The Living Glossary
of Digital Narrative

Term List

• Affordances

  Possible interactions that a tool, medium, or environment offers to its users, shaping the way content can be created, experienced, and understood

• AI Hallucination

  Phenomenon where an AI model—usually an AI chatbot powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) or computer vision programs—produce a confident but factually inaccurate or nonsensical responses or perceives objects and patterns that do not exist

• # Aleatory

  Elements of a work that are left to chance, often relying on randomization algorithms to affect the narrative or poetic outcome

• Algorithmic Folklore

  Folklore that emerges from vernacular creative practices inflected by the growing global relevance of algorithmic media

• # Algorithmic Narrativity

  The combination of the human ability to understand experience through narrative with the power of the computer to process and generate data that results in the development, modification, and distribution of narratives

• Alternate Reality Game (ARG)

  Interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to deliver a story that can be influenced by players' actions

• # Anamorphosis

  Distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the intended image or message

• Appropriation

  Use of pre-existing media or texts within a new work, often to critique, comment upon, or pay homage to the original source material

• Archetype

  A recurring or recognizable narrative pattern – figure, image, motif, or plot, such as the hero, the great mother, the descent into the underworld, or the rags-to-riches tale – whose repetition across cultures and periods has been taken as evidence of a universal psychic structure, a shared literary grammar, or an act of abstraction that produces the similarity it claims to find

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  Simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems, to create or interpret content in innovative and sometimes literary ways

• # Augmented Reality (AR)

  Technology that superimposes computer-generated enhancements atop an existing reality, enriching the user's perception of the real world with digital information and media

• # Authoring Software

  Tools for creators to design, develop, and publish interactive or multimedia stories without the need for advanced programming knowledge

• # Autopoiesis

  Aesthetic content and conceptual structures generated from internal, self-replicating and reflective processes, often constructed partially by Artificial Intelligence

• # Avatar

  Digital representation of a user or character within a virtual environment, allowing for interaction and identification within digital narratives or online spaces

• # Biopoetics

  Intersection of biology and poetic expression, often employing biological metaphors or mechanisms to create or analyze literary works

• Biopunk

  Subgenre of science fiction focusing on the biological advancements possible through technology

• Bookishness

  Qualities or characteristics of traditional books retained or evoked in digital media, highlighting the ongoing influence of print culture on digital forms

• # Born Digital

  Media creation specifically for digital formats, utilizing the capabilities and features of electronic devices and software from their inception, rather than being digitized after creation

• # Capitalocene

  Determination of the current era shaped by the forces of capitalism, often critiqued in digital narratives for its impact on technology, society, and the environment

• Chatbot

  Software application designed to simulate conversation with human users, often used in digital narratives to provide interactive storytelling experiences

• # Close Reading

  Detailed, critical analysis of a text, focusing on the intricacies of language, structure, and meaning within a digital context

• # Codework

  Creative integration of computer code within literary texts, where programming languages are used alongside natural language to create layered meanings and effects

• Colonial Narrative

  In AI-generated fiction, a circular default narrative which colludes with colonialist, orientalist and/or imperialist discourse and ideology in form and/or function

• Combinatorics

  Combination and recombination of text, images, or other media to create varied storylines or poetic structures from a defined set of elements, enabling intricate patterns of interaction and interpretation

• # Computational Narrative Systems

  Computer systems, mainly developed by researchers, that model particular aspects of narrative

• Conspiracy Theory

  Explanatory framework based on belief and speculation that attributes major events to a secret, often malevolent group of actors, typically lacking verifiable evidence and contradicting official accounts

• Constraint

  Predetermined limitations set by the author or system that shape the creation or interaction of a narrative, often used to foster creativity and innovation

• # Contemporary Posteriority

  Phenomenon of experiencing the past through the lens of present technologies, often exploring how digital media shapes our understanding of history and memory

• # Creative Captioning

  Process of integrating captions into set design as part of the creative process, usually for a theatre production

• # Critical Code Studies

  Research approach that examines the cultural, sociological, and philosophical implications of computer code, considering how code influences and is influenced by its cultural context

• # Cybersemiotics

  Integration of the fields of semiotics into cybernetics in an effort to reveal how information and meaning are produced and interpreted in digital systems, highlighting the interplay between symbolic communication and technological processes

• # Cybertext

  Print or digital texts that require active participation from the reader not just to interpret the meaning of the text but also to navigate through it, for example by choosing alternative paths or entering data that alters the output

• # Dada

  20th-century art movement characterized by its avant-garde and anti-establishment attitudes, which influences digital literature in its embrace of absurdity, randomness, and critique of traditional narratives

• # Database Narrative

  Form of digital storytelling utilizing database aesthetics by structuring the narrative as a database

• # Digital Narrative

  Form of storytelling driven by algorithmic narrativity, inflected and mediated by computation, or the context of ubiquitous technological networks

