Reading Digital Fiction

Lead Research Organisation: Sheffield Hallam University
Department Name: Faculty of Development and Society

Abstract

This project will increase public engagement with digital fiction and provide empirically substantiated analyses to show how readers interact with digital fiction. Digital Fiction is fiction that is written for and read from a computer and can be Web- or app-based (for tablets and smartphones) or accessed via CD-ROMs. Digital fictions are different to e-books, however. Rather than existing as a digital version of a print novel, digital fictions are what are known as "born digital" - that is, they would lose something of their aesthetic and/or structural form and meaning if they were removed from the digital medium. For example, they may contain hyperlinks, moving images, mini-games or sound effects. Further, unlike e-books in which the reader moves from one page to another in a linear fashion, in many digital fictions, the reader has a role in constructing the narrative, either by selecting hyperlinks or by controlling a character's journey through the storyworld. Digital fictions therefore require that the reader interacts with the narrative throughout the reading experience. With the increasing availability and popularity of e-readers, such as the Kindle and associated iPad applications, e-books are increasingly being advertised, discussed and produced. Their cultural, social and economic significance is growing with print publishers now focussing much of their marketing effort in this area. As commercial products, e-readers are only available to those that can afford to buy them, but much digital fiction is available for free. While the move to e-publishing might suggest increased digital fluency and amplified general interest in digital textuality, public awareness of and engagement with born digital fiction remains relatively low.

The project aims to raise public awareness of and engagement with digital fiction in order to permit a more inclusive engagement with these texts and, in a related step, increase digital literacies more broadly. In a series of public engagement activities in Sheffield, Bangor and Aberystwyth, readers will learn about born digital fiction. Their engagement with the texts will enhance digital literacies and encourage a more explicit understanding of narrative form and structure in general as well as awareness of how digital texts are different from print. This includes: how to identify and respond to different types of plot and narration in digital environments; how to read texts that utilise images, sound and interactive navigational elements; how to combine reading and gaming; how to use digital technologies critically. The project also aims to empirically test the researchers' analyses of digital fiction. Primarily the researchers will consider how readers process the multimodal aspects of digital fiction - that is, the combination of different modes such as sound, images and text. The researchers will also consider the relationship between what readers expect to happen in the narrative as a consequence of their actions and what they actually find. Finally the researchers will investigate whether different forms of narration affect the relationship between the reader of digital fiction and the fictional world that it describes. Using a range of data collection strategies including questionnaires, focus groups and interviews, reader response data will be gathered from workshop participants as well as more established readers of digital fiction who belong to established reading communities (e.g. members of the Electronic Literature Organisation) and incorporated into the researchers' analyses. The result will be a more robust and, crucially, empirically based understanding of how readers interact with digital fiction. This part of the project will also inform wider cognitive-linguistic theories of literature by providing a replicable methodology for testing reader engagement with digital texts and well as a deeper understanding of how readers interact with fictional narratives in general.

Planned Impact

The main beneficiaries will be local people, public services and local organisations. Digital fiction workshops will be held at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield Library and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth during which attendees will read and discuss digital fiction. They will learn to read digital fiction as a multimodal experience and consider how its interactive elements affect their reading experience. While the workshops will provide a place for group discussion and one-to-one support, other events will allow participants to explore digital fiction in their own time. In Sheffield an exhibition of digital fiction will be held at Bank Street Arts Gallery and a digital fiction author will give a public lecture as part of the Off the Shelf literary festival. In Bangor, a digital fiction competition will be held as part of the new Arts and Innovations Centre (Pontio) cultural programme which is scheduled to open in early 2014 and a public launch will increase public awareness of this initiative. The geographical focus of this event is particularly significant because very few digital fictions have been published within Wales and/or in the Welsh language. Overall, all events will increase public awareness of and engagement with digital fiction within local public spaces but also pave the way for readers to explore this kind of fiction in their own time outside of these venues.

The project will also widen participation in digital textuality, increase digital literacies and enhance comprehension of literary narratives because participants will be encouraged to reflect on digital fiction's status as: a complement to print, an electronic form of art and as a form of narrative fiction. Attendees will also be asked to consider digital fiction alongside other digital forms of media (e.g. social networking, news media) so as to reflect on digital fiction's place in our increasingly digital society. Digital literacy skills will be improved because attendees with different levels of technical experience and confidence will access these texts using computer technology. Professional practice will be influenced because the library-based facilitators will be trained in the use of digital fiction in reading groups. These activities will also increase use of the local facilities and contribute towards their economic prosperity by bringing in existing and new service users.
 
