Article Idea:
Choose Your Own Narrative as basis for IA
suggested by amber simmons on 2007/09/05
I’ve been exploring how to use the philosophy of a choose your own adventure narrative as the basis for a solid information architecture.
Narrative, especially when spoken, takes different directions based on many factors: who the audience is, what context surrounds the narrative, time restraints, etc. In writing, this malleable narrative structure is clearly seen in the classic choose your own adventure stories. The biggest difference between CYOA stories and online experiences, of course, is that one is linear and the other isn’t.
And yet, CYOA narrative is a wonderful way to build information architecture. Who is the audience? Where might different people with different needs might want to go from point A? And how can I tailor my narrative to meet divergent needs of different users, and how can I get them all where they want to go without breaking my story?
I’d like to write this article; I welcome feedback and suggestions to get me started.
Thanks!
Want to see this idea turned into a story?
0 people said yes. | 0 people said no.
Benjamin Ho
2 Reputation points
Posted 2007/11/06 @ 08:14AM with
Hmm..this sounds like quite the challenge. The basis for CYOA stories is that you’ve already anticipated what the user has in terms of certain points where they need to make a decision. How do you determine where they make decisions? And then the story itself – do they all branch off into their own nodes or do they come together?
..some things to think about.