Mauri Kaipainen

Narratology and ontological spaces

Mauri Kaipainen

Narratology

≈Studies continuation of stories

WP definition

Mauri Kaipainen

Narration, narrative

Narration ≈ storytellingNarrative ≈ story

Mauri Kaipainen

Why on this course?• Story matters! Items floating in a space do not suffice to make sense in all respects.

• Interactive storytelling now possible• Demand for interactive storytelling • Hot development in arts, tech and business!

• Because soft ontology & multi-perspective offer a general narrative logic

Mauri Kaipainen

Linear narratives

The story has only one sequential way of unfolding.

Fox example:• Books, articles• Movies• Music• Etc.

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Linear ≠ chronological

Linear storytelling seldom sticks to chronological order

=> Natural to let the mind construct the story in a nonlinear context

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Nonlinear narratives & navigable narrative spacesThe story can unfold in many ways, along alternative tracks in the ontological space

(Linear?) story constructed• cognitively• experientially• emotionally

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Types of nonlinear storytelling • Interactive games, e.g. hockey, flight simulators

• Interactive books• Interactive cinema• Interactive TV• Interactive commercials• Interactive music?

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Ontology of narrative elements

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Narrative elements in ontological space• Ontological space (constituted by a soft ontology) inhabited by narrative elements

• Ontology derived by hand or automatically

• Mutual similarity relations depend on perspective chosen

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Database media

• Stored as a database • Can be retrieved in any order• Require an algorithm to compose to a story

Related concepts• Database art

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Soft Cinema

Lev Manovich’ database cinema concept

Video Samples

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Types of narrative elements• video clips• audio clips• generative parameters• behavioral gestures of

– humans (theatre)– avatars – robots

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Solution 1: Explicit rules• Randomness• Hand-set• Automatically from event stream

• Learning supervised

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Recency rule

Problem:How to guarantee that all elements are used?

Solution:Some recency function determining how soon after last occurrence a narrative element can reoccur => All material rotate

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Explicit ”soft” rules example

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Obsession

• Soft Ontology-background• Story driven by emotional perspective to narrative space, measured by biosensors

Introduction video

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Solution 2: Proximity-based rulesSoft-Ontology supports logics based on

• Smooth change with respect to some perspective

• Contrast with respect to some perspective

• Recency rule appliesPerspective is crucial!

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Input mapped to perspective• Perspective dictates smooth movements in ontological space, or

• Perspective dictates jumps in ontological space

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Input options

• Conventional mouse & keyboard• Anything! Consider alternative i/o!

• Movement tracking• Biosensors (e.g. Obsession)

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Key issues

• Guided navigation vs. free exploration

• Author’s role and purpose? Top-down vs. bottom-up?

• Told story vs. understood story?

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Literature

• Manovich, L.; Kratky, A. (2005) Soft Cinema: Navigating the Database. DVD-video with 40 page color booklet The MIT Press, 2005 ISBN 0-262-13456-X

• Kaipainen, M.; Thomas, M. (Eds.) (2006). Computational and spatially organised narrativity. Digital Creativity 2006, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 193-194. (Ask me)

• Murray, J. (1997). Hamlet on the Holodeck. MIT Press.

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Last time

Coordinates• latitude & longitude• experiential dimensions = communities = concepts

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Hands on

• Try to match concepts and • Consider ´narrative aspects of your concepts (”guided tours”)