truna aka j.turner

current design projects in progress |||

participatory story engine ||

this project was initiated when it became apparent that constructing narrative scripts for NPCs in an immersive world was generally implemented in a linear fashion - albeit sometimes with hyperlinks. the concept here is to provide an interface that allows a particpant to construct scripts spatially

particpatory graffiti project ||

this project [currently under development with JCU] seeks a method by which immersive world participants are able to treat the world as if it were real and leave their mark as a mnemonic in the right place at the right time ... it explores the pre-historic use of graffiti as a way of claiming place and voice ...

mobile mnemonics ||

bringing the real into the virtual via mobile devices

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research || games as cultural interfaces

tabernacle ||| Set in the 6th Century in an area on the cusp of the old roman empire and where previous tribal order was being absorbed and demonised by church and monarchic institutions, tabernacle plays with ways of representing a cultural perspective. The focus of the design is not a historical visualisation, rather it is an emotional one. Tabernacle hopes to understand what it would mean to perceive from a different perspective - it explores use of a standard 3D visualisation or games engine and experiments with a variety of visual narrative techniques in order to create a culturally lethal text and see the world from the perspective of the map maker ...

digital songlines environment - a exploration of potentials of exploiting a games engine to construct the indigenous australian landscape and culture and the manner in which the tools themselves coerce an approach ...

songlines website |||

research || games as education

this research project explores and de-constructs the extra-ordinary resonance between the educational philosophy of constructivist learning, the demands of critical literacies in digital environments and the design and the structures and embedded epistemologies of the game format ……

the review work is currently in support of an ACID project grant proposing the educational exploitation of MMORPGs and a project to design a language and cultural exploitation game environment:

media station website |||

space || the final frontier

the working title for this overall work is a play on the naive concept of space expressed in the star trek series. coming from a background in both the humanities and computing, i am always deeply fascinated by the effective neglect of the authors of the interface by those who discuss new literacies. rather like the crew of the star ship enterprise, the ship of new media literacies navigates the digital environment as if it were a new frontier open for colonisation. the simple fact that this digital space is designed and purposed seems strangely contentious.

in computer-interface design the form-function fusion is made on the basis of averages, a focus-grouped reality based on people's understanding of a context in which it is impossible for them to function unless they develop the understanding already mapped out for them. perhaps in this context the user will always be the ideal user, because if they are not ideal - if, within this context at least, they do not conform to the ideal - they won't be a user at all matthew fuller behind the blip 2003 [46]

articles and papers in this work focus on the design of the interfaces used - of particular interest to me are those interfaces that offer worlds of some description. such world softwares, sometimes offering communication, sometimes offering community and place and sometimes offering game play, these interfaces all evidence a conceptual design that provides both architecture and affordances.

while foucault observed that architects are "not the technicians or engineers of the three great variables - territory, communication, and speed" [1969] and the digital space accessed by world softwares often offers a similar illusion, such interfaces in their form, design and function mediate access to digital space. in effect architecture of the space is created, experience is mediated by the architext.

captain kirk and the vulcan f'cault offer an introduction: MelbourneDAC paper

constructive environments |

broederbund classic carmen sandiego [DOS version]

games as educational interfaces

this document was a teaching and learning small grant application proposing the development of an exploratory interface for the on-line teaching facilities that exploited the game form in order to create a constructive learning environment for tertiary students. taking its main themes from constructive pedagogy and robust game design principles the proposal looks a bit like 'where in philosophy is carmen sandiego?' 2003 proposal to develop conceptual material exploration using game metaphor

lost cities: screen of collaborative game design by students

constructive environments for teaching game design

based on early work on the affordances of the game format / interface and the extra-ordinary resonance of good game design with constructive learning principles, this research goes 'one step beyond' and takes these affordances back to use as an aspect of a game design course in order to exploit critical interface literacy [more] proposal to develop constructive environment interface by truna and gavin sade 2002 [download pdf]

collections |

archive of the eMU papers
this site represents an update of the original eMU papers - links, resources and papers collected as an aspect of research on the subject of Multi User Domains [Object Oriented]. the site has not been updated in a while and may links may be cobwebs. last updated 2001

[eMU papers] now cobwebbed

archive of interactive narrative and game research resources [gin papers]
this site was started for students and personal research purposes when about.com dropped its interactive fiction section. last updated 2003

[gin papers] now cobwebbed