In this paper, we treat VR as a new writing space in the long tradition of inscription. Constructing Virtual Reality (VR) narratives can then be understood as a process of inscribing text in space, and consuming them as a process of "reading" the space. Our research objective is to explore the meaning-making process afforded by spatial narratives-to test whether VR facilitates traditional ways of weaving complex, multiple narrative strands and provides new opportunities for leveraging space. We argue that, as opposed to the linear space of a printed book, a VR narrative space is similar to the physical space of a museum and can be analyzed on three distinct levels: (1) the architecture of the space itself, (2) the collection, and (3) the individual artifacts. To provide a deeper context for designing VR narratives, we designed and implemented a testbed called RealityMedia to explore digital remediations of traditional narrative devices and the spatial, immersive, and interactive affordances of VR. We conducted task-based user study using a VR headset and follow-up qualitative interviews with 20 participants. Our results highlight how the three semantic levels (space, collection, and artifacts) can work together to constitute meaningful narrative experiences in VR.

I en tid då medielandskapet är i ständig förändring och traditionell medieforskning konstant utmanas ökar behovet av att förena teknik, humaniora och samhällsvetenskap. Medie- och teknikforskning kräver innovativa angreppssätt för att navigera bland komplexa relationer mellan kultur, samhälle, ekonomi och teknologi.

I den här boken bjuder ledande forskare in till samtal om teknologins utmaningar och möjligheter. Här presenteras redskap för att utforska, beskriva, begreppsliggöra och förstå nya relationer mellan medieteknologier och deras omvärld – en kunskap som förbereder läsaren att på egen hand kombinera samhällsvetenskapernas kritiska analyser med teknikvetenskapernas tradition att utveckla tillförlitliga och effektiva system.

Tekniska mediestudier riktar sig till studenter inom ämnen som medieteknik, medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap, kulturvetenskap, data- och systemvetenskap, interaktionsdesign och informatik.

The concept of deep reading is defined as the application of higher-order thinking skills to the process of reading. It includes analogical skills, critical analysis, reflection, and insight. Deep reading is also often associated with particular media, primarily printed books, preferably certain kinds of literature. This chapter discusses some of the prevalent ideas surrounding notions of focused, critical and valued reading modes and how these are connected to media technologies, implicitly or explicitly. Some scholars, such as Nicholas Carr, have suggested that digital media in general and the kinds of distracted, quick, or hypertextual reading that the Internet provides in particular are detrimental to our ability to focus and engage deeply. Within media studies, however, research has pointed to other equally important aspects of engagement that must be redefined so as not to be inextricably linked to a particular medium or genre.

Digital media conditions shape new forms of reading. We read on a daily basis on various digital platforms: we read books, we search for information while reading on screens, we use apps on our smartphones, and we read audiobooks. A number of these practices challenge the former print-biased definitions of reading to which we are accustomed, and foreground intermedial practices of aesthetic works. They also challenge how we understand the sensory input that is activated while we read such works and in what contexts such reading takes place. The aim of this paper is to present our analysis of  these extended practises of reading in a digital landscape by proposing reading as a travelling concept (Bal 2002) that moves across different media contexts and moves inbetween disciplinary concerns. Central to our analysis is the material and intermedial interplay between medium and material affordances which in turn shapes the reading experience (Hayles 2005). 

By bringing selected research fields and contributions regarding reading into dialogue with each other, we will exemplify what we see are common scholarly issues when analyzing digital reading today, specifically the multisensory address inherent in many digital texts: we are invited to touch, listen, watch, possibly take part in movement and interaction, look at images and text, listen to the timbre of voices of an audiobook reading and so forth. These elements must, we argue, play a larger role when analyzing these distinctly digital reading conditions (reimagining Jerome McGann’s 1991 analyses of the textual condition). In this paper, through analyses of digital reading situations in Tender Claws Pry (2014) and Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) read by Aoife MaMahon that challenge the print bias that is still the foundation of the reading concept, we explore the assumptions and value judgments that imbue the concept of reading. 

The conditions of reading are shaped by materialities of that which is read. In the wake of digital publishing, reading activities have been impacted by the affordances of digital technologies, and the chapter “Reading and materiality: conditions of digital reading” charts some of the influential ideas on the material nature of digital reading, and arguing that print-centric notions of what constitutes “good” reading have at times overshadowed an in-depth reckoning of the role that digital technologies play today. The perceived dichotomy between so-called digitally born and digitized materials does not delineate a border between “digital” and “print” reading, even though many of the assumptions about the latter still permeate perceptions of what is more valuable to read. The digital reading condition that the chapter introduces does not exclude any forms. Rather, the current media moment includes print, audiobooks, printed books in all forms, as well as a multitude of digital forms in a complex, interlocking media economy.

The concept of deep reading is defined as the application of higher-order thinking skills to the process of reading. It includes analogical skills, critical analysis, reflection, and insight. Deep reading is also often associated with particular media, primarily printed books, preferably certain kinds of literature. This chapter discusses some of the prevalent ideas surrounding notions of focused, critical and valued reading modes and how these are connected to media technologies, implicitly or explicitly. Some scholars, such as Nicholas Carr, have suggested that digital media in general and the kinds of distracted, quick, or hypertextual reading that the Internet provides in particular are detrimental to our ability to focus and engage deeply. Within media studies, however, research has pointed to other equally important aspects of engagement that must be redefined so as not to be inextricably linked to a particular medium or genre.

Museums have always used different media to communicate, widen perspectives and bring new knowledge, but in the era of digital media, their various offerings are increasingly part of the media ecosystem. Our research interventions explored the possibility of reusing existing digitised material in a participatory setting. The aim was to explore the object-centred audience participatory method in digital settings. We held a series of digital and in-person workshops that invited the participants to “imagine” narratives about the provenance of the museum’s objects and journeys to Sweden in a playful and creative exploration. We could observe how the virtual workshop setting supported focused discussions, and allowed zooming, drawing and remixing of digital photographs to facilitate conversation. The workshop participants on-site worked with the museum objects on display to remediate them through photos, drawings, clay modelling, and writing down thoughts and questions about the objects on discussion postcards. The participants’ contributions were included in the virtual collection database (Carlotta), under the same collection as the other museum objects, making the remediation process circular. We argue that object-centred methods enable audience participation in digital media ecosystems both in museums and with other media makers. The audience’s expectations and experiences from using other media bring them to the digital museum platforms with a willingness to explore, remix and integrate.