The New Media Formats

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

by

Pelageya Pandeva

On account of the advances of the computer technology in the last decades, digital media have become the most rapidly growing forms of communication and entertainment. The implementation of storytelling in interactive media like websites, films, hypertexts, interactive fiction and digital games enhances successfully the audience’s attention and experience. There is no doubt that among the above-mentioned forms the most popular and influential, including in children’s life, are the computer games. They are also thought to be a felicitous application of interactive narrative. Electronic works are used in early childhood classrooms in attempts to stimulate students’ involvement in reading e-texts while promoting literacy development.

This MA dissertation intends to discuss ways in which the integration of new media formats supports the emergence of new literacies within reading an e-literature work at the contemporary school. It focuses on a distinct type of literacy competence – the competence of reading and understanding literary texts in online form, in particular the four episodes of the electronic work Inanimate Alice. The research explores the relationship between narrative and gaming based on the domain of e-literature, interactive media and communication which represent an arguable issue among academic communities. As a whole, it is thought that the interactive nature of computer games causes some problems for the implementation of narrative.

The thesis is based on the theoretical claims of the literary scholar and writer Marie-Laure Ryan and in particular on her book Narrative AsVirtualReality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media(2001). While the author considers the changing narrative models in digital culture, she illustrates through a number of narrative texts the interplay of immersion and interactivity. Typical for works that involve an immersive response is a transparent textual interface which enables recipients to experience the text as a world. Immersive texts aim to absorb completely the consciousness of the reader and to center it in the fictional world. Interactive work, on the other hand, engages the recipient playfully by losing its transparent world-creating capacity and offering itself as a game.The choice of the e-work Inanimate Alice is based on the fact that it blends together immersion and interactivity. It is a leading example of transmedia (non-linear storytelling across multiple media platforms) and explores the creative synergies between computer gaming and narratives in digital media.

The object of the analysis is a small sixth-grade classroom at a Bulgarian school in Sofia. A qualitative case methodology will be used to identify, examine and describe ways in which the integration of new media formats support the emergence of new literacies within reading an e-literature work in a sixth-grade classroom. In a qualitative research the focus is on the process rather than on the product. The students are expected to respond to the new format through: 1) worksheets, where the tasks are assigned by the teacher; 2) participation in literature discussions involving creation of charts and usage of electronic tools; 3) working on a group project in the form of a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

In Bulgaria the implementation of the motivating and creating positive attitude to learning aspects in game-based teaching are not sufficiently examined. Therefore, the proposed research aims to contribute to further extend the investigation in this field. One of the merits of the study is providing valuable information about students’ literacy learning for educators who want to integrate the new literacies and technologies within already meaningful literacy practices.

The thesis consists of three chapters, the first one of which discusses the theoretical framework focusing on the relationship between interactivity and narratives concerning the debate between ludologists and narratologists. It also discusses the theoretical sources of the writer Marie-Laure Ryan and her book NarrativeAsVirtualReality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media.

The second chapter describes the process of introduction and understanding of the four episodes from the digital work Inanimate Alice to the sixth-grade classroom at an elementary school in Sofia. The learners are able to view, to compose, to discuss, to create, to analyze and to interact with the new media format in a multimodal way.

The third chapter aims to analyze and summarize the results from the research, emphasizing the multiplicity and efficiency of the new media literacy.

CHAPTER ONE

Ludology vs. Narratology

Among academic communities the question about the relationship between interactivity and narratives is controversial and provokes a public debate in which ludologists and narratologists take opposite sides.

The game theorist Gonzalo Fraska makes the concept of ludology popular taking its name from the Latin word for game (ludus). He defines the term ludology as the "discipline that studies games and play activities" (Frasca, Gonzalo Ludology Meets Narratology: similitudes and differences between (video)games and narrative, 1999, available online at

http://www.ludology.org). In his view computer games are founded on simulation structures which in comparison to the traditional media are not innately narrative and tolerate interaction. According to the position of the ludologists stress in this problem with the relationship between ludology and narratology should be on the game mechanics and rules, not on interpreting games as narrative (Aarseth, 2001; Eskelinen, 2001; Eskelinen, 2004).

Ludologists such as Jesper Juul, Espen Aarseth and Ernest Adams imply that any effort to incorporate narrative elements in computer games is irrelevant. Adams argues that interactivity and narrative are opposite in their nature–whereas narrative is directed by the author, interactivity depends on the player’s descisions (Adams, Ernest Three Problems For Interactive Storytellers, Gamasutra, 1999, web.).

In his work Cybertext Espen Aarseth expresses a radical position stating that "to claim there is no difference between games and narratives, is to ignore essential qualities of both categories" (Aarseth, Espen J.Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Johns Hopkins University Press.1997). Video games, as Aarseth argues, are part of the so called ergodic literature – works that demand nontrivial endeavor to traverse.