Title Brief History of the Internet 
Description The A0 size artwork contextualises over twenty works of digital literature by placing them alongside seminal events in the history of the internet. I was shown in 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature' which ran from 22 October to 14 November 2014 at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield, UK. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Visitors to the exhibition viewed the piece. 200 visitors attended the exhibition during the period 22nd to 29 Oct 2014 (total figures to be reported after the exhibition ends on 14 November 2014). Several visitors asked for a copy of the work for their own use. The piece is also published in the online exhibition on the Reading Digital Fiction project website. 
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/a-brief-history-of-the-internet/
 
Title Exhibition Catalogue for The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature 
Description The exhibition catalogue supported and complemented the physical exhibition, 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature', which ran from 22 October-14 November 2014 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, UK. The catalogue comprises the Curatorial Statement and Acknowledgements, a map of the physical exhibition, lists of the 27 works included in the physical exhibition. It also contained links to the online galleries so that visitors could experience the works in their own time on on their own devices. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact A full report on the impact of the exhibition will be given after the exhibition closes on 14 November 2014. 
URL http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/the-future-of-reading-an-exhibition-of-digital-literature/
 
Title Online Exhibition of Digital Literature 
Description The online exhibition complements and archives the physical exhibition, 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature', which ran from 22 October-14 November 2014 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, UK. The exhibition comprises the Curatorial Statement and Acknowledgements, three galleries which mirror the three galleries in the physical exhibition, a map of the physical exhibition, and a timeline titled "A Brief History of the Internet". The online galleries have descriptive texts about each of the 27 works in the exhibition, and there are links to all of the digital works so that virtual visitors can experience them on their own devices. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Details of impact will be reported following the close of the physical exhibition on 14th November 2014. 
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/the-future-of-reading-online-exhibition/
 
Title The Future of Reading: An Exhibition of Digital Literature 
Description This exhibition tracks the historical development of digital literature from experimental print antecedents through to pre-web text-based forms and current multimodal incarnations. It includes Interactive Fictions (IFs) and electronic text adventure games, hypertext and hypermedia fictions, Flash fictions, kinetic poetry, and literary videogames. The works shown in this exhibition are not e-books. Rather than existing as a digital version of a print text, digital literature is "born digital" - that is, it would lose something of its aesthetic and/or structural form and meaning if it were removed from the digital medium. Is this the future of reading? The exhibition comprised three galleries which contained 27 works. Gallery 1 focused on the historical context of digital literature; Gallery 2 focused on different forms of interactivity; Gallery 3 focused on multimodality. Each station had descriptive texts about each of the works in the exhibition. Links to the Online version of the exhibition were included in the exhibition catalogue from which virtual visitors can experience the works outside of the gallery on their own devices. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Knowledge exchange took place between the gallery staff and the research team both in terms of subject matter (i.e. digital fiction) and creative and professional practice (e.g. how literature can be exhibited). Future collaborations are being planned as a result. IT support staff at Sheffield Hallam University learned about digital fiction while preparing for and installing the exhibition. Exhibition visitors learned about digital fiction and its place in literary history. Visitor feedback from the exhibition will also be used to design research methodologies for the reader-response study. More detail will be added about impact following the end of the exhibition on 14 November 2014. 
URL http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/the-future-of-reading-an-exhibition-of-digital-literature/
 
Title WALLPAPER (digital fiction and associated installation) 
Description As a direct result of 'The Future of Reading?' exhibition held in 2014, PI Dr Alice Bell and Co-I Astrid Ensslin were invited to serve as academic consultants on the development and installation of the first site-specific piece of digital fiction exhibited in the UK. This immersive digital fiction, WALLPAPER, was not directly funded by the AHRC as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project funds. It was funded by Sheffield Hallam University Higher Education Innovation Fund and via the artists' Arts Council England funding, with support from Bank Street Arts and Bangor University. It was, however, developed as a direct result of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project and also forms part of the Reading Digital Fiction empirical research on immersion and multimodality in digital fiction. The artists kept a development blog which tracks the progress of the work and the installation: http://wallpaper.dreamingmethods.com/ 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact As reported in the corresponding 'Engagement Activity' entries for WALLPAPER, notable impacts include: influence on gallery practice at Bank Street Arts and change in behaviour/attitudes from attendees to the exhibition, book clubs, and artists' talks. The artists, Judi Alston and Andy Campbell (One-to-One Development Trust's Dreaming Methods) also commented that the collaboration 'opened up the potential and opportunity for seeing how we as artists and creatives can work with academics to explore and inform opportunities for readers in this sector.' 
URL http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/wallpaper/
 
