Publication details
Towards an Understanding of Materiality in Tangible Interactive Narratives
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | This paper explores the concept of physical materiality within interactive storytelling, focusing on Tangible Narratives (TN). Building upon the material turn, it discusses the critical role physical artefacts play in shaping user experience, narrative impact, and meaning making. It presents key conceptual frameworks that offer structured approaches for analysing the distinct roles of interactions, users and artefacts in TN, focusing on critical dimensions like diegesis, embodiment, narrative function, and user position. The paper illustrates these frameworks by showing how the incorporation of physicality influences key aspects of the narrative experience through various examples. It reflects on the current state of the field and the interdisciplinary significance of tangible storytelling, emphasising its potential to inform the design practice and deepen the understanding of interaction phenomena. The paper concludes by identifying future research, including further phenomenological inquiry into embodied narrative experience and authoring methodologies. |