Winky Dink and you: determining patterns of narrative for interactive television.

We report on the identification, creation and use of narrative patterns to create an interactive cartoon. We have undertaken an analysis of an American 1950-60’s interactive television cartoon - Winky Dink and You, which gave the illusion of interaction. Winky Dink offered an engaging and enjoyable experience of a type not currently available on interactive television. We identified a number of recurrent sequences in the cartoon that we describe as narrative patterns. These patterns have also been used to create a genuine interactive cartoon using a modern multimedia development tool. We believe that this work could contribute towards the design and development interactive media (i-media) suitable for interactive television (iTV)