Exploring Rich Interactive Narratives

Tell me a Story……

Since the beginning of time we know that people have always told stories. Before the written word existed the telling of stories was the primary source of passing on history, tradition and folklore. Paintings on cave walls were perhaps some of the earliest forms of illustration to go along with the story telling experience. The pictures made the stories more interesting. Today we have many ways of experiencing stories. One such story telling tool is the Rich Interactive Narrative (RIN). A Rich Interactive Narrative allows for the building of stories by bringing together traditional forms of storytelling with images, multimedia, text and narration to create interactive experience.

The Decipher Project  is involved in the discovery and exploration of cultural heritage through story and narration. The major outputs of the Decipher project are the development of knowledge visualisation and displays for cultural institutions and museums. The project has an excellent Facebook page with almost daily updates about the projects progress and new applications.

Microsoft Research is also involved in the development of Rich Interactive Narratives. I was fortunate to be involved in this project during my internship for the Digital Humanities Course at TCD. I was given access to the developmental tool RIN Studio to develop a narrative about a TCD students experiences during the 1916 Rising. For more information about Microsoft RIN projects see here.

These narrative tools have the potential to provide information professionals with another resource to present, display and share multiple media resources to tell an interesting story.