Juul states that video games and narrative may share some traits but as a whole they are completely different phenomena. Some of his arguments are that "the relation between the reader/viewer and the story world is different than the relation between the player and the game world" and that "there is an inherent conflict between the now of the interaction and the past or "prior" of thenarrative" (Juul, Jesper Games telling stories?,Game studies, vol. 1 no. 1, 2001, http://www.gamestudies.org). Juul distinguishes between fixed sequences, in the meaning of narratives, and flexible ones, in the meaning of games, which is connected with the idea that games depend on players decision-taking. But he also admits that there is a certain connection between narrative and games, and, specifically,that some digital games may contain narrative elements.

A further statement leading to extremety is that of MarkkuEskelinen, who suggests in his publication The Gaming Situation (2001), that there is no need to study video game narrative at all because it is only a worthless decoration of the game and functions rather like entertainment tool. He writes: "If I throw a ballatyou, I don’t expect you to drop it and wait until it starts telling stories" which probably means that in real life people do not expect to have a story attached to a ball game. Througout his study Eskelinen tries to convince the reader of the low value of game narratives, for examplegames like Tetris, but it is true that he doesn’t pay enough attention to games that contain narrative elements.

On the other side of the debate are the narratologists. Essentially, narratology is a theory that examines narrative and narrative structure and the way they affect the receipients’ perception. Theorists such as Jay David Bolter and Henry Jenkins claim that computer games are narrative media and their impact should be discussed and interpreted with the same language that is used to interpret literature. In his publication Game Design as Narrative Architecture (2004) Jenkins examines games "less as stories than as spaces ripe with narrative possibility" (available online at http://web.mit.edu) Jenkins argues that content circulates between diverse media sources and computer games are part of the storytelling media that involve novels, films and comicbooks. In his work he also aims to outline a "middleground" between the two sides of the debate- narratologists and ludologists- remaining biased in favor of the narratological ideas and beliefes.

……. The narratologist Janet Murray takes up an even more enthusiastic position by stating that narrative games are the future of e-literature teaching. As she writes "The computer is first and foremost a representational medium, a means for modelling the world", and "we shouldhasten to place this new compositional tool as firmly as possible in the hands of the story- tellers" (Murray, Janet HamletontheHolodeck: theFuture of NarrativeinCyberspace, New York, The Free Press, 1997, p. 144). In her view videogames develop slowly from their current form to something she names cyberdrama. Her model is connected with an interactive theatre, the digital age’s equivalent of Shakespearen theatre.

Janet Murray and Markku Eskelinen are represents at the opposite ends of the ludology-narratology debate, rejecting the value of either narrative or non-narrative games. There are a variety of arguments pro and con narrative games but although it is difficult to conclude which side actually wins the debate. In this study both types of assumptions are equally worthy.To achieve effective learning a teacher needs to combine the positiveness of both positions – the element of the game since it strikes the students’ attention, and the narrative element stimulating literacy development in terms of literature. The basic proof is the childrens’ response to the e-work consisting of their readiness to follow the story to its end, to discuss it and fulfil the tasks given by the teacher.

Methodology

A qualitative case methodology will be used to identify, examine and describe ways in which the integration of new media formats support the emergence of new literacies within reading an e-literature work in a sixth-grade classroom. The aim of the qualitative researcher is to explore the natural circumstances of which people, events and settings are part. The theorists R.C Bogden and S.K Biklin suggest that "if you want to understand the way people think about their world and how those definitions are formed you need to get close to them, to hear them talk, and observe them in their day-to-day lives" (Bogdan, R.C., Biklen, S.K. Qualitative research in education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston, MA: Allyn& Bacon, 1998, p.32).In this sense in qualitative research the focus is on the process rather than on the product. The qualitative work does not provide for generalizing but rather for understanding and clarification. It values the unique perspectives and responses. Because of its interpretative nature the qualitative approach examines experiences and meanings created by sixth-grade students while interacting with the new format. Thus, the aim of the researcher is to present the findings of a qualitative study descriptively and the data should be collected from different information sources.

An important component of a qualitative research is the so called triangulation because it concerns the credibility of the data. J. K. Smith and D. K Deemer define triangulation as a process of implementing multiple sources to explain meaning or identify various perspectives towards a phenomenon (Smith, J. K., &Deemer, D. K. The problem of criteria in the age of relativism. In Denzin & .Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitativeresearch, 2000,2nded., pp. 877-896). If the data from different sources point to the same inferences, the researcher could express his opinion with more confidence to credibility. According to M.Q. Patton "validity is the credibility of the study and the reliability is the dependability of the research". (Patton, M.Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods, Newbury Park, CA:Sage Publications, p.354)

This case study explores the implementation of an electronic literature work within the limits of a sixth-grade classroom.The objects of the analysis are twelve sixth-graders from a Bulgarian school in Sofia who have completed an elementary course During the experience, the pupils were acquainted with the four episodes of the digital novel-game "Inanimate Alice" and were expected to respond to the new format through: 1) worksheets, where the tasks were assigned by the teacher; 2) participation in literature discussions involving creation of charts and usage of electronic tools; (3) creation of a group project in the form of Microsoft Power Point presentation. The information from the multiple sources contributed to the investigation of ways in which learners interacted with and perceived the electronic novel-game, and in which readers could respond to it. Because of the fact that multiple sources of information are available, the study is supported by a wide range of data and valuable insights of the participants. But the limitations of research are connected with the fact that it focuses on one small sixth-grade classroom consisting of 12 participants and the data was collected on the basis of their written and verbal responses.

