What was planned as a short introduction to the issue of interactive storytelling gave rise to a lot of questions and intense discussions about issues such as the definition of the term interaction (vs. interpretation), the role of the user, the difference between interactivity and non-linearity, dialogue and the manipulative aspects of interactive systems. Encouraged by so much curiosity Willem Velthoven (founder of Mediamatic) held an inspiring freestyle-lecture, covering lots from formal to psychological aspects of interactive storytelling.
The technical features of the Korsakow System were explained by Florian Thalhofer (inventor of the Korsakow System) the same day, followed by a hands-on exercise. In the evening of this first day it was a participant who found the perfect bottomline: "Interactive Narratives are built from three components: Content, Context, Contact."
After a lot of thinking and discussion on the first day, participants wasted no time getting their projects started. While almost everyone chose to work on their own workshop-project, several collaborations beyond the workshop were established.
Despite of the relaxed atmosphere, the working process was very efficient. Most of the conceptual and practical development of the projects took place in one-on-one discussions. The most interesting issues discussed in this process were referred to during short theoretical excursions:
How much freedom should one provide the user with to create an interesting experience?
Does it necessarily take an interactive system to create an interactive experience?
Associative Linking and emergent narratives...
In the end a wide range of projects was developed: from Luis Teixeira's witty piece about morals and destiny to the simply beautiful poem about desires and fears by Luisa Santos and even a piece with only audio.
12 projects were finished and shown at the internal presentation, which (although not announced as a public event) attracted lots of visitors. The projects of this workshop have been published on DVD.
