diff --git a/irmak/index.md b/irmak/index.md index bc04485..78cf825 100644 --- a/irmak/index.md +++ b/irmak/index.md @@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ author: Irmak Wink is a prototype for an interactive picture book platform. This platform aims to make reading into a mindfull and thought provoking process by using interactive and playful elements, multiple stories within one narrative and sound elements. Especially today where consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for elementary school children. ---- +!["The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within."](../irmak/twine.png){.half-image} -Working as a children's literature editor for years, I came to a realisation that picture books were turning into another object that kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed in Turkey. Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new books constantly or were tired of rereading the same book. +Working as a children's literature editor for years, I came to a realisation that picture books were turning into another object that kids read and consume on daily basis. -!["The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within."](../irmak/twine.png){.half-image} +!["Click game story of the Queen Bee."](../irmak/cg.png){.image-95} -!["Click game story of the Queen Bee."](../irmak/cg.png){.half image} +Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new books constantly or were tired of rereading the same book. !["Example page from the print version of the picture book."](../irmak/printp33.jpg){.image-95} @@ -30,9 +30,10 @@ Working as a children's literature editor for years, I came to a realisation tha ![''](../irmak/printp4.jpg){.image-95} -As a young person in the publishing sector, I believe there should be more options for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But moreover a "book" that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with. So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and named it, "Bee Within". +As a young person in the publishing sector, I believe there should be more options for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But moreover a "book" that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with... So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and called it, "Bee Within". -Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences of loss. In the end, 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 which I now think is a great and sweet battle between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the world. +Bee Within, is a story about grief/memory and it is based on my experiences throughout the years. +I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it multiple times over the past years; simultaneously with new experiences of loss. In the end, 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 which I now think is a great and sweet battle between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the world. !["example page from the picture book"](../irmak/printp1.jpg){.half-image} @@ -50,5 +51,5 @@ Over the past two years, experimenting with storytelling techniques, interactivi !["A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within"](../irmak/animationseq.png){.image-95} -!["A screenshot from Wink!"](../irmak/45.png){.image-95} +!["A screenshot from Wink!"](../irmak/45.png){.half-image} diff --git a/irmak/thesis.html b/irmak/thesis.html index cb0df3d..9f8861d 100644 --- a/irmak/thesis.html +++ b/irmak/thesis.html @@ -831,6 +831,17 @@ 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/.

