Digital Narrative PhD Summer School

The sun rising over a line art version of the CDN building
Photo: Valeria Acosta, CDN/UiB

The CDN Digital Narrative PhD Summer School took place in Bergen 10 - 14 June 2025. On this page you will find all the information you need for the event.

The summer school has three main components.

Keynotes by Maria Mäkelä (Finland), Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (Sri Lanka), Alexandra Saemmer (France), and Fox Harrell (USA). See more information about the individual speakers below.

Feedback on writing: Students will share a draft of a chapter or article they are working on. Participants will be assigned to feedback groups that will work together each morning. Facilitators will include Jason Nelson, Kristine Jørgensen, Jill Walker Rettberg, Caitlin Fisher and other experts in the field. 

Each participant will be asked to read all the drafts for their groups (6-10 people in each group) and to be lead respondents on two drafts. Each student will get 30-50 minutes discussion time for their draft.

Workshops: After lunch participants will choose one of two or more methods workshop options led by experts in the field of digital narrative. Each day there will be a choice between a creative and a critical methods course. Workshop convenors include Nick Montfort, Gabriele de Seta, Lin Prøitz, Scott Rettberg, Jason Nelson, Alinta Krauth, Caitlin Fisher and others.

Each workshop will be about a specific method that is relevant for the study and creation of digital narratives, e.g. within creative practice, digital humanities, narrative analysis or ethnography.

Keynote speakers 

The keynote recordings are published in this Youtube playlist.

Live digital making/writing workshop

Tuesday 10 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction

This workshop will provide participants with a hands-on introduction to rethinking game-making software for the wider applications of locative storytelling, augmented reality, and memory mapping. Participants have the chance to experiment with creative methods of production, firstly in non-digital locative formats, layering story on the landscape. Participants' outcomes will contribute to a digital project developed by the entire workshop class, where their site-specific digital writing contributions are added to an interactive game-based digital 'map' of our community. The final, collaborative project will be published by the digital art collective, Ephemerlab, and participants will be listed as contributors.

Learning methods/structure of the workshop

This workshop is based on an active learning model. First, participants are introduced to the theoretical basis of the topic. They will then participate in an individual outdoor activity involving locative story making. Participants will then come back together to learn how to implement these stories into Construct 3 - a game-creation software with a large range of affordances for digital interaction creation.

Items to bring

  • A smartphone with reliable camera (or other camera equipment)
  • A laptop (a tablet computer may also suffice)

Pre-workshop requirements

Expected learning outcomes

  • General knowledge about rethinking digital software, in this case a game engine, Construct 3, as an example of story-creation software;
  • Hands-on experience in developing locative/site-specific storytelling;
  • Hands-on experience in collecting and implementing creative data;
  • Collaborative contribution to a published a work of artistic research.

Recommended Literature list

  • Løvlie, Anders Sundnes, 'Poetic Augmented Reality: Place-bound Literature' in Locative Media, 2009
  • Hargood, Charlie ; Millard, David E ; Mitchell, Alex ; Spierling, Ulrike, 'Authoring Locative Narratives–Lessons Learned and Future Visions' in The Authoring Problem, Switzerland, Springer International Publishing AG, 2023
  • Rita Raley, 'TXTual Practice' in Comparative Textual Media, edited by Jessica Pressman, N. Katherine Hayles, University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

Workshop facilitators

Jason Nelson is Associate Professor in Digital Culture at University of Bergen, specializing in Electronic Literature and Digital Poetry. He is a PI in Artistic Research at the Center for Digital narrative. He has been creating weird and stimulating multimodal works for over 20 years.

Alinta Krauth is a Førstelektor in Digital Culture at the University of Bergen and has been a researcher and creator of digital narratives for over 20 years.

How to read a Hypertext: afternoon: a story

Tuesday 10 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction

Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story is a work of hypertext fiction written in 1987 and published on diskette by Eastgate in the 1990s. It begins with the words "I want to say that I may have seen my son die this morning", and tells the story of Peter, who saw a car accident on his way to work. Afternoon is a classic work of electronic literature and is discussed or at least mentioned in hundreds of scholarly articles, but many people have not actually read it. In this workshop we will take time to both read and discuss the work.

Expected learning outcomes

Participants will become familiar with a pioneering work of electronic literature that is a key reference, but difficult to access, and will learn strategies for reading and interpreting hypertext fictions that are also useful for other non-linear literary works.

Literature list

Walker, Jill. Piecing Together and Tearing Apart: Finding the Story in “Afternoon”. Edited by Klaus Tochtermann et al., ACM Press, 1999, pp. 111–17. https://hdl.handle.net/1956/1073 (external link)

There are hundreds of scholarly articles about afternoon. Choose one.

