Jonathan Barbara | St Martin's Institute of Higher Education (original) (raw)

Jonathan Barbara

A part-time PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin reading in the field of Virtual Reality, Interactive Narratives, and Digital Cultural Heritage.

Researched the concept of Narrative Consistency of experiences in Transmedia narratives between 2015 and 2019, with work presented in conferences and published in papers.

Workgroup 3 Vice-chair for INDCOR COST Action under the chair of Prof. Hartmut Koenitz Dec 2019-2024

Active participation in RGS-IBG 2019, ICIDS 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, DIGRA 2020, EUIC 2018, ACM CHI PLAY 2015

Read an MA in Games Design with UCLAN, Preston UK between 2012 -2015, obtaining a Distinction.

Member of the SMI Dissertation Board responsible for the quality of undergraduate student projects in computing fields.

Delivering, reviewing and coordinating the Creative Computing degree at St Martin's Institute of Higher Education since 2003.

7 years experience in Corporate Training and Academic Lecturing on structured and OOP programming subjects as well as e-commerce and databases.

Aiming for research in the edutainment and entertainment industry.

Specialties: Bridging skills, personal development, analogies
Supervisors: Mads Haahr and Karl K Jeffries

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Papers by Jonathan Barbara

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015

Interactive Digital Storytelling has a role to play in transmedial storytelling and yet there is ... more Interactive Digital Storytelling has a role to play in transmedial storytelling and yet there is no instrument to measure one of the critical success factors of such narratives: consistency. This short paper explores what is meant by consistency in this context and identifies it as being a subjective evaluation, part of the user experience. A consistency scale is hereby being proposed to measure user experience across media and invites feedback, suggestions, and discussion on its implementation. Its application will assist IDS designers in determining the success of their narrative game’s role in a target transmedia production.

arXiv (Cornell University), Jun 30, 2023

International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2023

Uncertain cultural heritage presents a dilemma in its narrative representation. History seeks to ... more 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 Dis-tance, 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.

International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2023

Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) literacy and authoring skills are being gained too late along... more Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) literacy and authoring skills are being gained too late along a typical student’s educational journey and only by a niche subset of learners while such skills are crucial to consume modern day media communications reporting on complex phenomena from multiple perspectives. This paper acknowledges the impact of technology on teaching and learning methods as well as the current status of digital media in education and uses them to explain how IDN can be used to teach K-12 subjects with the aim of helping students attain IDN literacy skills. It also suggests ways to expand IDN literacy by adding authoring skills. The paper connects these overarching goals with current initiatives in establishing IDN literacy and authoring skills in the K-12 curriculum. and presents short-, medium- and long-term objectives towards the above two aims

International Conference on Virtual Reality, 2022

For decades, VR has served cultural heritage by providing digital conservation and accessibility ... more For decades, VR has served cultural heritage by providing digital conservation and accessibility to remote or restricted cultural sites. However there has been a recent call for the experiential aspect of cultural heritage, often provided by the visual and aural representation of tangible cultural heritage and by the six degrees of freedom afforded by the VR technology that provides sensorial immersion for the virtual visitor. However most digital representations of cultural heritage limit navigation and lack believably realistic and authentic representations of intangible cultural heritage. The ReLive History project aimed to help history educators present the prehistoric intangible cultural heritage of the Neolithic Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni in Malta using VR technology. The project used motion capture technology to present human behavior that matches the realism offered by a LIDAR scan augmented with realistic lighting and textures. A custom director-actor VR setup was created to streamline the animation production workflow producing an experience that scored 4 out of 5 on a Likert scale for authenticity when evaluated by educators (N=8).

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2018

Studies showing the influence of pro-social interactive digital narratives on their participants’... more Studies showing the influence of pro-social interactive digital narratives on their participants’ appreciation of the modelled situations are subject to having the participants perceiving their interaction as meaningful and being able to clearly understand the consequences of their actions. This paper suggests the supplementary use of the Narrative Consistency criterion to assess the participants’ understanding of the modelled social context by measuring how the interactive narrative’s outcomes meet their expectations across replays.

