Abstract
Uncertain cultural heritage presents a dilemma in its narrative representation. History seeks to push a grand narrative, at the expense of less convenient narratives. Critical historiographic approaches favor the consideration of multiple narratives as they focus on the mediation of history rather than arriving at a single truth. Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives, such as The Book of Distance, exemplify how uncertainty can be represented through re-enactment. In this late breaking work, we provide a close reading of The Book of Distance through the lens of critical historiography and suggest improvements for future similar experiences.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Curthoys, A., Docker, J.: The boundaries of history and fiction. In: The Sage Handbook of Historical Theory, pp. 202–220 (2013). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446247563
Jarzombek, M.: A prolegomena to critical historiography. J. Arch. Educ. 52, 197–206 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1531-314X.1999.tb00272.x
Mann, E., Sprecher, A.: VR as critical historiography. In: Difficult Heritage and Immersive Experiences, pp. 80–103. Taylor & Francis (2022)
Pritchard, D., et al.: Study on quality in 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage. In: Proceedings of the Joint International Event 9th ARQUEOLÓGICA, vol. 2, pp. 1–7. https://doi.org/10.2759/581678
Wallen, L., Docherty-Hughes, J.R.: Uncertainty as affective state and critical engagement strategy in museum and heritage site settings. Glob. Perspect. 4, 73071 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2023.73071
von Ranke, L., Dennis, G., Armstrong, E.: History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations (1494 to 1514) (1824)
Nietzsche, F.W.: On the uses and disadvantages of history for life (1983). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812101.007
Croce, B.: History: Its Theory and Practice (Trns. D. Ainslee, New York) (1921)
Curthoys, A., et al.: Historians and disputes over uncertainty. Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2009)
Curthoys, A.: Is History Fiction? ReadHowYouWant.com (2010)
White, H.: The historical text as literary artifact. In: The History and Narrative Reader, vol. 1, p. 223 (2001)
Barthes, R.: The discourse of history. In: Poetique, pp. 13–21 (1982)
Levi-Strauss, C.: The savage mind (1966). https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/45.4.608
Trouillot, M.-R.: Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Beacon Press, Boston (2015)
Ekbia, H.R.: Digital artifacts as quasi-objects: qualification, mediation, and materiality. J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 60, 2554–2566 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21189
Livingstone, D., Louchart, S.J.-J., Jeffrey, S.: Archaeological storytelling in games (2016)
Fisher, J.A.: Epistemic rhetoric in virtual reality interactive factual narratives. Front. Virtual Reality. 3, 845489 (2022)
Barbara, J.: Re-live history: an immersive virtual reality learning experience of prehistoric intangible cultural heritage. Front. Educ. 7, 1032108 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1032108
Cohen, J.: Defining identification: a theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Commun. Soc. 4, 245–264 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01
Stroud, K.: A neolithic world view lost in translation: the case of the Tarxien temples. J. Skyscape Archaeol. 5, 191–209 (2019)
VanSledright, B.: Thinking historically. J. Curric. Stud. 41, 433–438 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270802688161
Waagen, J., Lanjouw, T., de Kleijn, M.: A virtual place of memory: virtual reality as a method for communicating conflicted heritage at Camp Westerbork. Herit. Mem. Confl. 3, 87–93 (2023)
Oppenheim, D., Okita, R.L.: The book of distance: personal storytelling in VR. In: ACM SIGGRAPH 2020 Immersive Pavilion, pp. 1–2. ACM, Virtual Event USA (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3388536.3407896
Barbara, J., Haahr, M.: Who Am I that Acts? the use of voice in virtual reality interactive narratives. In: Mitchell, A., Vosmeer, M. (eds.) ICIDS 2021. LNCS, vol. 13138, pp. 3–12. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_1
Koenitz, H.: Understanding Interactive Digital Narrative: Immersive Expressions for a Complex Time. Taylor & Francis, Milton Park (2023)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Barbara, J., Haahr, M. (2023). What Really Happened Here? . In: Holloway-Attaway, L., Murray, J.T. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14384. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47658-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47658-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-47657-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-47658-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)