• Digital Poetry

  Employment of computer technology to create, present, or enhance poetic experiences beyond traditional print formats

• # Distant Reading

  Computational analysis of large text corpora to discern patterns, trends, and structures that are not apparent through close reading of individual texts

• # Doomscrolling

  Act of consuming an excessive amount of negative news online, often leading to feelings of anxiety or despair

• # Electronic Literature (e-lit)

  Variety of born-digital genres and formats that engage the capabilities of computing, often investigating the materiality of our everyday interactions with digital media

• # Email Narrative

  Form of digital storytelling that unfolds through the exchange of emails, utilizing the medium's format for character development, plot progression, and reader interaction

• # Embodiment

  Experience of bodily presence within digital narratives, often the result of content or mechanics intended to make readers aware of their physical and sensory experience

• # Emulation

  Replication of the functionality of older hardware or software on new systems, ensuring the continued accessibility and functionality of digital works

• Ergodic Literature

  Texts that require significant effort from the reader to traverse, often involving non-linear navigation and interaction that contribute to the narrative's meaning

• Fanfiction

  Genre of writing, often published and shared in online communities, where fans create new stories based on characters, settings, or plots from existing works

• # Flash

  Defunct animation software engine that played a significant role in the early development of web-based digital narratives and games

• Floating Motif

  In AI-generated text, a narrative unit that is detached from its expected context and turns up in strange places in a given text

• # Generative Poetry

  Poetry created through the use of algorithms or computational processes, often resulting in works that can change or evolve with each iteration

• # God Game

  Type of simulation video game in which the player controls the game on a large scale, often with the ability to influence or change the environment and guide its inhabitants

• Gutenberg Parenthesis

  Determination of the predominantly print era that is bookended by orality on one side and present digital communication on the other, emphasizing the impact, and possibly the closure of print culture on human knowledge and society

• Haptic

  Tactile feedback technology that recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user, enhancing the sensory experience of digital environments

• Hermeneutics

  Field of research that focuses on theorizing and conceptualizing the circular and dialogic character of interpretation in understanding, for instance, different texts and narratives

• Histobot

  Generative AI chatbot that reenacts historical figures, using large language models to simulate historically contextual dialogue

• # Hyperreading

  Form of non-linear reading enabled by digital texts, characterized by clicking on hyperlinks, skimming, and scanning, allowing readers to quickly gather information from multiple sources

• Hypertext

  Type of document comprised of interrelated textual nodes that are connected via associative links, facilitating non-linear traversal and reading

• Immersion

  Experience of being absorbed in a storyworld through imaginative or technological simulation, often along spatial, temporal, and emotional dimensions

• Implied Reader

  Hypothetical reader of a text as inferred from its characteristics

• # Installation

  Space-specific piece that may combine multiple media forms to create an experience for the viewer

• Instapoetry

  Poetry posted on the Instagram social media platform, which is characterized by brief, visually appealing texts that often incorporate themes of personal identity, traumatic experiences, and emotional catharsis

• Interactive Fiction

  Born-digital electronic literature where users navigate narrative and ludic elements by inputting textual commands or making choices

• # Intertextuality

  Relationship between texts, where a text references, alludes to, or is influenced by another text, enriching the reader's understanding and interpretation

• # Jane Space

  Lexias that are part of a work but have ‘orphan status’, lacking inbound links to access the lexia

• # Kinetic Typography

  Animation of text as expressive signifier, emphasizing the visuality and time-based presentation of language in digital media

• # Lexia (or Node)

  Discrete textual units linked to other text segments, allowing for non-linear navigation and reading

• # Link Rot

  Process by which hyperlinks on the internet become obsolete or broken, leading to challenges in accessing digital resources and preserving the integrity of digital texts

• Literary Game

  Media artifact that contains both ludic and literary elements

• # Locative Media

  Digital media applied to real-world geographic locations, using technologies like GPS to create location-based experiences or narratives

• Machine Learning

  Subset of artificial intelligence that involves the development of algorithms that allow computers to learn and adapt through experience, used in digital narratives to generate content or enhance interactivity

• # Materiality

  Physical qualities and characteristics of digital media, emphasizing the importance of the medium itself in the creation and interpretation of texts

• Media Ecology

  Complex interactions between media, technology, and human environments, including the ways media and communication technologies affect human perception, understanding, and society

• Media-specificity

  Acknowledgement of the centrality of a text's technical attributes which combine to enact meaning, often associated with materiality

• Meme

  Image, video, or text that is shared and modified extensively by users in digital spaces, giving rise to a rich body of derivatives

• Metainterface

  Paradigm where the computer’s interface seemingly becomes both omnipresent and invisible, at once embedded in everyday objects and characterized by hidden exchanges of information between objects and networks