Workshop facilitator

Jill Walker Rettberg is professor and co-director of the Center for Digital Narrative. She is principal investigator of the project AI STORIES: Narrative Archetypes for Artificial Intelligence, which is funded by the European Research Council. Her most recent book is Machine Vision: How Algorithms are Shaping the Way We See the World (Polity Press 2023, open access). She began her research career with a fascination for hypertext fiction and has written several articles and book chapters on electronic literature. Jill's research blog is http://jilltxt.net (external link) and she is also active on Bluesky, LinkedIn and Mastodon.

AI Filmmaking as Visual Storytelling: A Creative Digital Production Workshop for Academics

Wednesday 11 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction

This workshop will provide participants with a hands-on introduction to leveraging AI tools for innovative filmmaking practices, visual storytelling, and cinematic augmentation of theoretical presentations. Participants will experiment with creative methods of production, first exploring conversion of their research questions into prompts (then visuals), before transitioning to AI-assisted filmmaking.

Learning methods/structure of the workshop

This workshop is based on an active learning model. First, participants are introduced to the theoretical framework of AI-assisted filmmaking, and a practical example of lecturing with AI. They will then participate in an individual visual storytelling exercise involving scene/idea conceptualization. Participants will then learn how to implement these scene-ideas using whatever AI filmmaking tools exist at the time of the workshop – as the ecosystem is shifting the specific platforms will be decided as the workshop dates arrive. But the workshop organizers have licenses for Runway and Sora. Platforms that offer free test renders will also be explored.

Items to bring

  • Flexible mindset
  • A laptop

Pre-workshop requirements

Required: Begin to imagine the visual aesthetics and style of your research questions. Generate a few images or bring examples that are expressive of your intent and interest. How would you convey your thesis as a story? If your research was narrative, who/what would narrate it? Consider a future where PhD deliverables are fully multimodal.

Recommended explorations:

Expected learning outcomes

  • General knowledge about reimagining AI tools as narrative filmmaking platforms that can enhance and augment theoretical persuasiveness in academic contexts.
  • Experience in developing concise idea-specific visual storytelling.
  • Potentially, capacity to relax into a tidal wave of inconceivable change.

Contextualizing Literature

  • Crawford, Kate and Joler, Vladan, 'Anatomy of an AI System' https://anatomyof.ai/ (external link)
  • Benjamin, Ruha, 'Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code', Polity Press, 2019

Workshop facilitators

David Jhave Johnston is a digital-poet writing in emergent domains: A.I., 3D, VR, and code. Author-programmer of the multimedia human + A.I. writing art-project ReRites (external link) (Anteism Books, 2019), the theoretical-history Aesthetic Animism: Digital Poetry's Ontological Implications (external link) (MIT Press, 2016), and many online multimedia literary explorations at www.glia.ca (external link). He is currently employed as an Ai-narrative researcher at the UiB Centre for Digital Narrative from August 2023-26 on a team investigating Extending Digital Narrative.

Scott Rettberg is an American digital artist, scholar, and professor of digital culture at the University of Bergen in Norway. He is a pioneering figure in electronic literature and digital arts, co-founding the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) in 1999. Rettberg's creative works include collaborative digital fiction projects such as "The Unknown" (1999), which won the trAce/Alt-X Hypertext Competition, and "Kind of Blue" (2002). His scholarly work focuses on electronic literature, digital culture, and narrative theory. He is currently Director of the Centre for Digital Narrative.

Hand-Coded Text Generation using Templates and Markov Processes

Wednesday 11 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction/description

This is a hands-on workshop in which all participants will intervene in computer programs by modifying the code. The session will begin with a very brief introduction to some classic text generators. Participants are strongly encouraged to review these beforehand at https://nickm.com/memslam (external link) so discussion of them can proceed quickly. After considering these, we will proceed by modifying existing computer programs. HTML5 pages with JavaScript will be available, as will Python programs that do the same thing. Changing these programs (for instance, by substituting our own strings) will let us craft our own text generators using simple but powerful and resonant methods. We’ll devise one template-based generator and one that uses a Markov chain or Markov process, a statistical technique that relates to more powerful methods (Large Language Models) widely used and discussed today.

Required

Have a text editor(not a word processor) installed.

Expected learning outcomes

Participants will have a working understanding or enhanced understanding of programming — seeing that code is ultimately a text that can be contained on one’s own computer, studied, edited, shared, etc. They will be able to create simple text generators and use this hands-on process to gain insight into a range of text generation processes.

Literature list

Memory Slam: Batch-Era Text Generation, https:/nickm.com/memslam (external link)

Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023,  eds. Lillian-Yvonne Bertram & Nick Montfort, MIT Press & Counterpath, 2024. See especially the glossary entries for template and Markov chain and the examples listed there.