Title WALLPAPER (immersive digital fiction virtual reality experience and installation) 
Description Building on the success of the large-scale projection of WALLPAPER in Sheffield in 2015, this new version of WALLPAPER is a completely immersive virtual reality experience using Oculus Rift and Gear VR. The installation took place in The Art House, Wakefield, in November 2016 as part of the Being Human festival. Readers were invited to explore an atmospheric 3D storyworld set in the remote North Yorkshire moors. The continued development of the immersive digital fiction, WALLPAPER, was not directly funded by the AHRC as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project funds. It was funded by the Being Human Festival of the Humanities (School of Advanced Study, University of London; AHRC; and the British Academy), and Sheffield Hallam University Humanities Research Centre Impact Fund. The original version was developed as a direct result of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project and also forms part of the Reading Digital Fiction empirical research on immersion and multimodality in digital fiction. The artists kept a development blog which tracks the progress of the work and the installation: http://wallpaper.dreamingmethods.com/ 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact People who attended the installation and experienced the digital fiction reported "I found the virtual reality the most immersive, but the larger scale installation gave it necessary context", and they appreciated learning "how new forms of media/technology can be used to explore the humanities". There were a number of events held in conjunction with the installation, including a launch, an interactive workshop, and an "Art Walk". These are reported fully in the corresponding 'Engagement Activity' entries for WALLPAPER. Highlights of the notable impacts of the installation include: "it widens your view, because you think 'this could well be mainstream' rather than just a gimmicky thing"; "it's great to see events open to the general public, also excellent that artists and creative practitioners are involved"; "I think it's very enlightening, especially for somebody like me who knows nothing about it whatsoever"; and "I'm more aware of it. I now know digital fiction is in more places than we know". 
URL http://www.the-arthouse.org.uk/event/136/wallpaper-hope-fear-and-digital-fiction
 
Description The project has investigated the way that readers process linguistic, multimodal, and interactive features in digital fiction. We have: i) developed new empirical approaches to literature; ii) synthesised cognitive psychology, empirical methods, literary theory and linguistics; iii) advanced digital fiction scholarship into what we have defined as a 'third-wave' of research that utilises empirical research; iv) combined public engagement, knowledge exchange, and impact with cutting edge research. We have conducted four empirical studies in relation to digital fiction: 'immersion', 'second-person narration', 'hyperlinks' and 'ontological ambiguity in app-fiction'. In each study, we have proposed modifying existing theory to account for our empirical findings.
Exploitation Route Researchers working in the field of empirical literary studies can use the new research methods developed by the project to investigate both digital and non-digital types of text. We have developed a method of combining public engagement with empirical research and this approach can be used by other researchers looking to develop their research in this way. Our empirical research findings about the way in which readers of digital fiction experience: the use of the second person, immersion, hyperlinks, and ontological ambiguity can be taken forward by scholars working in these research areas.
Sectors Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/our-research/
 
