Multimodality and Interactivity in “Natively” Digital Life Stories

Evelyn Chew is an interdisciplinary researcher whose interest in the human condition lies at the intersection of narrative, psychology, and interactive media. Having recently obtained her PhD in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore, she continues to be intrigued by life stories, especially those in interactive digital media. Her articles on empathy and truth claims in interactive life stories have been published in Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, and in DIEGESIS: Interdisciplinary E-Journal for Narrative Research. Her most recent publication is the book chapter “‘As Only a Game Can’: Re-creating Subjective Lived Experiences through Interactivity in Non-fictional Video Games,” (in Subjectivity across Media: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives, edited by Maike S. Reinerth and Jan-Noël Thon) with Alex Mitchell (2016).

Alex Mitchell is assistant professor in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore. His current research investigates various aspects of computer-based art and entertainment, focusing in particular on games and interactive stories. His recent publications include “Making the Familiar Unfamiliar: Techniques for Creating Poetic Gameplay” (2016), “Making It Unfamiliar in the Right Way: An Empirical Study of Poetic Gameplay” (2017), and “Antimimetic Rereading and Defamiliarization in Save the Date” (2018). He is a member of the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling Steering Committee.