Workshop facilitator

Nick Montfort is a professor II at the University of Bergen and a professor at MIT. His work includes ten computer-generated books (in print from seven presses), the collaborations The Deletionist and Sea and Spar Between,and more than 50 digital projects. His latest poetry book, All the Way for the Win, is composed entirely of three-letter words. His MIT Press books include The Future and two co-edited volumes, The New Media Reader and Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023.He lives in New York City.

AI Philosophy, Remix and Collaborative Writing: Creating Platonic Dialogues with LLMs

Thursday 12 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction

This workshop will provide participants with a hands-on introduction to leveraging AI tools for philosophical inquiry and collaborative writing. Participants will explore emerging philosophical frameworks for understanding AI while developing their own philosophical perspective through direct engagement with large language models. The workshop centers on creating a short essay/article in the form of a Platonic dialogue that unpacks emergent AI philosophy in directions determined by the student's research interests.

Learning methods/structure of the workshop

This workshop is based on a practice-based learning model. First, participants are introduced to key philosophical frameworks for conceptualizing AI consciousness, creativity, and ethics. They will examine recent philosophical thought concerning AI as well as view practical examples of philosophical writing with AI. Participants will then engage in an individual writing exercise involving the creation of a Platonic dialogue between two figures that explores a philosophical dimension of AI.

Plato’s dialogues are not just stories; they are vehicles for exploring philosophical ideas and concepts. Participants will learn how to implement these dialogues using contemporary LLMs. The workshop will utilize Claude and/or ChatGPT though students are welcome to use other, more customized systems such as OpenAI’s Playground.

Items to bring

  • A laptop
  • chatGPT and/or Claude (preferably subscription model)

Pre-workshop requirements

Required: Begin to formulate a philosophical question (or set of questions) about AI that connects to your research interests. Consider what philosophical traditions might help frame your inquiry (poststructuralism, postmodernism, feminism, Marxism, phenomenology, existentialism, accelerationism, critical theory, etc.) Who are the voices or perspectives you'd like to bring into dialogue? Draft 2-3 potential prompts that might generate interesting philosophical exchanges with an AI system.

Recommended explorations

  • Consider how Joanna Zylinska's "AI Art: Machine Visions and Warped Dreams" might inform philosophical perspectives on AI creativity and consciousness
  • Explore David Gunkel's take on Derridean deconstruction applied to LLMs in "Deconstruction to the Rescue"
  • Engage with Betti Marenko's "FutureCrafting: A Speculative Method for an Imaginative AI" for provocative philosophical approaches to speculative AI through the lens of design fiction
  • Read Mark Amerika's playful interactions with his Artificial Creative Intelligence as a model for collaborative philosophical exploration and dialogue
  • Experiment with prompting an AI system to respond in the style of a philosopher you admire

Expected learning outcomes

  • Introductory knowledge about emerging philosophical frameworks for conceptualizing AI and how these frameworks can enrich academic research
  • Experience in developing practice-based research methods for engaging with AI systems
  • Ability to create philosophical dialogues that explore complex questions through collaborative writing with AI
  • Potentially, capacity to develop a philosophical orientation toward AI that goes beyond simply thinking about AI to thinking with AI

Contextualizing Literature

Workshop facilitator

Mark Amerika's artwork has been exhibited in many international venues including the Whitney Biennial of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece. His last solo exhibition, "Mark Amerika. Remixing Reality. 1993-2023." was on view at the Marlborough Gallery in Barcelona, Spain. Amerika is the first artist appointed a Professor of Distinction at the University of Colorado where he is the Founding Director of the Doctoral Program in Intermedia Art, Writing and Performance in the College of Media, Communication and Information.

He is the author of many books including his most recent title, My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence (Stanford University Press 2022).

Qualitative Digital Methods

Thursday 12 June and Friday 13 June, Seminar room in the basement at the Humanities Library (external link)

Introduction

This workshop will provide participants with a hands-on introduction to a wide variety of qualitative digital methods: ways of doing in-depth, immersive, reflexive and participatory research about the digital. Digital media are increasingly used in social and humanistic inquiry in multiple ways: as research sites, as sets of tools, and as data. However, a major challenge researchers face is how to put qualitative digital methods in practice. In this 4-hour workshop, participants have the chance to experiment with, and reflect on, short methodological group exercises for qualitative digital research.

Learning methods/structure of the workshop

This workshop is based on experiential and reflexive group learning. The first hour is dedicated to briefly introducing qualitative digital methods and working through a variety of practical research “scripts”. In the second and third hour, participants will work in groups to follow a script of their choice, reflect upon the outcomes, and prepare a very short research report to be shared in the fourth hour.

