Interactive Narrative in Digital Broadcasting

Frew, A. L. (2020) Interactive Narrative in Digital Broadcasting. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis is focussed on an application of audience data in developing media form Implicitly Interactive Pervasive Narrative (IIPN). IIPN is a digital broadcast that uses data about the audience and/or their environment collected pervasively, in real-time, to tailor the narrative it is delivering. The audience has a sit back experience whilst an algorithm personalises their story. IIPN is currently produced by research and development departments. This thesis asks two research questions: To what extent is current narrative theory useful in examining IIPN? And, what are the key production benefits and drawbacks to working with IIPN? To answer these questions, it examines two prototypes made by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Research and Development (BBC R&D) department. The project makes contributions to knowledge in three areas. One is in ascertaining to what extent current narrative theory is useful in examining IIPN. The next is a theoretical model proposal for studying IIPN based upon these findings. Finally, the project identifies key production benefits and drawbacks to working with IIPN. The theory-based contributions of the project are achieved through a literature review which revealed there is not a narrative theory dealing with IIPN specifically. The literature review goes on to inform a model proposal that is tested in the two case studies. The proposal is composed of three parts. The first is to consider the ‘pre-narrative’ elements of the IIPN, the second is to compare several outputs from the IIPN. Both these steps include the third element which is how audience data is affecting them. The production-based findings were gained through applying the model proposal in the case studies, aided with interviews with staff from BBC R&D. The findings are pulled together into a matrix which details the benefits and drawbacks to IIPN and includes a range of ways to mitigate the drawbacks. As IIPN is in its infancy as a technology, both the model proposal and the production findings help to define the field and act as a first step towards creating a toolkit for working with IIPN.