+

Acknowledgements

+Thank you Marloes de Valk, for your enlightening feedbacks and ideas. Thank you Michael Murtaugh, +Manetta Berends, Joseph Knierzinger, Leslie Robbins and Steve Rushton for sharing your time and +knowledge with me throughout these years. + +Thank you XPUB friends for funny, hectic and memorable moments we made together. + +Thanks to my family and especially Kemal, my brother, who supported me in my studies and encouraged me +to do better, always... +"So long and thanks for all the fish!" + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/irmak/thesis.md b/irmak/thesis.md index d246d2c..d5fe771 100644 --- a/irmak/thesis.md +++ b/irmak/thesis.md @@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ read, mimic and express their feelings over time. The more children read, write 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 understand and value feelings through conversation (Dettore, 2002). When children are offered to read or share stories, they also learn to understand people around them better and gain emotional literacy. @@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ dence of constructing a world, a character or an adventure. Although this is ess 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 fictional -world (Ryan, 2009). When we are set to create or co-create a world, the narrative has eff ects +world (Ryan, 2009). When we are set to create or co-create a world, the narrative has effects on us such as curiosity, suspense and surprise. At this point, we start creatively producing ideas to keep these three emotions. Multiliteracy theory helped me ground my passion of using multimedia for children's literature. @@ -226,13 +226,13 @@ in the text and images. Another difference 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. +offered to the player. In an interactive e-book, the text itself is designed to be playful and ready for readers to discover. The main difference 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 +involves aspects of a game where the reader –not the player- is captured by surprise effects 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. 5 4 11 @@ -288,6 +288,8 @@ day by day increasing interest in play. They can take on roles in imaginative pl can also share and take turns more, listen and think about rules of a game. They can form friendships and connections easily. +This data about school age children was a starting point to choose the age group to have the workshops with. + School age children are between the ages 6-12, which is Wink’s chosen age group is a little different. 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 benefit the most from the interactive stories and the reading process because of the developmental phase they are in. @@ -300,6 +302,8 @@ flipping the page of a book. This is why it is fairly easy to create an interact 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. +3 10 7 + ### Loop 6 Limits of interactivity in narratives for children and why do we have less modes of @@ -308,8 +312,9 @@ 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 +be effortless and a good free time activity but with interactive picture books, it is slightly more than that and more complicated as an experience. +This is the elbow of our strings. Elbows are created when an additional twist is added to a loop. In this case, it represents the counter argument in the string. 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 @@ -328,9 +333,12 @@ might prefer to just read a book or play a game instead of discovering a new thi 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. +9 11 8 + ### Loop 7 -Interactive reading and writing examples and surveys done with kids +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 @@ -341,14 +349,16 @@ 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 different methods and complications. - +There is a broken knot here because I ended up not doing a survey with children at the workshops. 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. +kids can offer in an interactive reading or playing environment. +6 2 6 + ### Loop 8 -What does the joy of destruction and the awe eff ect have to do with interactivity? +What does the joy of destruction and the awe effect 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 @@ -372,6 +382,8 @@ games that try to tell stories worth listening with attention. Wink is also an a 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. +7 5 3 + ### Loop 9 Interactivity in reading and writing in history. What changed? @@ -388,20 +400,16 @@ 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, clarifications which make the text inhabit different 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 fill 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 fiction -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 different modes of reading as well. -After the 80’s, Interactive fiction 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. - -The 21st century off ers a combination of text and illustrations in augmented reality books that +where the player has the autonomy to be creative and fill in the blanks to win the game. Simultaneously, text-based adventure games such as Zork and Adventure were popular. Early days of computing offered a +wide space for exploring virtual worlds. In the early 80s, hypertext fiction 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 different modes of reading as well. After the 80’s, Interactive fiction 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. + +The 21st century offers 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 @@ -413,10 +421,11 @@ the delicacy of a narrative where you can only be a reader and the excitement of 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. +tools that created the awe effect 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. +10 8 10 ### Loop 10 Experimentation of creative exercises to be used in WINK. Exercises of storytelling @@ -429,6 +438,7 @@ which parts of the story the children found exiting and which ones are not so th 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. +This loop is all about the observations I made during the workshops and the decisions I made, according to the results. The first workshop I planned consisted of two main parts that made up 20 minutes. The first 10 minutes we read Bee Within (attached in the appendix) together in a circle and the last 10 minutes @@ -466,8 +476,8 @@ the bees were buzzing all around. “The kid” usually sat near the tree, on th 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)” +*“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. @@ -479,7 +489,7 @@ with their mouths as trees. The next workshop was to discover how improv would work without reading the story first. 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. +offer 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 @@ -504,29 +514,30 @@ and put her red jacket on. This made me think about using color to show emotions 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. +There is a broken knot here because I changed my mind about adding motional elements to the tree character. Kids seemed to see the tree as stationary. 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 +volunteers and they made sound effects 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 first. Then quite impressively, they made their own system -where they took turns to make eff ects for each sentence. +where they took turns to make effects 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 +and made short scenes where one group made sounds effects 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 +effective 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. +I was effected 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. @@ -538,6 +549,8 @@ the tree because it seemed like they needed more stimulation to be interested in 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. +2 6 9 + ### Loop 11 The differences of these exercises in WINK than the already existing interactive @@ -560,8 +573,9 @@ For future prototypes, I envision space to draw and write as a contribution to t 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 +### Loop 12 ## Standing End +12 12 12 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. @@ -579,13 +593,13 @@ 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 +planned because multiple narratives is already too much. I realized I underestimated the effect 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. +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. @@ -593,45 +607,54 @@ looking forward to making more knots on this long and mysterious string at hand. 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,” + +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. &. (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/. - + +## Acknowledgements +Thank you Marloes de Valk, for your enlightening feedbacks and ideas. Thank you Michael Murtaugh, Manetta Berends, Joseph Knierzinger, Leslie Robbins and Steve Rushton for sharing your time and knowledge with me throughout these years. + +Thank you XPUB friends for funny, hectic and memorable moments we made together. + +Thanks to my family and especially Kemal, my brother, who supported me in my studies and encouraged me to do better, always... + +_So long and thanks for all the fish!_ + +--- diff --git a/print/index.html b/print/index.html index c8375ad..2db57d8 100644 --- a/print/index.html +++ b/print/index.html @@ -1998,20 +1998,23 @@ consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for elementary school children.