Expected learning outcomes

  • General knowledge about recent developments in qualitative digital methods
  • Exposure to a wide variety of methodological approaches to the digital
  • Hands-on experience in collecting and analyzing data about digital media and technologies
  • Confidence in following methodological scripts and condensing outcomes into a self-reflexive account

Literature list

- Sandvig, C., & Hargittai, E. (2015). How to think about digital research, in E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.), Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online, MIT Press. https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/2285/chapter-abstract/59816/How-to-Think-about-Digital-Research (external link)

- Lury, C. (2018). Introduction: activating the present of interdisciplinary methods, in Fensham, R. et al. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Research Methods. Routledge, pp. 1-27. https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/117950/ (external link)

- Caliandro, A. (2018). Digital methods for ethnography: Analytical concepts for ethnographers exploring social media environments. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 47(5), 551-578. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241617702960 (external link)

- Boe, C. S., & Mainsah, H. (2021). Detained through a martphone. Digital Culture & Society, 7(2), 287-310. https://mediarep.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/1a7037fc-400d-4ad0-947e-95fb66ae45be/content (external link)

Workshop facilitators

Lin Prøitz is a Professor II at CDN and Professor at Østfold University College. Her qualitative work is grounded in gender and feminist media theories and methods, including critical perspectives on affectivity and emotion in digital cultures.

Henry Mainsah is a Research Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University’s Consumption Research Norway (SIFO) institute. He conducts research interdisciplinary between the media studies and design, and his research interests include digitization, consumption, creative research methods, participatory design, and digital literacy.

Gabriele de Seta is, technically, a sociologist. He is a Researcher at the University of Bergen, where he leads the ALGOFOLK project (“Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation”) funded by a Trond Mohn Foundation Starting Grant (2024-2028).

How to make a Magical Object: XR for Storytelling

Friday 13 June, Center for Digital Narrative in Langes gate 1-3 (external link)

Introduction

This two-hour workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of XR (Extended Reality) content creation using industry-standard tools (likely Adobe Aero and/or 8th Wall). Designed for students with minimal prior experience in XR development, but open to all, participants will gain hands-on experience creating interactive augmented reality experiences that can be viewed on mobile devices while being suggestive of storytelling for other kinds of displays.

We’ll begin with a very brief overview of some histories of XR narratives and platforms, especially as these relate to digital narrative. We’ll also engage with examples of XR content that will allow us to think about different viewing/reading situations, including XR pop-up books, room scale experiences, the impact of using 2D vs 3D assets and the place of audio in XR.

The bulk of the session will involve creating one or – time permitting -  two small prototypes based on a template that will be provided to you. You will leave with a demo project in hand and the capacity to create additional projects.

Digital assets (images, 3D, audio) will be provided in advance for students who may not have access to these or time to develop their own, but participants are also invited to bring their own digital assets for use in their projects. If you’d like to do that, bring four or five files of each type: png (including some alpha images?) or jpg for still images, Mp3 M4a for audio, glb for 3d assets. Smaller file sizes work best. But don’t worry if you don’t have assets and have no idea what a glb is! By the end of the session you’ll have a good sense of what these assets are and an understanding of how to weave together images and text and objects and sound to create XR magic.

We’ll end with a brief show-and-tell and a wrap-up discussion to consider what working with the tools suggests about future forms – what are the limits of current tools? What are they missing?  What can XR help us to think?  What is your ideal XR narrative? What kind of narrative futures can XR help us to imagine?

Materials provided

  • Temporary access to Adobe Aero and 8th Wall accounts
  • Curated collection of AR poetry and narrative examples
  • Narrative-focused 3D assets and templates
  • Media assets for use in projects

What to bring

  • Laptop
  • Smartphone or tablet with Adobe Aero app installed
  • Optional: Media assets or short text fragments of your own writing to incorporate into AR experiences

Expected Learning Outcomes

Participants will explore how extended reality technologies are transforming narrative structures, poetic expression, and reader engagement. By examining pioneering AR poems and stories, students will gain insight into the unique affordances of spatial storytelling.
Participants will also develop their own prototypes that will leave the workshop with a familiarity with key XR concepts and terminology, a basic capacity to navigate the Adobe Aero and/or 8th Wall development environments, and insight into the kind of stories that work well with existing XR technologies and possibilities for future forms.

Workshop facilitator

Caitlin Fisher is a professor at York University and Director of York’s Immersive Storytelling Lab.

Senter for digital forteljingar (CDN)

Humanities-driven research in electronic literature, games studies, digital culture, and computation to advance understanding of digital narrative.

CDN is a Norwegian Centre of Research Excellence funded by the Norwegian Research Council from 2023-2033. CDN focuses on algorithmic narrativity, new environments and materialities, and shifting cultural contexts.