Academic: Keynote, Conferences, Seminars

See also my page on Academic Teaching for Guest Lectures or my Publications page for articles

Keynote Address

cmid ‘Patterns in Cross-Media Interaction Design: It’s Much More Than a URL’
Content can be repurposed, adapted and stretched across platforms. A story can start in one medium and finish in another. How are audiences moved between platforms, and how can one make this traversal a part of the entertainment experience itself? This paper provides an introduction to multi-platform and multi-format entertainment and then outlines the factors that influence cross-media interaction design. What is to be considered when designing for movement between platforms? How are audiences moved between platforms? What influences the choice of traversal? Critical factors will be listed, as a first step towards developing patterns in cross-media interaction design.
[See Part 1 of talk in conference proceedings here] 		Dena, C. (2007) ‘Patterns in Cross-Media Interaction Design: It’s much more than a URL’, Invited Keynote Address at the First International Conference on Cross Media Interaction Design, Sweden

Conference Presentations

IElogo ‘Capturing Polymorphic Creations: Towards Ontological Heterogeneity and Transmodiology’
This paper addresses the vast practice encompassed under the placeholder term polymorphic creations: contemporary tie-ins, pervasive gaming, telematic arts and so on. A position is put forward where a heterogenous model is championed in favour of a shared ontology. This is contextualized according to polymorphic practices and larger cultural shifts. This paper is, therefore, a theoretical analysis of potential polymorphic-specific methodologies.
[See paper here] 		Dena, C. (2007) ‘Capturing Polymorphic Creations: Towards Ontological Heterogeneity and Transmodiology’, presented at Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment, The School of Creative Media and Computer Science at RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3-5 Dec.
No logo ‘The Future of Digital Media Culture is All in Your Head: An Argument for the Age of Integrating Media’
This conference called for research to “illuminate both the near and long term Future of Digital Media Culture”. Although research into digital media culture assists greatly in understanding new technologies, its influences and affects, to continue to do so in isolation of other media shows little regard for the reality of its role and use. ‘Old’ or ‘traditional’ media such as dusty books and smudged newspapers, consensus television, linear films and radio are also part of the daily medial diet of humans. Indeed, this paper argues that an emerging cultural approach is the integration of all media and that this will continue in the near- to long-term future. We are no longer in a Digital Age, we are instead in an Age of Integration. This argument is explored through providing examples of extant integration practices and outlining economic and cognitive influences. Finally, these influences and existing practices are utilized as insights into potential future cultural practices. 		Dena, C. (2007) ‘The Future of Digital Media Culture is All in Your Head: An Argument for the Age of Integrating Media’, perthDAC 2007: the 7th Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Perth, Australia, 15-18 Sept.
CGIE07 ‘A Case-Study of miniARGs: Design Issues for Creating Alternate Reality Games for Professional Training and Education’
This paper outlines the design issues and approaches undertaken to create a cross-media game experience for industry training. Drawing on design principles from ‘Alternate Reality Games’ and Locative Arts, the exercise required the traversal of a variety of media platforms; collaboration with team members and individual play; email, SMS and live interaction with characters and puzzle-solving. Through a case-study of a cross-media experience created for an AFTRS residential, this paper will share creative solutions to obstacles. Obstacles such as time and resources constraints; varying levels of new media literacy and facilitating immersion and participation in a work environment. It will also elucidate the design principles of ARGs and locative arts in general. 		Dena, C. (2006) ‘A Case-Study of miniARGs: Design Issues for Creating Alternate Reality Games for Professional Training and Education’, Joint CyberGames & Interactive Entertainment 2006 Conference, Weds 6th Dec, 10am, Perth.
AOIR

 ‘How the Internet is Holding the Center of Conjured Universes’
The Internet is an indisputably influential force in changes to the way entertainment is conceived, produced, distributed, experienced and critiqued. Little is known, however, about how the Internet is used by fans and producers in the experience of cross-media entertainment. Cross-media entertainment forms such as ‘alternate reality games’, entertainment ecologies (artistic franchises and tie-ins) and enhanced television lean towards an ideal form of art that combines all forms. These works are distributed over media platforms, producers, arts types and time. They require assembly, navigation and interpretation. This paper outlines how fans and producers are using the Internet to hold these emerging works together, using examples from popular entertainment, providing a narrative- and ludic-agnostic ontology for the understanding and analysis of them, and posits motivations from cognitive psychology.
[See paper here & Kevin Lim video interview with me about my presentation] 		Dena, C. (2006) ‘How the Internet is Holding the Center of Conjured Universes’, presented at Internet Research 7.0: Internet Convergences, Association of Internet Researchers, Hilton Hotel, Brisbane, Australia, 27-30 Sept.
NMC

