Digital Narrative

Digital narrative is nothing more than stories told upon, with, and by, computers and their users. Simply put, therefore, digital narration is a story-telling methodology which employs the unique characteristics of the computer. With the advent of DVD, increased bandwidth, and other digital technologies now becoming widely available, it has become feasible to consider digital narration as the logical inheritor of film as a narrative mode.

These are very early days in the development of the form; its current expression is often limited when not altogether debased. Nevertheless, things such as video games, hypertextual writings, non-linear, multiform narratives, virtual reality environments, multimedia productions and interactive settings all are early precursors of what is certain to become--is indeed becoming--a major vehicle for narration of all kinds. We are now at the point when the activity of digital narration is expanding into areas which go beyond mass-market entertainment or game-playing and into more patently intellectual and artistic domains.

At the University of Maryland College Park, courses in the Art Science of Digital Narration are currently being offered as a more comprehensive program in the field is in the planning stages. A basic course, Digital Narration, has been offered for the past four semesters. An advanced, graduate level course is also offered. Students enrolled in the advanced course have the opportunity of working on the digital version of a major motion picture to be filmed early in 2000.

Ultimately, this highly interdisciplinary program will incorporate not only classroom work leading to the formation of individuals with the requisite skills and theoretical understanding needed to create significant digital narratives, but also include analysis and criticism of the emerging form. A number of courses on the College Park campus presently engage these latter

For more information on the courses and the planned program, please contact Mitchell Lifton or Naré Ratnapala

SYLLABI | RELEVANT LINKS


	Digital narrative is nothing more than stories told upon, with, and by, computers and their users. Simply put, therefore, digital narration is a story-telling methodology which employs the unique characteristics of the computer. With the advent of DVD, increased bandwidth, and other digital technologies now becoming widely available, it has become feasible to consider digital narration as the logical inheritor of film as a narrative mode. These are very early days in the development of the form; its current expression is often limited when not altogether debased. Nevertheless, things such as video games, hypertextual writings, non-linear, multiform narratives, virtual reality environments, multimedia productions and interactive settings all are early precursors of what is certain to become--is indeed becoming--a major vehicle for narration of all kinds. We are now at the point when the activity of digital narration is expanding into areas which go beyond mass-market entertainment or game-playing and into more patently intellectual and artistic domains. At the University of Maryland College Park, courses in the Art Science of Digital Narration are currently being offered as a more comprehensive program in the field is in the planning stages. A basic course, Digital Narration, has been offered for the past four semesters. An advanced, graduate level course is also offered. Students enrolled in the advanced course have the opportunity of working on the digital version of a major motion picture to be filmed early in 2000. Ultimately, this highly interdisciplinary program will incorporate not only classroom work leading to the formation of individuals with the requisite skills and theoretical understanding needed to create significant digital narratives, but also include analysis and criticism of the emerging form. A number of courses on the College Park campus presently engage these latter For more information on the courses and the planned program, please contact Mitchell Lifton or Naré Ratnapala
	SYLLABI \| RELEVANT LINKS