Response as Input: The Role of Reader Response, HCI and HRI in the Modeling of a Cross Media Narrative.

Espen J. Aarseth put forward that hypertext is indeed new, despite claims that non-linear storytelling has been in existence throughout time. Aarseth knighted it ‘ergodic literature’ because the hypertext user has to act out thoughts through action, whereas the reader merely thinks their paths. This changes the writingreading process and therefore how we study it. Sven Birkerts has been an active campaigner against interactive fiction because, he says, it lacks the essential experiences of reading print — depth and duration. What if a narrative was written to work over both media: print text and hypertext? Can arguments for and against each media remain? There are many implications: How does one write an unending plot within a fixed media? How is plot and character information controlled, delivered and interpreted? If there is no ending but the reader persists, is catharsis more important than understanding? These are questions I am investigating during the creation of a novel that is read in tandem with a chatbot on a website. In this paper I will be analysing theories of reader-reception along with human-computer interaction, and human-robot interaction, in the process of developing a model for a cross media narrative.