New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2022

Human-computer interaction series, 2022

New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia

The digital representation of our past has long been an important tool in the interpretation of c... more The digital representation of our past has long been an important tool in the interpretation of cultural heritage in museums. The recent rise in the use of Augmented Reality (AR) has seen various approaches to adding dynamic information to existent artefacts. The challenge is even greater when uncertainty further complexifies the represented history. This paper presents a critical analysis of an AR installation in the Sacra Infermeria museum in Valletta, Malta. After a description of the AR configuration of the installation, we present a thematic analysis carried out from a multidisciplinary focus group of 11 researchers in the field of Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN), from three perspectives: the technological implementation of the AR experience, the historical accuracy, gamification and the influence of social media-centred design, and the representation of the complexity arising from the uncertainty of history. In the light of the results of the multidisciplinary focus group, we provide a list of recommendations and heuristics.

Frontiers in Education

The use of immersive virtual reality for learning is a growing opportunity that has so far suffer... more The use of immersive virtual reality for learning is a growing opportunity that has so far suffered from limited application in the classroom, particularly with students in the 11 to 12 year bracket. Due to more concern being shown toward usability rather educational goals, mixed feelings exist about the technology’s ability to teach. Meanwhile, historical games usually have fun as the main or sole objective, which may cause problems by diminishing the value of the depicted cultural heritage and supersede the intended learning outcomes of the experience. This research aims to contribute toward this gap by working closely with teachers in developing an immersive virtual reality learning experience to teach prehistoric intangible cultural heritage to history students aged 11 to 12 years. The research question of this study is how to go about designing an immersive learning experience for secondary school teachers to teach 11 to 12 year old students about prehistoric cultural heritage ...

If each medium should do what it does best in order to deliver its part of the narrative in a tra... more If each medium should do what it does best in order to deliver its part of the narrative in a transmedial production, then the emphasis on games should be placed on the experience resulting from the ludic agency provided by their game mechanics rather than from narrative elements adapted from other non-interactive narrative media. However, research thus far is limited to gauging player experience resulting solely from a single play session, in terms of the game mechanics, the social context of the game, and various aspects of engagement and immersion. No assessment of the consistency of the resulting user experience relative to other narrative media components of the transmedia production is considered and, while the game may be enjoyable and immersive, it can be in conflict with the overarching narrative. This paper thus proposes a validation analysis of a standard UX questionnaire in terms of transmedial consistency, by carrying out a PCA of the questionnaire scores against a coded semi-structured interview. The latter analyses the perceived consistency of the gameplay experience with the narrative experience of other instalments from the same transmedial world. Should this prove to be invalid, criteria to be measured by a new questionnaire are hereby proposed.

Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 2015

Stochastic data for procedural content generation is rarely specified in research, and left up to... more Stochastic data for procedural content generation is rarely specified in research, and left up to the game designer. Extending an existing set of levels, however, requires their consideration in order to generate spatially consistent levels. Stochastic analysis techniques are adopted from musical composition research and applied to level generation, giving promising results in terms of spatial consistency.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015

This study\(^1\) investigates the various pose normalisation techniques that can be used for 3D v... more This study\(^1\) investigates the various pose normalisation techniques that can be used for 3D vehicle models. A framework is built on which the pose normalisation performance of four PCA based techniques are tested on a database of 335 3D vehicles. The evaluation is performed using two methods. In the first method a silhouette view of each pose normalised vehicle is rendered from a consitent point in the 3D space. The pose consitency of each vehicle is then compared to the silhouettes of the vehicles in the same category. The second method compares the direct influence of the four techniques on the final precision and recall results of a search algorithm based on a simple scan-line feature descriptor. Results from both methods show that Center-of-Gravity PCA and Continous-PCA performed noticably better then PCA and Normal-PCA. The superiority of Continous-PCA over Center-of-Gravity PCA was negligible.

Interactive Storytelling LNCS, 2021

As IDNs are used to represent complex phenomena, we are bound to assess the ethical dimension of ... more As IDNs are used to represent complex phenomena, we are bound to assess the ethical dimension of these representations in order to help IDN mature as a practice and a discipline. In this paper, we consider ethical aspects arising from applications of IDN in VR for Cultural Heritage experiences. Using a discussion of ethical aspects of cultural heritage and virtual reality as a foundation, and considering a range of IDN VR cultural heritage experiences, we derive a set of ethical questions for IDN design in general and for cultural heritage specifically as the basis for the development of standard ethics guidelines and help start a conversation on the topic in the community.