• # Metareference

  Commentary on a specific medium or media in general, often drawing attention to the medium's materiality, its position within a larger cultural context of its creation, or its links to other specific works of art, thus, emphasizing the distinction between what is fiction and what is real

• # Multilinearity

  The integration of multiple paths or outcomes into narratives, allowing readers or players to experience different storylines based on their choices

• # Multimodality

  The integration of multiple modes of communication and expression, such as text, image, sound, and interactivity, to create rich, layered experiences

• # Netprov

  Genre that combines online performance, storytelling, and collaborative writing, utilizing digital communication platforms to create dynamic, participatory narratives

• Parasocial Relationships

  One-sided relationships where individuals become attached to media personalities as if they are engaged in reciprocal friendship

• Participatory Narrative

  Form of storytelling that actively involves the audience in the creation or progression of the narrative, often facilitated by digital platforms that enable collaboration and interaction

• # Platform Studies

  Academic field that examines the underlying computer systems and technologies that support digital media and literature, focusing on their impact on creative practices and cultural expressions

• # Platformization

  Increasing influence of digital platforms in organizing social, economic, and cultural activities, shaping how digital narratives are created, distributed, and consumed

• # Player Agency

  Degree to which users or players can influence the direction or outcome of a story or game, highlighting the interactive aspect of digital media

• # Poetic Alt Text

  Use of creative, descriptive language in the alt attribute of HTML images, enhancing accessibility with poetic or narrative elements

• Polarization

  Process where beliefs become more extreme and divided between opposing sides while moderate beliefs become less commonly represented or accepted

• # Post-digital

  Mindset or aesthetic that critiques the ubiquity of digital technology and culture, often by blending digital and analog practices in art and literature

• # Posthuman Poetics

  Literary arts that question humanist notions of subjectivity, embodiment, and agency in the context of advanced technology

• Preservation

  Strategies and practices used to ensure the long-term accessibility and integrity of digital works, addressing challenges such as technological obsolescence and format compatibility

• # Procedurality

  Use of computational processes to generate or influence narratives, emphasizing the role of algorithms and rules in shaping digital storytelling

• # Remediation

  Representation or incorporation of a creative work into a newer medium

• Remix

  The recombination of existing media elements to create new works, highlighting issues of authorship, originality, and copyright in the digital age

• # Speculative Interface

  Modes of interaction in creative works or digital humanities projects that imagine alternatives to existing interfaces

• # Story Generation

  Thread of work in computing to automatically generate narratives, sometimes for research purposes and sometimes for artistic and creative ones

• Storyspace

  Software tool designed for creating and reading hypertext fiction, distinguished by its support of non-linear narrative structures and conditional logic systems called guard fields, which has played a foundational role in the development of electronic literature

• # Stretchtext

  Conceptual element of hypertext, coined by Ted Nelson, that expands or contracts in place to reveal more content and additional layers of information

• Technoeikon

  A dynamic tapestry of digital elements - such as images, kinetic text, sound, video, and graphic design - that collectively animate and deepen the experience of digital literature

• # Transhumanism

  Philosophical movement that advocates for the enhancement of humans through advanced technology, often explored in digital narratives in themes of augmentation, AI, and future societies

• Transmediality

  Practice of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats, utilizing the material affordances of each medium to enrich the narrative

• Twine

  Open-source tool for creating interactive, non-linear stories and games, widely used in the digital literature community for its simplicity, versatility, and accessibility to non-programmers

• # Twitterature

  Literature created using the Twitter platform, characterized by brevity, immediacy, and the use of hashtags and links, exploring new forms of storytelling within the constraints of social media

• Unreliable Narrator

  A narrator who speaks and narrates in a fashion that is not in accordance with the implied author’s norms, often understood as a narrator who, intentionally or not, lies and/or deceives

• # Virtual Reality (VR)

  Technology that creates immersive digital environments, allowing users to spatially interact with and experience a computer-generated world as if it were real, often used in digital art and narrative to enhance spatial and sensory engagement

• # Visual Novel

  Genre of interactive game that combines text-based narrative with visual elements, typically featuring branching storylines and multiple endings based on player choices

• Walking Simulator

  Genre of video games focused on exploration and storytelling rather than traditional gameplay mechanics, emphasizing narrative immersion and environmental storytelling

• # Web 1.0

  Static web pages with limited user interactivity, primarily focused on information retrieval rather than collaborative content creation, perceived as the early stage of the World Wide Web

• # Web 2.0

  Platforms emphasizing user-generated content, interactivity, and interoperability that fostered social networking, collaboration, and sharing, classified as the second generation of the World Wide Web

• # Web 3.0

  Theorized evolution of web usage and interaction, featuring more personalized browsing experiences, data interconnectedness, and decentralized platforms, often associated with the decentralization and blockchain technologies

• Wreader

  Dual role of users in digital spaces, being consumers as well as creators of written content