 ‘Remediation of the Art Space in Second Life’
This presented was delivered inside the virtual world Second Life and discusses the art spaces within the online world.
PowerPoint & Audio at SlideShare, and here:

 Dena, C. (2006) ‘Remediation of the Art Space in Second Life’, presented at New Media Consortium’s Impact of Digital Media Conference, symposium in Second Life, Oct 20th.
Critical Animals

 ‘Towards a Poetics of Multi-Channel Storytelling’
In 2001 Henry Jenkins discussed the growing prevalence of ‘transmedia storytelling’. Transmedia storytelling is, simply put, franchises: a movie is followed by a game, then perhaps a comic, website and so on. An example is the Wachowski brother’s Matrix franchise. For Jenkins each media, each channel, communicates different aspects of a storyworld. Since 2003 Jane McGonigal, and others, have been researching the phenomenological and social aspects of ‘alternate reality gaming’. Alternate reality gaming requires players to traverse websites, games, public play, SMS and so on. Microsoft’s The Beast was the first of such ‘games’ that required participation with websites, posters, faxes, hacking, chatbots and Spielberg’s film AI (McGonigal, J., 2003).

Academic research into multi-channel storytelling is at present approached from the media studies and phenomenological perspective. As yet no poetics to address transmedia, alternate reality gaming, cross- or multi-platform and cross-media of content have been proposed in academia ; in addition no poetics has been invented for multi-channel single-story creation (that is: one story told over multiple media).

This paper provides an overview of the poetics being developed for multi-channel storytelling. It is a narrative schema intended for instructional use in story creation and literary criticism.

Dena, C. (2004) ‘Towards a Poetics of Multi-Channel Storytelling’, presented at Critical Animals postgraduate conference, This Is Not Art Festival, chaired by David Wolf, Newcastle, October 1st.
Uni of Monash ‘Response as Input: The Role of Reader Response, HCI and HRI in the Modeling of a Cross Media Narrative’
Espen J. Aarseth put forward that hypertext is indeed new, despite claims that non-linear storytelling has been in existence throughout time. Aarseth knighted it ‘ergodic literature’ because the hypertext user has to act out thoughts through action, whereas the reader merely thinks their paths. This changes the writing-reading process and therefore how we study it. Sven Birkerts has been an active campaigner against interactive fiction because, he says, it lacks the essential experiences of reading print — depth and duration. What if a narrative was written to work over both media: print text and hypertext? Can arguments for and against each media remain? There are many implications: How does one write an unending plot within a fixed media? How is plot and character information controlled, delivered and interpreted? If there is no ending but the reader persists, is catharsis more important than understanding? These are questions I am investigating during the creation of a novel that is read in tandem with a chatbot on a website. In this paper I will be analysing theories of reader-reception along with human-computer interaction, and to some extent other areas of narratology, in the process of developing a model for a cross media narrative.
[PDF] 		Dena, C. (2003) ‘Response as Input: The Role of Reader Response, HCI and HRI in the Modeling of a Cross Media Narrative’ presented at Seismic Readings 2003 Conference , School of Literary, Visual and Performance Studies, Monash University, Clayton, 17-18 July.