Interactive Storytelling LNCS, 2021

In this overview paper, we consider interactive digital narratives (IDN) as a means to represent ... more In this overview paper, we consider interactive digital narratives (IDN) as a means to represent and enable understanding of complex topics both at the public level (e.g. global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, migration, or e-mobility) and at the personal level (trauma and other mental health issues, interpersonal relationships). We discuss scholarly approaches to complexity, discuss limitations of traditional media to represent complex issues, and describe the potential of IDN in this regard. Then, we describe the problem space of IDN for complexity, and what aspects need further work in research and beyond.

Interactive Storytelling LNCS, 2021

Self-identification is a key factor for the immersion of the VR interactive narrative player. Die... more Self-identification is a key factor for the immersion of the VR interactive narrative player. Diegetic non-protagonist narrators, touched-up heterodiegetic narrations with internal focalization, and casting the player in a ‘virtual sidekick’ role are suggested by the literature to support self-identification. This paper analyses the use of second-person voice and level of interactivity in two VR productions. In one, minimal use of the second person to address the player and negligible agency achieves limited telepresence in a 360-video VR tour of a concentration camp accompanying a Holocaust survivor. In the second, use of a touched-up heterodiegetic narration with internal focalisation heightens immersion levels but self-identification of the player as sidekick suffers as the narrative forward drive shifts between narrator, protagonist and antagonist. Future empirical work should explore the impact of second-person voice and interaction on resultant self-identification.

Proceedings of DIGRA 2020, 2020

Digital heritage has matured over the past twenty years and now calls are being made for interact... more Digital heritage has matured over the past twenty years and now calls are being made for interactive experiences that augment digital representation with digital performance. The paper considers sources for such a performance: be it documented sources, contemporary cultures, or gameplay from other entertainment game genres. It considers the needs of various stakeholders: the archaeologist, the historian, the game designer and the target audience and suggests thematically consistent multiple gameplay options that serve the different needs while reusing game assets and characters. This aims to contribute to the collaboration with the DiGRA community on serious cultural heritage game development, focusing on the player as performer, rather than just as an observer.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015

arXiv (Cornell University), Jun 30, 2023

International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2023

International Conference on Virtual Reality, 2022

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2018

New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2022

Human-computer interaction series, 2022

New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia

Frontiers in Education

Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 2015

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015

Interactive Storytelling LNCS, 2021

Proceedings of DIGRA 2020, 2020

Transmedia Narratives Winter School - Tubingen, 2016

If each medium should do what it does best in order to deliver its part of the narrative in a tra... more If each medium should do what it does best in order to deliver its part of the narrative in a transmedial production, then the emphasis on games should be placed on the experience resulting from the ludic agency provided by their game mechanics rather than from narrative elements adapted from other non-interactive narrative media.
However, research thus far is limited to gauging player experience resulting solely from a single play session, in terms of the game mechanics, the social context of the game, and various aspects of engagement and immersion. No assessment of the consistency of the resulting user experience relative to other narrative media components of the transmedia production is considered and, while the game may be enjoyable and immersive, it can be in conflict with the overarching narrative.
This paper thus proposes a validation analysis of a standard UX questionnaire in terms of transmedial consistency, by carrying out a PCA of the questionnaire scores against a coded semi-structured interview. The latter analyses the perceived consistency of the gameplay experience with the narrative experience of other instalments from the same transmedial world. Should this prove to be invalid, criteria to be measured by a new questionnaire are hereby proposed.

Stochastic data for procedural content generation is rarely specified in research, and left up to... more Stochastic data for procedural content generation is
rarely specified in research, and left up to the game
designer. Extending an existing set of levels, however,
requires their consideration in order to generate
spatially consistent levels. Stochastic analysis
techniques are adopted from musical composition
research and applied to level generation, giving
promising results in terms of spatial consistency

Consistency across experiences in a transmedial production is a criterion of user experience that... more Consistency across experiences in a transmedial
production is a criterion of user experience that has so
far eluded capture. This position paper highlights the
challenges met in designing a tool to measure
consistency and suggests a consistency scale model
across the four dimensions of transmedia experiences.

Interactive Narratives have a role to play in Education

DIGRA, 2020

Digital heritage has matured over the past twenty years and now calls are being made for interact... more Digital heritage has matured over the past twenty years and now calls are being made for interactive experiences that augment digital representation with digital performance. The paper considers sources for such a performance: be it documented sources, contemporary cultures, or gameplay from other entertainment game genres. It considers the needs of various stakeholders: the archaeologist, the historian, the game designer and the target audience and suggests thematically consistent multiple gameplay options that serve the different needs while reusing game assets and characters. This aims to open up collaboration with the DiGRA community on serious cultural heritage game development, focusing on the player as performer, rather than just as an observer.

