[Air-L] Special Issue: E-Politics of Immersion – Immersive Storytelling in Digital Ecosystems

[Yasmin Ibrahim]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue: E-Politics of Immersion – Immersive Storytelling in Digital Ecosystems

SUBMISSION DUE DATE: 15 January 2017
PUBLICATION: International Journal of E-Politics

OBJECTIVE OF THE THEMED ISSUE:
This special issue invites submissions on the E-Politics of Immersion with a particular interest in Immersive Storytelling in Digital Ecosystems. With Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of start-up company Oculus and its virtual reality (VR) head mounted headset-technology Rift, the intricate dynamics between media platforms and how they affect the mechanics of everyday life are about to change drastically. Facebook's investment in VR is part of a strategy to expand its digital ecosystem to full sensory technology and fully engage users through immersive content strategies in a mediated environment. In the age of massive media consumption and the digital performance of the self, of binge watching, selfies and transmedia narratives, immersion becomes a defining element for the understanding of our times. Emerging, interactive content strategies, in which both authors and audiences contribute meaning, embodiment, and emotions reframe immersive storytelling as a site for the production of new, alternative, and inclusive content ideas, where old identities and new social formations are contested and ‘worked out’. But what does it mean to be fully immersed within a narrative? Immersive storytelling has much to do with a feeling of presence, the ‘make-believe’ of being involved, engaged and attached to a mediated narrative as a psychological and physiological sensation. While immersion in VR technology offers the opportunity to be surrounded by and move and act within representional spaces, it can be seen as the culmination of a long history in the creation of immersive environments. Immersive storytelling can be found in many traditional approaches in cinematic, theatrical, and literary research, but especially interactive and transmedia storytelling, 360° videos on YouTube, VR based theme parks, VR animated content, drama series, and VR games design pose questions how immersive mediated narratives can and should be, in which way they influence our media consumption, and how they relate to immersion as a sociocultural phenomenon and the powers, strategies, and dynamics of digital ecosystems. We invite papers that explore highly innovative ideas and/or paradigm shifts in conventional theory and practice of immersion and immersive storytelling. The International Journal of E-Politics is interdisciplinary so we welcome any disciplinary, theoretical or methodological approach, insights on usage scenarios and applications, and aspects of narrative technologies from a large range of fields and disciplines related to immersion and immersive storytelling, including computational narrative, narratology, media studies and media production, drama and performance studies, game studies and games design, semiotics, interactive arts, cognitive science, human-computer interaction and transmedia studies. We also encourage original contributions that explore the issues at any level i.e. individual or social, national or transnational.

SUGGESTED TOPICS:
We are interested in topics that include (but are not limited to) the following:

  *   Theories and aesthetics of immersive storytelling e.g. spatial, narrative, social, lucid dimensions, etc.
  *   Poetics of Immersion e.g. immersive storytelling in digital games, film and television, literature, non-fiction and documentaries, social media platforms, journalism, as tools for learning and teaching, in roleplays, theatre and improvisation, live installations, museums, etc.
  *   Immersive Narratologies e.g. immersive storytelling in relation to traditional dramaturgies, interactive, multimedia, transmedia storytelling, etc.
  *   Role of user/audience in immersive storytelling e.g. audience research approaches, augmented and virtual reality, fandom, health concerns, etc.
  *   Role of author/designer in immersive storytelling e.g. script writing, format development, media production (360° cameras, editing software), etc.
  *   Methods/frameworks for testing story development and user experiences (case studies, post-mortems and best practice)
  *   Immersion and immersive storytelling as sociocultural phenomena e.g. Pokémon Go, Snapchat, binge watching, fandom, social media, etc.
  *   Immersion and immersive storytelling on digital ecosystems e.g. Facebook’s strategy for VR, Netflix, VR ‘console war’ (Oculus, Sony, HTC), etc.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:
Researchers from any field of enquiry that deal with immersion and immersive storytelling are invited to submit papers for this themed issue.
All submissions are due by January 15, 2017.

All queries to
Christian Stiegler christian.stiegler at brunel.ac.uk<mailto:christian.stiegler at brunel.ac.uk>

Full papers to be submitted electronically,
http://www.igi-global.com/submission/manuscripts/