Abstract:

We present a model for structuring computer-based narratives so that viewers can interact without changing the story. Instead, interactions reveal the story through varying perspectives and at varying levels of detail. The story maintains its integrity while taking on progressively deeper meanings. Viewers are like members of a Greek chorus who query characters and comment on events. We describe lessons learned from a prototype that retells the story of the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and events leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Lessons include observations about narrative structure, writing to support narrative unfolding through user interaction, designing the multimedia interface to communicate conditions for interactivity, and implementing the program so that information about user interactions helps to control the presentation. We include some projections for using the chorus model to support multiuser interactions. This technical report subsumes WP96-01, WP96-02, WP97-02, and WP97-03.