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“It’s Fun not to Know”: The Role of Uncertainty in Text-Based Online Collaborative Storytelling

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Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13762))

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Abstract

Computer-mediated communication platforms provide new ways for people to tell stories together, while at the same time introducing new challenges. In this paper we explore how people coordinate process, content, and direction during text-based online collaborative storytelling. In our study, six pairs of participants were asked to tell a story together using two variations of a chatroom-like system. Both conditions provided direct text-based interaction visible to the audience, whereas one condition also included a “backchannel” interface for private communication that was not visible to the audience. The system also provided basic workspace awareness in the form of persistent story text, coloured based on contributor, and a typing activity indicator. Even with just a partial understanding of the content and direction of the story, most participants felt they were able to successfully tell a story together. In fact, some participants preferred the uncertainty associated with limited communication, seeing this as encouraging creativity. This suggests guidelines for designing collaborative tools, which tend to emphasize shared understanding, may need to take into consideration the role of uncertainty in creative activities such as collaborative storytelling.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Participants will be referred to as “GXPY”, where X is the group number (1–6), and Y is the participant number (1 or 2). Here, for example, G1P1 refers to group 1, participant 1.

  2. 2.

    GM refers to the role of “game master”, the person who moderates a tabletop role-playing game session.

  3. 3.

    I1 and I2 denotes individual interview 1 and 2 respectively for a given participant, and F denotes final interview involving both participants.

  4. 4.

    It is worth noting that this pair knew each other professionally and were both practicing storytellers: G4P1 works in improv theatre and spoken word poetry, and G4P2 is a published author. This likely contributed to the ease with which they coordinated their storytelling.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded under the National University of Singapore Humanities and Social Sciences Seed Fund grant “Communication Strategies in Real-time Computer-Mediated Creative Collaboration”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Alex Mitchell & Dennis Ang

  2. Curious Chimeras, Singapore, Singapore

    Shao Han Tan

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  1. Alex Mitchell
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  2. Dennis Ang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex Mitchell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Mirjam Vosmeer

  2. University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

    Lissa Holloway-Attaway

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Mitchell, A., Ang, D., Tan, S.H. (2022). “It’s Fun not to Know”: The Role of Uncertainty in Text-Based Online Collaborative Storytelling. In: Vosmeer, M., Holloway-Attaway, L. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13762. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22298-6_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22298-6_15

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