When a story written for a textual narrative gets adapted to film and modified to take advantage ... more When a story written for a textual narrative gets adapted to film and modified to take advantage of the cinema medium's strengths and avoid its weaknesses, audience reception suffers from the measure of fidelity to the source text (Dicieanu 1). Such variations are indeed necessary as McKee explains about levels of conflict and how each medium is best fit to narrate a specific one: with novels being very good at exposing characters' inner conflict, while cinema offers a visual spectacle that serves to portray the character's extra-personal conflicts with society and the world (215). As the blockbuster movie then attracts further interest and warrants further exploitation by making sequels and expanding into other media, the multitude of experiences contribute to an overall transmedial narrative which diminish the authority of the original (Constandinides 14). Such endeavours seek to take advantage of the audience's 'Transmedial Desire' (Tosca 36) wherein fans seek further engagement with the stories they love and build their own transmedial world for that fiction. Games as a Transmedia Storytelling medium An important medium for the scope of this chapter is the use of games that have the narration of a story as one of the main objectives. Games' unique characteristic of interactivity, afforded by the rules that respond to the players' agency, makes them a very important member of the transmedia storyteller's arsenal. Yet games most often deliver narratives through intermedial references to non-interactive media (Rajewsky 52) using cut-scenes, player-guided character dialogues, and in-game artefacts that provide information to interested players (Dansky 129). But Jenkins' suggests that, in the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each experience should add to the narrative and the medium should do what it does best in order to deliver its part of the narrative (Jenkins 10). This suggests that games seeking to extend a transmedia narrative should also provide a narrative experience resulting from the ludic agency provided by the game mechanics, rather than solely from adapted narrative elements. However this offers quite a challenge in harmonizing the passive reception of narration with the interactivity of gameplay, resulting in what has been described as "Ludo-Narrative Dissonance" (Hocking), "intersubjective instability" (Thon 16) and "incongruities between rules and fiction" (Linderoth 489). Such inconsistencies arise from two main factors: (i) the author-intended story versus the player-stories and (ii) the use of non-diegetic game mechanics that break narrative immersion. It can be argued that all popular media afford some level of controlled freedom: novels use text to describe the characters, actions, and scenery in a story but it is up to the reader to visualise all this in their mind's eye. Films provide the visualisation, allowing the viewers to focus on whatever part of the shot they are interested in but parameterised by the camera angle chosen by the producer. Games provide interaction that allows the player to participate in the telling of the story, an agency that is limited by the choice of the employed game mechanics. These may vary from the limited action typical of games of progression, where the player overcomes intermediate obstacles between story plot points, to the more creative and liberal gameplay of open worlds in games of emergence. While the former tend to keep authorial control on the story, games of emergence are highly replayable because they afford player stories unique to each player session which become more important for the player than the game writer's intended story (Juul 6). The consistency of such games cannot be objectively evaluated since each player will compare their own agency-driven story (Dowd et al. 163-164) with whatever prior exposure they had to the storyworld. Such consistency is deemed to be a

As transmedia franchises spiral out of the authors’ control into the hands of fan fiction, the cr... more As transmedia franchises spiral out of the authors’ control into the hands of fan fiction, the cry for narrative consistency beckons for restraint and adherence to the core canon, claiming it as necessary to maintain the audience engaged...

The consistency of narratives within a transmedia production is deemed to be a critical factor of... more The consistency of narratives within a transmedia production is deemed to be a critical factor of its success. The unique interactive nature of games makes them more liable to break this consistency when employed as one of the delivery channels in a transmedia production, especially when judged on the narrative experience resulting from the ludic engagement afforded by the game as opposed to embedded narratives. This narrative experience is subject to the audience's previous level of exposure to, and resulting memory of, other narrative experiences within the same transmedia production. This research posits the use of a narrative consistency scale to measure the level of consistency of such experiences in terms of the narrative elements of storyworld, events, characters and actions. This allows for an instrument that can be used to measure the narrative consistency of different media experiences, including games, employed in a transmedia production, and invites empirical exploration using questionnaires that employ this scale.