Tag: interactive narrative

A walk in the park with Joseph Paxton

Posted on by Dave Miller

This is an interactive story, which tries to work as a conversation and visual story combined. It deals with a controversial, topical and emotive local issue, concerning the development of Crystal Palace park (in London) after many years of neglect. Lots of plans and architectural designs were put forward, and local people consulted. But it occurred to me that one voice seriously missing from the consultation, was that of the master architect and planner Joseph Paxton, who conceived the original design for the park. I thought it would be interesting to imagine his point of view.

concert area

I’ve tried here to make this online interactive story unfold as a conversation, which is often considered the highest form of interactivity. The work is inspired by the ‘Eliza’ project, an interactive psuedo therapist/ counsellor which was built many years ago, and simulates a conversation (this has been expanded upon by Alexa etc):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA

My intentions are that the conversation presents an independent view of the situation, avoiding one side or the other, and local politics. The work tries to see above that. I hope the work is more questioning, acting on a deeper level.

Link to the project

The Wreckers

Posted on by Dave Miller

This is an interactive work on the subject of ‘wreckers’. In 2007 a container ship was grounded off the coast of Devon, England, and locals looted it. My idea was to make ‘debate drawings’ – networked drawings generated by a debate on a specific topic. I wrote a script and database to combine web feeds and comments, and convert into shapes and lines.

This is what I call ‘Feed Art’ – mixing & mashing networked data into pictures to create an informed image – a ‘conflict picture’ or ‘debate drawing’. There are two sets of comments being pulled into the picture: a news feed on the subject of the wreckers, and the user comments from this site. They work to support or conflict with each other – there’s a debate going on within the picture.

This mix makes the work more connected to the subject, and gives rise to chance forms and connections to make interesting images & unintended meanings. The feed and user entries are converted into shapes, so all forms in the picture reflect the data itself. 

Please note: sadly ‘The Wreckers’ isn’t working properly right now, as PHP has been updated and I need to re-work the code

Link to the project

Bassey Mixed Up – a generative biography

Posted on by Dave Miller
Bassey collage

Shirley Bassey Mixed Up (2006) is a generative art work – more accurately an experimental illustrated networked generative biography, covering the ups and downs of her life, successes and tragedies. The illustrations are network generated, built dynamically from Yahoo searches, and combined dynamically with my own drawings. Through specifying different searches and playing with the customisation options, readers can create a unique illustration for each page of the story, resulting in their own personalised version of the biography.

Bassey collage

Pulling in data from the Internet and manipulating/ transforming it within a story, this work can be arguably be described as a networked narrative. 

Bassey collage

Link to the project

Unfortunately the project isn’t working properly right now, as PHP has been updated, and I will need to re-write the code.

Cocklepickers

Posted on by Dave Miller

Interactive story dealing with the tragedy of the chinese migrant workers who died in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, in 2004. The interactive approach offers a non-linear way of exploring all of the issues, and each person has a different experience, and effectively creates their own story.

There are many separate and interconnected strands to this story: the experience of the workers, the bosses exploiting cheap work, the reactions of local people, the families in China, the media/political reactions and economics. 

These strands are parallel narratives through the story. Each one is small view of the bigger picture, giving a different perspective. Each page of the story is an illustration.

Link to story

Unfortunately the project is no longer working properly, due to PHP being upgraded. I will need to re-write the code.