My role as a researcher and a teacher covered designing the lessons and preparing all the worksheets. I considered how to best implement technology into the classroom environment and which sources and materials were appropriate. Throughout the research period I engaged the sixth-graders in diverse activities supported by different multimedia sources, electronic tools and Internet use providing all the pupils a variety of opportunities to participate actively in reading and responding to an e-literature work. I clarified different procedures and what was expected from the students, and also guided the class in reading an e-work and responding to it through worksheets, through participation in literature discussions and the creation of group project.

Marie-LaureRyan’concepts

The proposed research is based on the theoretical sources of theliterary scholar and critic Marie-LaureRyan and her exploration in the field of electronic literature. Ryan is writer and editor whose interests range over a variety of subjects like narratology, theory of possible worlds, game theory, digital literature and cyberculture. She is the author of Beyond Myth and Metaphor – the Case of Narrative in Digital Media (2001), Narrative As Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media (2001), Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence, and Narrative Theory (1991) and the editor in Narrative Across Media: The Languages of Storytelling, Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology and LiteraryTheory, Frontiers of Narrative.

The thesis focuses in particular on her book Narrative As Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media that in 2001 won the MLA Comparative Literature award. In her monograph the author considers the changing narrative models in digital culture interpreting virtual reality in philosophical terms. At the same time she illustrates through a number of narrative texts the interplay of immersion and interactivity which is very important for the perception of the work of art. Typical for works that involve an immersive response is a transparent textual interface which enables recipients to experience the text as a world. Immersive texts aim to absorb completely the consciousness of the reader and to center it in the fictional world.

The theoretical sections alternate with seven interpretative interludes offering a wide range of terms from various spheres of technology, science and art. Ryan defines the experience of immersion in narrative media opposing it to interaction similarly to Murray in an earlier period who specified the latter as "agency "and "role-playing". On the other hand, interactivity enriches readers understanding by linking it to the narrative in terms of revelation of problems. The author uses the popular metaphor of the game in clarifying hypertext fiction for there is competitiveness in the readers’ desire to get an idea of the plot. However, the way the hypertext is built limits the entirety of perceiving ‘the whole picture". That is why Ryan suggests that the interactive media should consist of short episodes in order to be more transparent and logical to the audience.

Interaction is extremely attractive to postmodern readers but Ryan also stresses on immersion to contribute to the vividness of the imaginary world. She uses three perspectives concerning place, time and feelings. The author investigates in detail various images, the experience of suspense and emotional participation (a unique real feeling for fictional matters). Interaction is very logical and clear and not so personal, while the extent of immersion depends on deeply psychological qualities of personality.

When speaking about interactivity and immersion it is good to take a closer look at their meanings. Interactivity is a word consisting of two parts. The first means "between", carrying in itself a connection, a link, a dialogue. The second part is about action, executing something. So, both taken together indicate a communication between two. Implementing this notion into the narrative context it would concern the relationship between the audience (readers/players) and the storyline. Interactive reading involves handling, influencing, investigating the content of the electronic book. Interacting while reading gives recipients the chance to communicate actively with the narrative, to respond when it is required. That enriches uniquely the experience of getting to know a piece of writing because you rely on many abilities: logical, psychological, and many physical ones – all your senses take part in it.

Gradually appears the notion "immersion". To "immerse" means to be completely into or to feel the depth of a given atmosphere or an emotion. Immersion is actually achieved largely due to interactivity. You can get completely immersed into the content of an electronic narrative by taking advantage of the possibilities it can give you – imagination, options, choice, influencing all your senses. Perhaps interaction and immersion do not really stand on opposite sides; they can successfully complement and highlight each other.

The opinions of Ryan’s work are highly positive. It is described as one of the "very best academic books" (Jones, Sara Gwenllian; The Journal of Cult Media, 2001), elegantly written, leaving the reader with new extraordinary ideas combining virtual reality with rich source of information, fiction, technologies and their users. Ryan reveals how modern electronic literature can put an end to an argument from the past between immersion and interactivity. Virtual reality narrative takes part in both, because the hypertext involving connections, ways and preferences exists in balance with an illusion, a virtual presence of live human population.

In this sense the explored oeuvre Inanimate Alice represents a hybrid form of both immersion and interactivity implementing their most productive and vivid characteristics. My vision about the problematic future of the electronic narrative is that the interactive work will be different from those of the classical print one. Since the reader (who can equally be referred to as player) does not just passively observe what is happening during the revelation of the action in the work, he/she can also actively live and play within it. Interactive fiction is a combination of game and a narrative having the greatest qualities important to a reader who is a gamer at the same time. In order to be fully immersed in the interactive narrative the reader needs to care about not only what has happened but also about what comes next and this leads to a multiperspective appreciation of the oeuvre.