-
-

Working as a children’s literature editor for years, I came to a -realisation that picture books were turning into another object that -kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed -in Turkey. Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new -books constantly or were tired of rereading the same book.

“The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within.”
-

{.half image}

+

Working as a children’s literature editor for years, I came to a +realisation that picture books were turning into another object that +kids read and consume on daily basis.

+
+ + +
+

Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new books +constantly or were tired of rereading the same book.

“Example page from the print version of the picture book.” @@ -2035,17 +2038,17 @@ the picture book.”

As a young person in the publishing sector, I believe there should be more options for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But moreover a “book” that can be redefined, reread or -be interacted with. So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to -English and named it, “Bee Within”.

-

Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences -throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it -multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences -of loss. In the end, 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 which I now think is a great and sweet battle -between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch -upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the -world.

+be interacted with… So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to +English and called it, “Bee Within”.

+

Bee Within, is a story about grief/memory and it is based on my +experiences throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, +destroyed it multiple times over the past years; simultaneously with new +experiences of loss. In the end, 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 which I now think is a great and sweet +battle between death and life. I think it is an important subject to +touch upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of +the world.

“example page from the picture book” @@ -2097,7 +2100,7 @@ alt="“A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within”" /> for Bee Within”
-“A screenshot from Wink!”
@@ -2383,9 +2386,9 @@ 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.

+conversation (Dettore, 2002). When children are offered to read or share +stories, they also learn to understand people around them better and +gain emotional literacy.

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 & Paige, 2013). Stories have @@ -2412,7 +2415,7 @@ 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 fictional 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 +world, the narrative has effects on us such as curiosity, suspense and surprise. At this point, we start creatively producing ideas to keep these three emotions. Multiliteracy @@ -2479,7 +2482,7 @@ the missions are solely based on the interactive elements implemented in the text and images.

Another difference 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 +role in a storytelling game where the world created is offered to the player. In an interactive e-book, the text itself is designed to be playful and ready for readers to discover.

The main difference in my opinion that separates these two methods of @@ -2488,9 +2491,11 @@ 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 +where the reader –not the player- is captured by surprise effects 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.

+ambition, which is a good start to foster the love for reading. +5 4 +11

Loop 4

Ways of using interactivity in digital platforms

CASA theory, also known as the Cognitive-Aff ective-Social Theory of @@ -2503,7 +2508,10 @@ 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.

+story. CASA framework +helped me understand the key elements in designing for +children.

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 @@ -2519,12 +2527,14 @@ 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 +elements on click animations. CCI was a theory +that helped me decide on the interactive elements. 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 figure 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 @@ -2533,7 +2543,8 @@ 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.

+research. 4 3 +2

Loop 5

What is the target age group for the designated prototype and why?

@@ -2544,6 +2555,9 @@ 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.

+

This +data about school age children was a starting point to choose the age +group to have the workshops with.

School age children are between the ages 6-12, which is Wink’s chosen age group is a little different. These kids can form more rooted friendships and engage in more complex narratives. They learn to @@ -2564,7 +2578,8 @@ 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.

+of confusing children. 3 10 +7

Loop 6

Limits of interactivity in narratives for children and why do we have less modes of reading and writing for children?

@@ -2572,9 +2587,13 @@ less modes of reading and writing for children?