University Seminars

Uni of Syd ‘Monopolymorphism: A Paradigm for Understanding Cross-Media Entertainment’
In the age of cross-media production works are distributed over time and space like never before. A story can be adapted into numerous media and arts forms; episodes traverse television and digital games; a plot can stretch over a book and the web; a work of fiction can be indistinguishable from reality and a work of art indistinguishable from marketing. The methodological discourses touched by this phenomenon are, among others, Narratology, Ludology, Media Studies and Semiotics. How does one recognise, analyse and frame these works? Introducing mono-polymorphism: the theory of many forms and the singular co-exist. Giddy with the notion of a ‘unified theory of everything’, this theory seeks to provide a schema for understanding the meta-discursive, taxonomical, and rhetorical complexity of these works. And yes, the dissonance with ‘mono-polymorphism’ is intentional. 		Dena, C. (2006) ‘Mono-Polymorphism: A Paradigm for Understanding Cross-Media Entertainment’, Media and Communications Department, School of Letters, Art and Media, University of Sydney, 15th Sept.
Uni of Syd ‘Clustering Consciousness: Towards Polymorphism’ Dena, C. (2006) ‘Clustering Consciousness: Towards Polymorphism’ presented at SEAFAM Research Day, University of Sydney, 16 June.
Uni of Melb ‘Texts, Worlds, Realms and Channels: Towards a Taxonomy of Polymorphic Works’
Works are no-longer only delivered in single media channels: they are distributed, accessed through different media types and delivered over months and years. Franchises of movies, games, comics and websites are commonplace, along with enhanced television, mobile gaming and multi-platform art. This paper subsumes these and other emerging forms under the banner of ‘polymorphic works’ (PMW): a work in many forms. A taxonomy of PMW is posited, considering arguments of Narratology, Ludology and Media Studies. The taxonomy intends to highlight the phenomenon, its emerging characteristics and the issues it raises, to assist in the recognition, design and analysis of such works.		 Dena, C. (2005) ‘Texts, Worlds, Realms and Channels: Towards a Taxonomy of Polymorphic Works’ presented at Research Seminar Series, School of Creative Arts, University of Melbourne, 17 Aug.
Uni of Melb ‘Hybrids, the Universe and Channels: A Sketch of Polymorphic Narrative’
‘Polymorphic Narrative’ is narrative in many forms, narrative as expressed over multiple texts. This paper provides an outline of the emerging phenomenon of multi-channel storytelling. The conceptual and creative heritage is posited, along with current iterations. Fours levels of the narrative domain — narrative ecology, narrative universe, work and text — are introduced and discussed. Relations observed between texts are offered as a step towards a taxonomy.		 Dena, C. (2005) ‘Hybrids, the Universe and Channels: A Sketch of Polymorphic Narrative’ presented at Seminar Day 4, School of Creative Arts Postgraduate Seminar Day, University of Melbourne, 27 May.
Uni of Melb ‘New Media Methodologies, Applied’
I have observed that within the new media ecology there are currently three research approaches: developing media specific poetics for digital works only (e.g. ludology for computer games); revising and development of traditional discourses and media through consideration of new media works within the same media thread (eg: internet movies for film studies); applying to all works — traditional and new media — a new media filter. The last, a ‘new media approach’ is a spectrum of conscious application to theoretical and practical investigation. The researcher can utilise methodologies developed in response to the use and influence of electronic technologies and can apply new media design principles and poetics to criticism of traditional works whilst the artist can apply new media design and poetics to traditional media. This presentation will outline the new media methodologies I am utilising in my thesis.

SCAtharsis [PDF]		 Dena, C. (2004) ‘New Media Methodologies, Applied’ presented at Contexts, School of Creative Arts Postgraduate Seminar Day , University of Melbourne, 14 May, published by
Uni of Melb ‘Interacting with Ghosts: An Exploration of the Notion of Interactivity in Digital Storytelling’
New Media enthusiasts have long extolled the digital medium as opening up new forms of storytelling. Interactive stories are said to enable the user to enact the narrative interpretations and decisions previously internal in other media. ‘Interactivity’ is meant to allow user to control and manipulate the story in many ways. This paper investigates this presumption by exploring current theories — from human-computer interaction, human-agent interaction, human-robot interaction and reader response — and analysing current applications.

[PDF] 		Dena, C. (2003) ‘Interacting with Ghosts: An Exploration of the Notion of Interactivity in Digital Storytelling’ presented at School of Creative Arts Postgraduate Seminar Day , University of Melbourne, 11 Dec, published by SCAtharsis
Uni of Melb ‘The Day My Book Went Psycho’ Dena, C. (2003) ‘The Day My Book Went Psycho’ presented at School of Creative Arts Postgraduate Seminar Day, University of Melbourne, 2 May.