Inanimate Alice

Inanimate Alice is an authentic oeuvre of the award-winning Canadian novelist Kate Pullinger. It is not an adapted version of another book; it is "born digital". What makes it really original is that the main character grows up with every episode and the reader can be a part of her growth. Following the episodes one can see the development of Alice, her concerns, her digital friend Brad who is a constant companion and designed by Alice herself. In fact, who is Alice? She is a young girl living in the beginning of the 21-st century. The story unfolds how she changes places due to her father’s job, her home schooling during the first episodes, her wishes to have a bike, to meet children at her age, then being at a real school.

There are two more important names when speaking about the creation of Inanimate Alice – the digital artist and director Chris Joseph and producer Ian Harper. In an interview, Ian Harper explained that the e-work started as a back-story to a movie screen-play called E Mission written in 2004 by him. What makes Alice different from most e-works is that it is not a reshaped text story later transformed in digital form. It was originally made up for the web. There is gradual development in the story itself. It began with still images to reach video and 3-D games. Each next episode becomes more interactive and complicated than the one before; even the time-length of the parts has changed. There are viewers of Inanimate Alice all over the US, Europe, Asia, and mostly in Australia and New Zealand. The early episodes have been translated in several international languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish and the novel was assumed to be not just a piece of writing to be read, but it was embedded in the classroom as an instrument in foreign language teaching. Applying the experience of a broad range of previously used media interfaces, it has changed into a modern, more immersive reading attempt.

Inanimate Alice is defined as possessing transmedia features since it combines several media streams and gives the reader the possibility to participate directly in the story. This e-work mixes together computer gaming and narrative, real games are implemented in each episode. Both text and games are structured with puzzles that the reader has to solve in order to get to a final point. These two platforms around which the story is situated are in a logical partnership – the player is unable to play the games without reading the text and, the story cannot continue unless the reader wins the games. Above all, the main character is a game animator. In this way readers inevitably change into game players. Although they can interact they are not able to really alter the storyline – the moves that Alice makes do not depend on the readers/gamers. This is a multipurpose digital text - it could be used to teach digital literacy, to create own digital projects (especially useful for students) and strengthen reading and writing skills. It blends various images, text, sound and gaming, gradually immersing the reader into a different world of reading and interacting, enhancing the imagination, creativity, learning. By taking part in group or individual projects, following Inanimate Alice as an example, and by discussing personal and social problems revealed in the story, reader’s speaking, writing and communication abilities develop gradually.

Students are encouraged to invent new episodes and in this process of creation they should activate their vocabulary and grammar skills. While dealing with this, learners also increase their communication abilities – a crucial quality for each personality. How is it achieved? Both by making individual and group projects since individual projects are later shared with and commented by the rest of the group. On the other hand, group projects further enhance conversation abilities in the class and help its members feel they belong to a community with mutual aims. Inanimate Alice and similar projects enable exchange of ideas, discussions and revision – all of them intrinsic to active learning.

CHAPTER TWO

Data Collection

What follows is a description and analysis of the data from the worksheets, charts, electronic tools and the group project which were created within the context of an e-literature work reading. The goal is to represent visually the data through a variety of authentic samples, photographs and presentations.

Interestingly none of the twelve students had any previous experience with an electronic literature work but at the beginning most of them perceived the idea about an e- reading with curiosity and enthusiasm. They participated actively in the class discussions and in replying to existing questions. The technology-based tasks provide all pupils with multiple opportunities to communicate in different ways with their peers. At the end of the reading all students rated the new experience as exciting and intriguing.

For the sake of organization the teacher-constructed tasks are categorized in the following five types: 1) cognitive 2) descriptive 3) creative 4) research 5) imaginative;

Cognitive tasks

In the first lesson the students were asked to focus their attention on the word "inanimate" and to try to explain what it might mean. Some pupils supposed that the meaning of the prefix "in" could express an opposition of something. And the word "animate" they associated with animation. Then the teacher gave a background to the electronic novel-game. She explained about the author of the story Kate Pullinger and said some words about the origins of the project emphasizing that it is a multimedia interactive fiction. At first the students did not understand what these words meant and the teacher began to clarify them. The educator explained that it is a fictional story created through the usage of text, music, images, sound effects and the interactivity is connected with the embedded games and puzzles which make readers direct participants in the storytelling. The teacher introduced Alice to the pupils describing briefly her travels around the world, about her friend Brad and the problems with her parents.

