Thursday, November 17, 2016

Transcripts in E-Lit for Kids

At this year's ICIDS (International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling), Maria Goicoechea and I gave a paper reflecting on the use of transcrips in digital stories for children.  In the paper, we liken the transcript to the transitional object, drawing on Piaget, via Winnicott, Poulet, and Schwab.  (I'll post the pre-publication paper if it is permitted in a bit.)

The primary focus of our paper was to consider the ways children read digital literature as compared to the way they read (or are read to) traditional print literature and the way adults read.

Fundamental to our project was a sense that rereading plays a crucial role in our joy of encountering texts.  Our hypothesis was that children will enjoy their interactive reading experiences better if the systems produce a transcript or playscript of their reading experience.

I can't go into the whole argument, but two ideas came out of that presentation and the audeince response.

  1.  Transcripts might be more like photographs from a trip than a full re-reading
  2.  The desire for transcripts is not limited to digital literature but relates to many forms of interactive game play.
In this second point, we noted the proliferation of game playscripts in video recordings (Let's Play Videos) and eSports broadcasts.

Our initial study suggests that e-lit for kids should consider ways to produce a playscript or transcript, not only to give comfort to children, but to enhance the reading experience (improving comprehension and deepening interpretation). 


Here are our slides.