Description The impact in this project is underpinned by the project team's research in narrative theory, literary-linguistics, and digital fiction, to (1) introduce more readers to digital fiction and to disseminate digital fiction research; (2) investigate how readers process linguistic, multimodal, and interactive features in digital fiction. Research is integrally and reciprocally linked to impact by engagement with: members of the public already interested in digital fiction, those coming to it as a new form of reading experience; businesses (e.g. art galleries) and public services (e.g. libraries) who are interesting in introducing their service users to digital forms of literary fiction. (i) Impacts on society, culture, and creativity: readers and writers Through a comprehensive programme of public events and supporting materials, the Reading Digital Fiction project has produced and enhanced cultural understanding of digital literature and shaped the public's attitude to the digital arts. Local communities, outside large metropolises, that would otherwise not have access to digital fiction were targeted for the (off-line) events with online resources available internationally. Exhibitions allowed visitors to explore digital fiction in a public space which included supporting written materials and expertise from trained staff. Workshops allowed members of the public to engage with digital fiction research in a structured pedagogical environment and debate digital culture. Attendees at all events were provided with resources with which to engage with digital fiction outside of these sessions. Evaluation shows that attendees learned about a new form of literature, learned a new way of reading, and were inspired to learn about and read more digital fiction. Participants commented on their interaction with the research: "the conversations the [research] inspired were very interesting, very thought-provoking"; "challenging my views on storytelling". The project used reader responses from public events in its empirical research in order to co-create research methodologies, theories, and analyses (particularly around research in multimodality, immersion, second-person narration, and interactivity). Reading groups and individuals self-nominated to take part in sessions that would be recorded and later analysed using cognitive poetic methods. At the end of the project, reading group participants were invited to attend events in Sheffield and Bangor where the research findings were disseminated and discussed. The project website provides online resources and has been accessed. In 2016, the website had 9,761 views from 5,672 unique visitors. The views were from all over the world, including UK (47%), US (18%), Canada (4%), India (3%), and Brazil (3%). The "Opening Up Digital Fiction" writing competition allowed members of the public to enter their own creative works and contribute to the development of digital writing in English and Welsh. Writing workshops were run for adults and children alongside the competition to encourage participation. 112 entries were received. The entries came from all over the world, including the USA, Canada, Nigeria, Switzerland, France, India, and the UK. Members of the public were also invited to vote to determine the 'People's Prize' competition winner and all entries were available on the project website, thus encouraging international participation with this aspect of the project. (ii) Economic, commercial, organisational impacts: galleries and other local businesses Reading Digital Fiction has increased the use of existing local facilities and contributed towards their economic prosperity by holding events in external venues. The creation of new artefacts and creative relationships have also enhanced the performance of existing businesses through: the introduction of new, and the improvement of existing, products, processes and services; the adoption of new, updated and enhanced technical standards and protocols; the enhancement of strategy, operations or management practices. Several events were held at Bank Street Arts gallery (Sheffield). Materials were produced by the project, events were marketed and run by the project, and staff received subject-specific training for the events. John Clark (owner/creative director) remarks that the project 'helped Bank Street still exist, because I don't think it would have existed without it. [] With all the work Alice did with us, attendances were [up to] 50 times what they would be'. He also remarks that it allowed the gallery to develop by staging a series of technologically complex exhibitions and supporting events. One-to-One Development Trust developed a new digital fiction work. It was used in the project's empirical research with research findings feeding back into professional practice. Judi Alston (Creative Director) said: "the research undertaken on reader engagement will help to inform and expand our artistic practice in our future digital narrative works". (iii) Impacts on public policy, law and services: libraries The public have benefited from public service improvements via the collaboration with Sheffield Libraries. Two workshops for Sheffield Libraries staff were held in July 2014 to train seventeen staff in accessing, reading, and discussing digital fiction and to explore potential ways of implementing digital fiction in libraries. Following this event, the RDF project produced a 'Guide to Digital Fiction' for Sheffield Libraries service users. A long-term collaboration took place between the project and Anne Frost (Early Years Librarian). This led to a co-delivered Under-5's workshop as part of the Bookstart and Early Years programme at Sheffield Children's Library in April 2015. Frost remarks that the success of these library sessions is demonstrated by the fact that 'we'll probably run it through all our service points. We've got eleven council-run libraries and we'll probably do it in all eleven'. Overall the project has: increased digital literacies amongst the wider public (e.g. readers, library users, community groups); informed planning by making recommendations to relevant institutions about the cultural worth of digital fiction (e.g. public libraries, art galleries); enhanced cultural enrichment and quality of life by introducing readers to a new type of literature; increased the use of existing facilities (e.g. Libraries, art galleries) and contributed towards their economic prosperity by holding public engagement events in a number of spaces nation-wide (in Sheffield, Wakefield, Bangor, Aberystwyth), and influenced commercial-artistic practice via producing insights into digital fiction reading. The project has thus contributed to the production, presentation, and reception of digital fiction through academic influence and impact by engaging creative practitioners, educators, businesses, and public audiences in digital fiction research and development.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Economic
 