During the next task the teacher froze the narrative screen by screen initiating a class discussion about similarities and differences in this case between print and digital media as readers. All pupils participated actively and shared their opinion. They discussed the role of visualization, music and text for the perception of the work. Some of them noticed that they heard music for the first time on the third screen. Then the educator turned the sound off and everyone looked carefully at the screen. After a short discussion all agreed that the music, beginning on the third screen, gives a feeling of urgency which otherwise was missing. The teacher pointed at the arrows on screen six and asked why they were placed on the road and not near the text as in the other screens. The answer was connected with associations about invitation for travelling. In contrast to the previous screens, on screen seven there is no sound, only silence, which lent the students sense of loneliness. Throughout the whole reading they had the feeling that Alice felt very comfortable with technology. At the end of the discussion the children inferred that the use of different modes such as text, image, sound, reader participation results in more interesting and intriguing narrative connected with many emotions. They mentioned the importance of the settings of the digital work meaning the possibility to see, for example, what the weather on the particular screen was. The students rated the e-literature reading as positive and expressed the opinion that they prefer the digital version. In spite of the fact that in the print version there are no pictures (images, video), or music, but only a text, all agreed that it allows the readers to imagine even more than they can see. The children inferred that in fact both versions made them think. See Appendix I

Next exercise was connected with a group discussion focused on the main features of a narrative. The participants tried to differentiate between narrative structures in print and electronic texts. All students shared their ideas and experience. They discussed the episodic nature of the proposed e-literature work which contributes to keeping readers interested.

The educator clarified through a number of examples from "Inanimate Alice" the importance of plot and settings. The role of the settings was pointed through the possibility of the viewer to visit different countries and places. The class also examined the distinction between first and third-person narrative emphasizing that this particular work is an example of a first-person narration. The teacher asked everyone to translate this type of narration into a third-person in order to gain better understanding.

Throughout the lesson the students generalized the features which every narrative has, features that they may have and features that a really good narrative has. Most important narrative element to the pupils was the ability to visualize through pictures, symbols, images, and video. They also tried to outline the main features of a digital narrative including characteristics such as sound effects, music, slides, images, animation, navigation, interactivity, instructions. Two posters show the ideas generated during the entire group debate. See Appendix J and K

During the next lesson pupils faced episode 2 "Italy". Without any preamble the teacher started it and the class had to watch very carefully and to think about the narrative features recorded above. At the end they wrote down what they had understood, involving a brief description of the plot and what had changed for the main character Alice. They had to gather information in order to answer several questions: What do we know about Alice? What we don’t know about her? What can we infer? Students disputed whether Alice was on holiday in Italy or she was living there. After that the class generalized the answers and created the sheet below. See Appendix L

In the next lesson the third episode named "Russia" was introduced. At first the children saw it without using the game elements in the story. Straight away after the end, the episode was played again but this time pupils were able to use the game aspect. The teacher asked one of the participants to move the narrative on and to come across over the Matryoshka dolls. After the children enjoyed the game, the teacher distributed worksheets and students had to spot the parts of narrative in episode 3 "Russia". The children determined different parts of narrative such as introduction, settings, plot, problems, solutions, conclusion and gave examples from the story. See Appendix C

The next exercise included the usage of the information and knowledge from the three previous episodes and the prediction of narrative features of episode 4. On worksheets pupils answered questions concerning text structure, text features, storyline and shared their ideas with the rest of the class. See Appendix D

What followed was the introduction of episode 4 "Hometown" during which students moved the action forward. In groups they discussed what happened to the narrator of the story Alice and plotted the main events. They also discussed navigation, structure and settings of the story which aimed to help them by creating their own episode. Then the teacher distributed worksheets on which student brainstormed Alice’s appearance, character, interests.

On the same worksheet they had to draw the girl as they imagined her. See Appendix E

Since in some of the episodes the author of the digital novel-game Kate Pullinger touches the theme about saving the planet, the teacher initiated a class discussion concerning this question. Working in groups, pupils brainstormed the biggest threats to the environment such as air, water and soil pollution, global warming, greenhouse effect, nuclear waste, disappearing species, acid rain etc. They also discussed what each of us can do to help prevent them. Some of the most important measures concerned the use of public transport, the use of solar and water energy, the preservation of nature, recycling etc. See Appendix G

Working in pairs in a computer room so that students had the possibility to watch the four episodes many times they had several assignments - to determine common features to all of the four texts, to identify differences in the narratives and to list strategies used by the author for the creation of the novel-game, e.g. interactive symbols and games to click on, use of images, sound, music and photos, dark images, text slides – in and out of the page, short and clear sentences, mood in each episode, a feeling of mystery etc. Students’ ideas are presented in the sample below. See Appendix H

Descriptive tasks

Still in the first lesson the teacher distributed photo copies of the print version of "Inanimate Alice" which was written after the "birth" of the digital one and essentially is the text from the different slides. See Appendix M. The children had plenty of time to read the text and to think over it. After that without other instructions the class had to listen and watch very carefully Episode 1 "China" from the e-work. Working in pairs the students were given the possibility to navigate the events on their own. After reading the episode the educator distributed the first worksheets where the children had to answer with bullet points questions about episode "China". For the purposes of the research the pupils were divided into groups. The idea of this measure was to encourage the collaborative thinking and working. See Appendix A

The class watched episode 2 once again. Working in pairs, children noticed the manners in which they gathered information about Alice’s life. They described what they had seen, heard and felt and how this affected their understanding. See Appendix B

What followed was the introduction of episode 4 "Hometown" during which students moved the action forward. In groups they discussed what happened to the narrator of the story Alice and plotted the main events. They also discussed navigation, structure and settings of the story which aimed to help them by creating their own episode. Then the teacher distributed worksheets on which student brainstormed Alice’s appearance, character, interests.