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 +supposed to be effortless and a good free time activity but with interactive picture books, it is slightly more than that and more -complicated as an experience.

+complicated as an experience. This is the elbow of +our strings. Elbows are created when an additional twist is added to a +loop. In this case, it represents the counter argument in the +string.

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 @@ -2598,10 +2617,12 @@ 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.

+possible for them. 9 11 +8

Loop 7

-

Interactive reading and writing examples and surveys done with kids -As an improvisation theater enthusiast myself, I tried to engage the +

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 @@ -2612,15 +2633,19 @@ 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 different 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.

+surveying with kids has very different methods and complications. +There is a +broken knot here because I ended up not doing a survey with children at +the workshops. 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 offer in an +interactive reading or playing environment. 6 2 +6

Loop 8

-

What does the joy of destruction and the awe eff ect have to do with +

What does the joy of destruction and the awe effect 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 @@ -2652,7 +2677,9 @@ 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.

+nourishing a new way of storytelling. 7 5 +3

Loop 9

Interactivity in reading and writing in history. What changed?

Interactivity has always been an experimental area in literature from @@ -2673,25 +2700,25 @@ are maybe the earliest written interactive experiences in a historical context. They are published with notes and explanations, clarifications which make the text inhabit different 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 -fill 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 fiction 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 different modes of reading as -well. After the 80’s, Interactive fiction 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.

-

The 21st century off ers a combination of text and illustrations in +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 fill in the blanks to win the game. +Simultaneously, text-based adventure games such as Zork and Adventure +were popular. Early days of computing offered a wide space for exploring +virtual worlds. In the early 80s, hypertext fiction 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 +different modes of reading as well. After the 80’s, Interactive fiction +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.

+

The 21st century offers 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 @@ -2704,12 +2731,13 @@ 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 +in the last years. Some tools that created the awe effect 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.

+heading. 10 8 +10

Loop 10

Experimentation of creative exercises to be used in WINK. Exercises of storytelling with words, images, drawing, sound and gestures.

@@ -2721,7 +2749,10 @@ 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.

+but I made some helpful observations from my time there. This loop is all about +the observations I made during the workshops and the decisions I made, +according to the results.

The first workshop I planned consisted of two main parts that made up 20 minutes. The first 10 minutes we read Bee Within (attached in the appendix) together in a circle and the last 10 minutes we played little @@ -2765,8 +2796,8 @@ 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)”

+“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 @@ -2777,8 +2808,8 @@ 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 first. 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 +realize how much information or guidance I have to offer 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 @@ -2809,36 +2840,39 @@ 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.

+see them own their imaginary characters enough to draw them with joy. +There is a +broken knot here because I changed my mind about adding motional +elements to the tree character. Kids seemed to see the tree as +stationary.

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 +wrap. I asked for a few volunteers and they made sound effects 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 first. Then quite impressively, they made -their own system where they took turns to make eff ects for each +their own system where they took turns to make effects 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 +sounds effects 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.

+they like to be a part of or be effective 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 +because I was effected 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.

@@ -2852,7 +2886,8 @@ 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.

+itself. 2 6 +9

Loop 11

The differences of these exercises in WINK than the already existing interactive e-book platforms The interactive e-book apps existing today, @@ -2879,10 +2914,11 @@ 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.

+

12 12 +12 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 @@ -2897,7 +2933,7 @@ 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 +narratives is already too much. I realized I underestimated the effect 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 @@ -2910,32 +2946,46 @@ and mysterious string at hand.

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: +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. &. (2018) The khipu code: the knotty mystery of the +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. &. (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 +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/.

+

Acknowledgements

+

Thank you Marloes de Valk, for your enlightening feedbacks and ideas. +Thank you Michael Murtaugh, Manetta Berends, Joseph Knierzinger, Leslie +Robbins and Steve Rushton for sharing your time and knowledge with me +throughout these years.

+

Thank you XPUB friends for funny, hectic and memorable moments we +made together.

+

Thanks to my family and especially Kemal, my brother, who supported +me in my studies and encouraged me to do better, always…

+

So long and thanks for all the fish!

+