Description Digital Fiction and Toddler Readers at Sheffield Central Library
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact PI Alice Bell co-facilitated a session with Sheffield Central Library (SCL) as part of the "Bookstart and Early Years" programme at Sheffield Children's Library. Anne Frost (SCL), who attended one of the Reading Digital Fiction Introduction to Digital Fiction library staff workshops in July 2014, was inspired to use digital resources in this Storytime session and ran it with PI Alice Bell. Nineteen families, all with children under 5, attended the event; the majority reported knowing more about digital fiction after the session. This session achieved a number of different aims, including providing a taster day to showcase alternative book sharing ideas available in libraries to parents and children; demonstrating how digital technology can support learning; promoting safe use of new technologies; and increasing awareness and access of sites available. Most of the families were quite positive about their experience of the workshop: 67% said their child enjoyed the experience and 56% were surprised at the range of websites available. A few comments from parents included 'Both children loved looking at the books on the computer, they were extremely engaged throughout', 'I think it's a great idea', and 'useful to know about the story book websites'. Anne Frost, the Sheffield Central Libraries Early Years facilitator, appreciated the chance to work with the Reading Digital Fiction project team and liaise with the university. She cited the workshop as valuable to her professional development because it increased her awareness of the medium and gave her 'the opportunity to see first-hand how children respond to the websites'. She also welcomed 'the chance to ask our users what they would like from us and what they expect from us. It demonstrated how we are keen to learn how we can develop the service in the future'. At a time when libraries are struggling to find support, Frost appreciated that the event allowed the library to 'keep up to date with current trends and offer as much as we can as a service. The event raised awareness'. Furthermore, she has planned some pilot sessions using digital fiction to help children with the new computer sciences national curriculum.
 
Description Inclusion of digital fiction material in Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Libraries 'Reading Room'
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact A knowledge exchange workshop was held on 17th July 2014 at Sheffield Central Library. Seventeen Community Liaison Librarians attended the event during which they were introduced to digital fiction and asked about how it might be used with the library service users. It was agreed that the Reading Digital Fiction project would produce material for the 'Reading Room' which is a resource for individuals and reading groups on the Sheffield Central Library website. This is a change to the existing provision at the library which previously had no reference to or resources for digital fiction. This resource was produced, and it is publicly available at the URL below.
URL https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/readingroom/a-good-read/digitalfiction.html
 
Description Bangor University Additional Research Allowance Fund, CAH 2016
Amount £500 (GBP)
Organisation Bangor University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2016 
End 07/2016
 
Description Bangor University ESRC Impact Acceleration - Major Award
Amount £5,523 (GBP)
Organisation Bangor University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2017 
End 10/2018
 
Description Bangor University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Collaboration and Partnership Small Grant
Amount £500 (GBP)
Organisation Bangor University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2016 
End 12/2016
 
Description Being Human Festival of the Humanities
Amount £800 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2016 
End 11/2016
 
Description SHU Humanities Research Centre Impact Fund
Amount £1,750 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2014 
End 07/2014
 
Description SHU Humanities Research Centre Impact Fund
Amount £1,100 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2016 
End 11/2016
 
Description SHU Provisional Impact Case Studies Fund 2016
Amount £3,000 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2015 
End 07/2015
 
Description Sheffield Hallam Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)
Amount £9,000 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2014 
End 07/2015
 
Description Sheffield Hallam University Creating Knowledge Implementation Plan Funding - Impact Acceleration Account
Amount £6,000 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 07/2019
 
Title Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Multimodality in Digital Fiction 
Description We have adapted an existing reading group methodology for a more structured, focus-group-style approach to reader-response data collection. We invited readers (sometimes from established reading groups) who are comfortable with engaging in honest, critical discussions with each other to read a given piece of digital fiction in their own time. At the group session, the researcher leads a discussion of the salient aspects of the fiction to ensure that the research objectives are answered. Our method is more formal and less spontaneous than traditional (aka 'naturalistic') reading group sessions where the researcher is absent, but given the difficulty of addressing the navigational and interface issues that often appear in reader-response studies of digital fiction, our method provides us with clearer, more fruitful data. We have collected data from one pilot group, one pop-up group, and three further established reading groups, which we are analysing now. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact As we only finished data collection in November 2015, it has not yet had any academic impact outside our project, but we expect that it will generate impact after the analysis is complete. This methodology will be developed further over the course of the project and reported on in future reports. The research methodology has had impact on participants in the study and in particular their understanding of and confidence with digital fiction, their desire to read more digital fiction, and their enjoyment of discussion fiction with others. We report on this impact in the 'Engagement Activities' section of Research Fish in detail. 
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/our-research/
 