On the same worksheet they had to draw the girl as they imagined her. See Appendix E

In the next lesson the teacher pointed that Alice was just writing down her favourite activities when her mother came and asked her to turn off her game. Alice had listed the following:

going for a swim

playing a computer game with a friend

skateboarding with a friend

playing with a dog

This time the teacher asked pupils to talk about their favourite activities and she made a list on the white board. Sixth-graders’ list included:

playing with friends

playing a computer game

browsing on the Internet

listening to music

drawing

skateboarding

snowboarding

swimming

fishing

going for a walk

playing a musical instrument

One of the students noticed that in her list with favourite activities Alice mentions the word "friend" several times. The other sixth-graders added that the girl probably feels lonely in spite of the exciting travelling around the world and needs a friend her age. In terms of these thoughts the teacher initiated a group discussion about the most important things in life and wrote the following students’ ideas on the white board:

being safe and sound

having a family and friends

being wealthy and famous

having a successful career

On the next worksheet the sixth-graders had to oppose the life in a base camp to the life in a house and to share which life they preferred –amidst nature or in the civilization. They also described their ideal house and drew a picture following this description. On the copies below are shown some of the students’ creations. See Appendix F

Creative tasks

There is no doubt that many of the pupils identified themselves with the central character Alice. This is why the teacher turned the attention to the difference between a real person, a character in a story and an avatar. She asked them to describe their personality using an acrostic where with each letter of their name they had to build a new word. Some of the examples created by the students are shown below.

M - modern Z - zappy

A -active L - live

R - rapid A - amicable

I - intelligent T - tidy

A - attractive I - interesting

N – neat

S - sporty

A - active L - lovely

B - Bulgarian O - organized

I - "inanimate" R -responsible

N - normal A - ambitious

A – amusing

After doing this task the teacher asked them to find in the Internet the website www.voki.com and each of them to create their own avatar on the computer. The Voki tool allowed students to express themselves on the Web in their own voice implementing a talking character. This exercise was very amusing to the students and they did it with pleasure. What children created is to be seen on the photos below.

In the next lesson the sixth-graders began to plan an episode in which the main character Alice arrives at their home town Sofia. The idea was students to incorporate all the structural features they had discussed during the previous lessons. But the teacher also gave them enough freedom to incorporate whatever elements they wanted connected to the representation of their native culture and community. Working in three groups, students brainstormed ideas about the narrative and the structure of the digital story. They also discussed techniques they would like to implement. During the discussion pupils explored the culture of the city and found information about different landmarks. They drafted out their texts, searched for pictures, images, photographs and choose sound effects and music they would like to use. After that the groups completed their episodes by presenting them in the computer room to the rest of the class utilizing a data-projector. Each group had to express opinions about the projects of the two other groups. The digital stories of the three groups can be found attached to the current MA thesis.

Inanimate Alice in SofiaОписание: Moon_STOCK_by_wyldraven

Imaginative tasks

During an imaginative task, working in pairs, students had to figure out and later to represent to the others a conversation between Alice and her friend Brad about the reasons in which Alice and her parents left Russia so fast. Pupils’ ideas concerning the reasons varied from a new working place of the father to a murder threat.

Explorative tasks

After each episode the teacher gave a research task. Students had to conduct research respectively on China, Italy and Russia. Divided in small groups, they had to search for information on the Internet and to share their findings with the other groups. Using different sites each group introduced to the class interesting facts about these countries.

Analysis

The purpose of the implementation of Inanimate Alice into the educational process was to develop a distinct type of literacy competence - the competence of reading and understanding literary texts in online form. The Department of Education and Skills (DES) defines literacy as "the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media, and digital media" (DES, National Strategy for Literacy and Numeracy, 2011, p. 8). This is a broad definition indeed but it does acknowledge the significance of understanding literacy to comprise different aspects such as skills and knowledge. It suggests learners to apply knowledge about language - to be able to read and write, to listen and communicate, to think critically and creatively in both print and digitised texts. The choice of the concrete work was based on the fact that it is a leading example of cross-platform immersive work involving main characteristics of electronic literature like immersion, multiplicity, hybridity, dynamics of reading and at the same time it promotes interactivity, motivation, collaboration, problem-solving, decision-making which are typical for gaming.

The proposed research has focused on the description and analysis of the data from the worksheets, charts, electronic tools and the group project which were created within the context of an e-literature work reading. The goal was to represent visually the data through a variety of authentic samples, photographs and presentations and to analyze them. The use of this material seeked to provoke responses as a result from reading and interpreting different forms of a narrative such as typed text, animation, video gaming elements – and to experience creating a new part from a narrative. The students were expected to develop their listening and reading skills, critical thinking and collaborative working, researching and representative skills.

