story itself.
They were very creative in using the objects in the room and turning
them into a tool for sound. They enjoyed to foley the bee and the other
characters not so much. Which showed me that I should focus on the sound
of the bee in the prototype. Overall, the workshops were very helpful
for me to understand where to focus on as I develop. I realized that
some of the sound, color and movement animations I planned were too
complicated and I decided to make them more simplistic. I decided to
animate the tree with only color because I was eff ected by this one
participant who took the red jacket to represent the tree was mad. For
the bee I decided to focus on sound more. For the kid I decided to use
more visual animations to make it more interesting. <br> One other thing
the workshops helped me with is the multiple stories I am planning to
tell in one narrative. The book I have has two side quest/stories so it
nice to see that kids weren’t confused with these narratives. I decided
to make the story of the tree as a click game where the lines appear by
clicking and the bee’s story through a text based game. I wanted to use
click game with the tree because it seemed like they needed more
stimulation to be interested in that story and I though a ‘reveal the
story’ click game could keep them interested. For the bee, knowing they
like the character, I wanted to make it more like a game to give the
kids a chance and autonomy to be a part of the story itself.</p>
Loop 11 The diff erences of these exercises in WINK than the already
existing interactive e-book platforms The interactive e-book apps
existing today, made especially for children, are quite similar in both
format and purpose. If we take a look at Bookr, Piboco, and Kotobee, we
can see they seek a new way to tell a story but have one mode of
reading. The stories are linear and can be read once, without side
quests. This is the main diff erence with what I am trying to design.
Wink acts as a tool to play with and choose paths. The story isn’t
linear in the traditional way where you interact with the pictures and
fi nish the book but there are side stories to the main story that they
can discover or choose not to. I think this is a solid diff erence. This
makes it a playable narrative, diff erent from a book. This prototype is
a good start to see how far I can get with the interactive elements and
side stories without confusing or discouraging the children. There are
many other aspects that can be implemented to this design such as
writing elements and drawing but for the meantime, also in
correspondence with the workshops, I choose to test the sound and image
along with one main and two small narratives. For future prototypes, I
envision space to draw and write as a contribution to the story and
maybe turning Wink into a hybrid format with more autonomous features.
For me, at this point, it’s valuable and essential to see if my
technique of combining narratives is working or not. Loop 12 Standing
End After many loops of thought, we are here at the standing end of the
thesis. There is room for more loops and knots in the future to secure
this string of thought but for now, we have come to the dock and rest
ashore. Reading this thesis with a string, using concrete thinking as a
technique to go through a research and text was a helpful exercise for
me and helped me mark my thoughts and ideas. The overarching theme of
knots and experimental approach to modes of reading was valuable for me
to share and try as an enthusiastic young writer. I like that I asked
the reader to interact with the thesis and follow paths accordingly. It
was enlightening to see the results of working with kids and be able to
see from their point of view and alter everything according to these
encounters. Using CCI and Multiliteracy theory as a guide to approach
the design and prototype was helpful in understanding how to approach
and tackle the desire of making something for children. Now from where I
stand, I feel more rooted and have a clearer idea of what works and
doesn’t work. Some features that I think would work very well like the
choice of writing didn’t go as planned because multiple narratives is
already too much. I realized I underestimated the eff ect of introducing
a new media to children. This is why I decided to take it step by step
with the interactivity. Taking a step to make Wink and using the story I
wrote and feel is important in my personal history as a prototype was a
breakthrough. I feel like my interest and desire to discover new ways of
writing, reading and experiencing literature is ongoing and it was a
beautiful journey so far. I am looking forward to making more knots on
this long and mysterious string at hand. <br> Bibliography: Cope, B. and
Kalantzis, M. (2009) ‘“multiliteracies”: New Literacies, new learning’,
Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), pp. 164–195.
doi:10.1080/15544800903076044. Dettore, E. (2002) “Children’s emotional
GrowthAdults’ role as emotional archaeologists,” Childhood education,
78(5), pp. 278–281. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2002.10522741. Ingold, T.
(2015) The life of lines. London, England: Routledge. Lawrence, R. L.
and Paige, D. S. (2016) “What our ancestors knew: Teaching and learning
through storytelling: What our ancestors knew: Teaching and learning
through storytelling,” New directions for adult and continuing
education, 2016(149), pp. 63–72. doi: 10.1002/ace.20177. Papert, S. and
Papert, S. A. (2020) Mindstorms (revised): Children, computers, and
powerful ideas. London, England: Basic Books. Ryan, M.-L. (2009) “From
narrative games to playable stories: Toward a poetics of interactive
narrative,” StoryWorlds A Journal of Narrative Studies, 1(1), pp. 43–59.
doi: 10.1353/stw.0.0003. Smeets, D. and Bus, A. (2013) “Picture
Storybooks Go Digital: Pros and Cons,” in Quality Reading Instruction in
the Age of Common Core Standards. International Reading Association,
pp. 176–189. Strohecker, C. (ed.) (1978) Why knot? MIT. The Effect of
Multimodality in Increasing Motivation and Collaboration among 4th CSE
EFL Students (no date). Turkle, S. (ed.) (2014) Evocative objects:
Things we think with. MIT Press. Urton, M. M. &amp;. (2018) The khipu
code: the knotty mystery of the Inkas’ 3D records, aeon. Available at:
https://
aeon.co/ideas/the-khipu-code-the-knotty-mystery-of-the-inkas-3d-records.
Vega, N. (2022) Codes in Knots. Sensing Digital Memories, The Whole
Life. Available at: https://wholelife.hkw.de/
codes-in-knots-sensing-digital-memories/. Appendix:
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