Title Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Ontological Ambiguity in Digital Fiction 
Description We have adopted a reading group-style methodology to study interactive app-fiction. In this case, our primary material is an app-fiction that takes ten days for readers to experience the full story. Information they enter and choices they make each day influence the next day's section of story. We invite groups of friends to begin the app on the same day and to have a group discussion after they have all finished the app. There are no researchers present at the final discussion, but a 'group leader' is appointed who audio-records the session and sets out the general topics as provided by the researchers. Participants are invited to reflect on the story experience as a whole (i.e. the story itself and also the experience of experiencing the story on their mobile phones); the main character; their relationship to the main character; and anything else they'd like to talk about. As of March 2017, we have collected data from one group with more to follow in April-July 2017. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact We will present our methodology and related results at conferences (e.g. PALA 2018). The methodology and associated data set is available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. The research methodology has had impact on participants in the study and in particular their desire to read more digital fiction and their intention to establish a regular reading group of their own. We report on this impact in the 'Engagement Activities' section of Research Fish in detail. 
 
Title Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Second-Person Narration in Digital Fiction - Study 1 
Description We have updated and synthesized a number of different types of empirical reader-response data collection methods in order to measure the way that readers respond to the use of the second-person pronoun ('you') in digital fiction. In a hands-on orientation session, we present a brief introduction to the medium of digital fiction and give participants the chance to read several pieces of digital fiction on their own computers. For the study itself, we set up a series of screenshots from a piece of digital fiction in a way that closely mimics the experience they would have if they read it on the live web. This allows us to have a controlled stimulus set while preserving the experience of reading the digital fiction in its native format. In several of the screenshots, we ask participants to identify 'you' on a cline from "'you' = me the reader" to "'you' = a fictional character". Depending on their answers, participants are asked a series of set questions for each stimulus. After the structured reading, the researcher conducts a structured interview to allow the participant to reflect on her experience of reading the story and being addressed in second person throughout. Once the data is gathered and analysed for trends and anomalies, the researchers will use Cognitive Discourse Analysis (Tenbrink, 2015), cognitive poetics, and narratological approaches to explain the results. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2015 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact We have presented our methodology and related results at a number of conferences (e.g. PALA 2015). The methodology and associated data set is available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. We used feedback from this study to develop a second methodology and this is reported on in "Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Second-Person Narration in Digital Fiction - Study 2". 
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/our-research/
 
Title Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Second-Person Narration in Digital Fiction - Study 2 
Description We have updated and synthesized a number of different types of empirical reader-response data collection methods in order to measure the way that readers respond to the use of the second-person pronoun ('you') in digital fiction. This research method also builds on "Reader-Response Methodology for Analysing Second-Person Narration in Digital Fiction - Study 1" from the project. The significant data collection consisted of an audio-recorded structured reading of a piece of digital fiction along with a series of scales designed as a questionnaire and an associated structured interview. Screenshots from a digital fiction were used to create a structured reading set so that each participant viewed the same lexia in the same order during the study. They were originally shown as a slideshow with sound effects to recreate the reading experience of the live web version. In several of the screenshots, we ask participants to identify 'you' on a cline from "'you' = me the reader" to "'you' = a fictional character". Depending on their answers, participants are asked a series of set questions for each stimulus. After the structured reading, the researcher conducts a structured interview to allow the participant to reflect on her experience of reading the story and being addressed in second person throughout. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact We have presented our methodology and related results at a number of conferences (e.g. PALA 2016). The methodology and associated data set is available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. 
 
Title Reader-response Methodology for Analysing Hyperlinks in Digital Fiction 
Description We have drawn on our reader-response methodology for analysing second person in digital fiction in order to measure how readers respond to hyperlinks in digital fiction. For our study, we have firstly brought together and synthesised a variety of different theoretical typologies on hyperlinks and their functions in digital texts. Secondly, we designed a new methodology which synthesises those different typologies in one framework. With this methodology, we created a text that incorporated the different variety of hyperlinks. We then set up an empirical reader-response study in order to measure the way that readers interpret hyperlinks in digital fiction. From our designed text, we chose a limited number of hyperlinks to act as stimuli. Similarly to our reader-response methodology for analysing second person in digital fiction, participants were asked a series of questions for each stimulus. After the structured reading, the researcher conducted a structured interview to allow the participants to reflect on the experience of reading the story and following the hyperlinks throughout. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact We have presented our methodology and related results at a number of conferences (e.g. MIX 2017). The methodology and associated data set is available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. 
 