Implementing new media formats into a traditional reading can have a deep influence on how students perceive works and how they view their position as readers. In this manner students learn to build up their own meaning by associating the proposed material with issues in their lives and by depicting what they experience when they are faced with the e-literature work. Because of the fact that each interpretation is appreciated students feel both the authority and the responsibility to make judgments about the work and they become active learners. Through interacting with the e-work, students move beyond their initial individual reaction to take into account a multiplicity of ideas and interpretations, thus broadening their perspective. Because these techniques stimulate a variety of reactions and interpretations students have to learn, all the same, that not all responses are equally felicitous. Different interpretations should be based on the work itself and in the context in which it is read. Therefore, the role of the teacher in structuring the exercises is crucial. Cognitive tasks, for example, encourage learners "to solve problems, to make predictions and inferences regarding the plot and characters"( Hancock, M. R. A celebration of literature and response: Children, books, and teachers in K-8 classrooms, 2nd ed., 2004). Descriptive assignments rely on detailed observation, wide vocabulary and usage of figurative language. Creative tasks provoke students’ creative thinking and ability for effective communication by inventing clear and concise interpretations. Research tasks encourage learners to find and evaluate information being aware of its trustworthiness. Imaginative assignments provide the opportunity to engage learners’ imagination and willingness to take part in relevant problems.

The information from the multiple sources aims to clarify ways in which learners interact with and perceive the e-work, to establish the types of reader responses in the sixth-grade classroom in order to answer the main research question of the study: how does the integration of new media formats can support the emergence of the new literacies?

The first response opportunity included teacher – constructed assignments where the students working collaboratively had to outline narrative elements, to define plot structures, to predict coming events, to express opinion regarding characters, events, socially significant themes and themes concerning their personal development

The second response opportunity addressed the usage of electronic tools and the participation in literature discussions resulting in creation of charts. While the teacher-constructed tasks limited to certain extent the sixth-graders’ scope of response, the literature discussions provided the opportunity to provoke their imagination and willingness to answer relevant questions.. The class discussed the differences between print and digital media, outlined the new media features and learned how to use inference in order to gather information.

The creation and usage of avatars becomes more and more popular among the society. That is why pupils were able to learn how to create and use these avatars in the virtual networks. Students worked with Voki electronic tool that allowed them to express themselves on the Web in their own voice implementing a talking character which represented a great contribution to their communicative skills as well.

Finally, the third response opportunity concerned the creation of multimedia group project in the form of Microsoft PowerPoint presentation which required certain technological skills and abilities to socialize from the participants. Working in small groups of four, pupils discussed, investigated, fantasized, and presented to the rest of the class their works, which actually visualized what they have conceptualized about e-literature. Two virtual presentations were created as a PowerPoint slideshow and one was made as a video clip. All of the groups worked assiduously on the narrative structure and on the storyline of their projects. They utilized digital narrative features such as images, sound effects, music, and animation. Some of them used also navigation and instructions. The creation of these projects provided pupils the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and competence of reading and understanding literary texts in online form both within the small groups and within the schoolroom. Students are encouraged to invent new episodes so and in this process of creation they should bear in mind revising and enlarging vocabulary and grammar skills. While dealing with this, learners also increase their communication abilities – a crucial quality for each personality. How is it achieved? Both by making individual and group projects since individual projects are later shared with and commented by the rest of the group. On the other hand, group projects further enhance conversation abilities in the class and help its members feel they belong to a community with mutual aims. Inanimate Alice and similar projects enable exchange of ideas, discussions and revision – all of them intrinsic to active learning.

Very significant in reference to pupils’ e-literature understanding are their opinions when asked in which way this digital narrative distinguishes from a print work they have read.

Anne Lize noted that "at first it (Inanimate Alice) seemed to be

a bit weird but later when I grasp the idea, it became interesting and

entertaining. Reading a digital work is very different from reading

an ordinary book because of the different pictures, music and

sounds. Besides it is much more amusing because it is made like

a game."

Another student, Zlatin, explained that "all of us enjoyed the

interactive elements – it is wonderful to play games while reading

and learning."

Maria explained that "The variety of images and sounds help us to

visualize what happens - the narrative begins with ordinary

images and closes with video and 3-D games. Each

episode becomes more complicated and longer than the previous one."

Sabina shared that "the music influenced me most –

sometimes it became faster and sometimes slowlier. The slowlier

and softer music gave me a sense of relief while the faster music

made me feel tense but at the same time curious about the events".

In Georgi’s opinion "it (Inanimate Alice) is interesting because

it consists of episodes – one wonders what happens next".

Lora reported that "in some moments I feel as everything

happened to me and I was the narrator."

