1Navigating Context for Nonlinear Narrative1

Nonlinear narrative in general and interactive television in particular is a mix of multiple media and technologies that have developed independently over a long period of time. This paper suggests a conceptual lineage of interactive TV. It then discusses the trust required to make ITV functional, and lastly suggests story context as a framework in which that trust can exist. The relationship and implicit contract between storyteller and audience is the pivot point on which all narrative, and particularly ITV narrative, hangs. Story actually happens somewhere in the nexus of storyteller and audience. Navigating an interactive or nonlinear narrative requires all three of these components fit together into a cohesive whole. It is like piecing together a puzzle. In fact, designing an interactive narrative could be described as designing a puzzle. While there is a lot of attention given to the technology of interactive narrative, story context is a powerful tool for providing a complex and interesting landscape that allows the relationship and contract to build. This paper addresses three components of story context: time, space and point of view. Interactive TV Interactive television is a mix of apparent opposites. It is a blend of old and new technology, of game and story, and of linear and nonlinear experience. It must satisfy viewer/participant expectation as well as deliver surprise through the user’s interactive involvement. It is a complex and evolving amalgam of elements that, when well constructed, provide an experience unlike any of its components alone. Interactive TV does not exist in a vacuum, but in the context of the user’s experience with the various media components of television, film, and computers. While the components are familiar, it is the media created by this amalgam that is so new