Digital Storytelling

Intriguing exhibition at the British Library looking at eleven works where writers and artists have engaged with readers using digital technology.

I must admit I thought this show might be quite dry but I was fascinated. I think by limiting it to eleven projects you can engage very directly with each one and focus on how it told a story rather than the technology.

Some of them had a QR code to access the work if it was free. It would have been interesting to have a bit of information on how you’d access the other pieces. I was lucky the show was very quiet when I went round as there was usually only one example of the work to try out and if it was busier there might have been frustrating queues.

It was interesting to watch a child going round with their mother and looking at which of the works kept there attention most. She seemed to particularly like one on the Windrush story which was like a children’s book which you navigated by moving photographs from a suitcase into a frame to choose the story to follow.

I was most draw to the more narrative or game style pieces. I downloaded a link to Kate Pullinger’s Breath which looks quite book like on screen but via your phone puts the story into your space. I’m going to try it when I get home. I also liked Astrologaster which was based on real stories from Simon Foreman’s case book and led you to solve mysteries in Elizabethan England. Again I plan to have a go.

It led me to think about what a story is and what is a game when it’s digital. Games make stories but a book format takes you on a planned journey that the author wants to guide you on which I still feel is important.

Closes 15 October 2023

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