From the quoted statements becomes clear that students not just like the e-literature reading but they also feel lost in the story (e.g. Lora’s opinion). The construction of the narrative in the episodes was for learners unusual and provoked interest. To some extend narrative was part of the text but mostly students had to construct it on their own. They really enjoy this unique combination of narrative and interactivity and the interplay between them about which talks Marie-Laure Ryan. Interacting while reading gives readers the chance to communicate actively with the narrative and the immersion contributes to the vividness of the imaginary world. The author explores the emotional participation of the recipients into the virtual reading which presence is indisputable among the pupils (e.g. Sabina’s opinion) and depends on the psychological qualities of the personality.

In Ryan’s view interactive media should consist of short episodes in order to be more transparent and logical to the audience. Inanimate Alice is set out as a novel but the narrative is created in episodes just like TV shows and movies. This technique keeps up the interest of the sixth-graders and at the same time provides the opportunity for better understanding.

According to the participating sixth-graders this new for them experience was motivating, absorbing and not at least entertaining. They interacted with the digital novel-game through a number of e-work tools. Throughout the reading, pupils were faced with three different opportunities to e-work responding. Some of the tasks from the worksheet required spontaneous replies as the plot unfolded, other encouraged pupils to think profoundly and to work collaboratively. Electronic literature discussions provoked an active participation and an effective communication with the group. The creation of the group project stimulated the development of a number of skills such as discussing, conceptualizing, researching, teamworking, critical thinking and representing.

Results of the research indicate that the integration of new media formats do support the emergence of new literacies, listed below, within reading an e-literature work at the contemporary school.

1. Language skills such as:

reading (through reading aloud, reading with expression, reading between the lines, reading for understanding, reading pictures)

Through an increasing understanding, fluency and confidence can be assessed students’ progress in reading.

writing ( through answering questions, creating characters, developing narrative, writing dialogues)

Development in writing can be appraised though the degree of independence learners demonstrate, the quality and structure in their thoughts, the appropriate use of grammar, punctuation and an effective language.

listening and talking

Students demonstrated progress in listening and talking through expressing opinion using their own words and ideas, listening to others’ thoughts, through their interactions in social and learning contexts.

2. Cultural knowledge

learning about different cultures and places

3.Computer skills

implementing the "sensory inputs": sound, image, music and text outlook, animation, also navigation and instructions.

creating an avatar

making a Power Point presentation

When watching, listening, reading and discussing the digital novel-game students are able to:

take notes and arrange them in order to develop their thinking and to keep in mind important information

express opinion using their own words and ideas

work in couples and in groups

communicate effectively with the other participants

identify raised topics

summarize information

make an inference

discuss characters, structure and settings

clarify the main idea of their work

explain aspects of the used style of writing, techniques and strategies (imitating, of course, the original style of creator of the four episodes)

find, select and summarise information from a variety of Internet sources

evaluating information and being aware of its trustworthiness

discuss similarities and differences between texts

develop and use effective vocabulary

questioning the text

translating the text (in Bulgarian)

create texts such as presentations which allow students to persuade and explore

Learners’ enthusiasm and motivation for using language show in their growing use of different media and texts, their preferences in reading, their confidence in sharing experiences through talk and writing and in the ways they apply their skills in their learning and communicating. These aspects are indicators of their success in using literacy in learning in their lives as citizens and in preparing for the world of work.

Conclusion

The contemporary technologies have vastly influenced the educational processes on different levels. The new media formats unify all the characteristics of the other media types which makes them exceptionally powerful educational agency. The current MA thesis aimed to examine ways in which the integration of new media formats supports the emergence a distinct type of literacy competence - the competence of reading and understanding literary texts in online form. The paper investigated the relationship between narrative and gaming in terms of e-literature as well.

The research focus was on a small sixth-grade classroom at a Bulgarian school in Sofia. The students became three response opportunities namely: 1) worksheets, where the tasks are assigned by the teacher 2) participation in literature discussions involving creation of charts and usage of electronic tools 3) creation of a group project in the form of Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

The particular literary provocation concerned the four episodes of the e-literature work Inanimate Alice which provided the opportunity for strengthening of reading and writing skills. Because of the fact that it blends various images, text, sound and gaming, the reader is gradually immersed into a different world of reading, interacting, enhancing imagination, creativity, learning. Taking part in group or individual projects, following Inanimate Alice as an example, discussing personal and social problems revealed in the story, enriched students’ speaking, writing and communication abilities.

Overall, it could be inferred that combining the interactive character of the computer games with a narrative does not causes so many problems as it has been affirmed. Quite the contrary, conventional reading material turns into a completely overwhelming multidimensional experience, fulfilling the desires and interests of modern teenagers. Students nowadays grow up in a digital world. So, why not combine their focus and literary tasks together? Electronic literature allows learners to be connected to, to show attitude to, and to reveal their ability to derive from a piece of writing. Innovative investigation into the digital text contributes to extra qualities of mere literary reading. Therefore transmedia texts are a crucial part of contemporary teaching. They place the student at the core of the learning process giving opportunities to create and to participate. Students build relationships between multiple sources of information, choose and form preferences.