1. Narrative As Process: Subject, verb, predicate
Winter 2008

2. What is a Narrative in the context of research?
Facts/events organized to create meaning
Basic form: Some event is transformed into something else
Usually something meaningful must occur, otherwise no reason to report the event
In research, the areas of interest may be in: a) The topic (its structure), b) the procedure (how the topic is handled/ transformed), or c) the outcome process
So narrative is about giving something form and/or a context
Winter 2008

3. Inventory as narrative
What are the elements/components of a system? (Cosmic Thing, Damien Ortega, 2002)
Presentation of Disassembly: Represent the system through its parts
Let the parts express themselves
Can the parts be re-organized in new ways?
Can something new be re- invented through exploration from unintended, unexpected perspectives?
Winter 2008

4. What about processes? Create an extended list of multiple approaches
Consider previously identified errors, discarded solutions, as potential resources
Do research while developing (who else has addressed the topic and how)
Design prototypes/model
Winter 2008

5. Iterative Approach Repeat the process
The more often you repeat, the more you will push your self-imposed boundaries beyond their limits
Redesign: Leads to cohesion & resolution
Genotype: Generic condition of a system
Phenotype: Any observed quality of an organism (variation)
Winter 2008

6. Transformational procedural experimental rules
Modify the elements or the process
Magnify, condense, re-arrange
Transpose, reverse opposites, inside/out
Substitute, combine, blend, distort
Winter 2008

7. Project Presentation Consider the results
Project is a “work-in-progress”:
(Let the data speak for itself)
Create Closure:
Re-format to fit presentation expectations
(sometimes not!)
Winter 2008

8. Now Back to Time Based Narrative Definitions
Winter 2008

9. Narrative Structure (Todorov)
Most basic narrative consists of a stable situation that is disrupted (transition) eventually ariving at a final stable situation which in some way is different from the start
Start: Situation definition
Event: Event, transition, action, verb, etc.
Closure: Creating meaning through closure
Narrative normally evolves in time: Time often represented in space (graph)
But there are other forms: (proposition, inventory, etc.)
Winter 2008

10. Literary/Cinematic Narrative (Gérard Genette)
Order: Temporal-order of the narrative
Duration: Timing structure of the narrative
Frequency: relationship between event and its retelling
Mood: Distance and perspective
Distance: Is it told in direct, indirect mode?
Perspective: point of view
From a fixed position
Outside the action
Narrator knows less then the characters
Voice: What kind of narrator implied?
Winter 2008

11. Organizing the Image: Visual Narrative Tools
Sequence: implies plot development
Divided screen: subsections imply sequence
Shape: Horizontal implies time length
Spatial proximity: object placed next to another signifies relationship
Direction: left-to-right, or reverse
Scale: signifies hierarchy
Repetition: Rhythmic emphasis
Winter 2008

12. Bibliography Conceptual Blockbusting, Adams
Poetics of the Prose, Todorov
Narrative Discourse, Genette
Winter 2008