Latest Thesis Abstract

Reading Mutlimedia Digital Texts from the Prespectives of
Response-inviting Structures

My thesis is based on the examination of five contemporary digital
narrative works for how they presuppose the responses that can be made to
them. As designed, copyrighted and addressive examples of digital
literature, these texts anticipate the creation of meanings in relation to
the structures from which they are composed. Such indicators suggest
formal modes of reading around digital texts that do not often focus on
written lines of words, but rely on systems of narrative architecture for
the composition of story.

Findings include a reliance on the recognition of cultural signifiers,
often as iconic images or compositions in the texts. A series of
redeployed features across the texts are used to guide responses, which
includes repetition, signifiers of place, the use of space, and
inter-textual referents. Copyright is found to contradict the responses
suggested by the material properties of the texts, as it suggests a range
of responses that are not reflected by either their material design or the
narrative address.

My thesis has implications for subjects ranging from interactive design to
language, and more specifically, narrative studies.