Title Reader-response methodology for Analysing Immersion in Digital Fiction 
Description In order to investigate immersion in digital fiction, we invited members of established reading groups to experience a prescribed piece of digital fiction and then asked them questions in a semi-'naturalistic' fashion (Swann and Allington, 2009). The piece of digital fiction was a site-specific multimedia installation in a purpose-built space within in an art gallery. The participants were informed that the general aim of the study was to explore immersion, but they were not given any further direction to influence their interpretation. We aimed for a high degree of ecological validity in which reader responses were gathered in their original setting with minimal input from researchers, and we did not manipulate the textual stimulus in any way (which would be expected with the 'experimental' approach). All of the sessions were audio recorded, transcribed, and subsequently coded in nVivo. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact We have presented our methodology and related results at a number of conferences (e.g. ELO 2016). The methodology and associated data set is available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. 
 
Title Digital Fiction App and Immersion Reader-Response Data (2016-2017) 
Description These data were collected between February 2016 and May 2017 as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project study on reader-response and immersion in a digital fiction app. The collection has been anonymised. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impacts recorded as yet. 
 
Title Digital Fiction Installation and Immersion Reader-Response Data (November 2016) 
Description These data were collected in November 2016 as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project study on reader-response and immersion. The collection has been anonymised. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impacts recorded as yet. 
 
Title Digital Fiction and Hyperlinks Reader-Response Data (November 2016) 
Description These data were collected in November 2016 as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project study on hyperlinks in digital fiction. The collection has been anonymised. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impacts recorded as yet. 
 
Title Digital Fiction and You Reader-Response Data (Study 1, November 2014) 
Description These data were collected in November 2014 as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project study on second-person narration. The collection has been anonymised. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact No impacts recorded as yet. 
 
Title Digital Fiction and You Reader-Response Data (Study 2, January 2016) 
Description These data were collected in January 2016 as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project study on second-person narration. The collection has been anonymised. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The methodology and data set are available open access and we hope both will be used by other researchers. 
 
Title Reading Digital Fiction Digital Fiction App Study 
Description These data were collected between February 2016 and May 2017 in Sheffield, Huddersfield, and Nottingham as part of the Reading Digital Fiction. 5 reading groups (with a total of 20 participants) participated in the study. The data collection consisted of audio-recorded discussions of a piece of digital fiction which participants had experienced before the discussion. The digital fiction was an app called Karen by Blast Theory (2015). A researcher was not present at the discussion. The participants were told the researchers were interested in their responses to the general areas of: the story, the characters, their relationship to the characters, the technology on which the story was experienced, and anything else they wanted to discuss. The transcripts are anonymized transcriptions of five discussion groups. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://shurda.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/60
 
Description Bank Street Arts 
Organisation Bank Street Arts
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team have been working with the gallery to expand staff knowledge of digital literature both in terms of digital literature as a form of contemporary culture and also in terms of how digital literature might be exhibited in a gallery space. The Reading Digital Fiction project exhibition was held at Bank Street in October 2014. Collaborating with One-to-One Development Trust, we have strengthened and developed the partnership via extra (HEIF) funding which will support an exhibition and public workshops at Bank Street in November 2015.
Collaborator Contribution Curatorial support has been contributed by the Creative Director and Centre Manager at Bank Street Arts. The project team have benefited by learning about curation and exhibition installation in general but about the uniqueness of digital exhibitions. The project team have also learned how to show research visually and express research to a variety of non-specialist audiences.
Impact The project team have brought Bank Street Arts together with another new partner (One-to-One Development Trust) for a digital fiction installation project, called WALLPAPER, held in November 2015. Not only did this result in further knowledge exchange and professional development but it will also helped to further establish the gallery as a site for digital literature exhibitions. The exhibition was one of three central exhibitions in the Opening Up the Book Programme: The gallery staff were asked to provide feedback as to how the exhibition had effected their professional practice. Overall the gallery staff thought the exhibition was an 'outstanding addition to Bank Street Arts'. When asked what the gallery as a whole got out of the project, the Creative Directory of the gallery responded that the WALLPAPER project 'offered the opportunity to have a purpose designed work installed, created and built for the gallery itself - a cutting edge piece that is quite unlike anything staged anywhere else in the city this year or in many other years; The income and funding to do justice to the work and learn the lessons of staging a very complex set up; Further reinforcement of our standing in staging hybrid work; The opportunity to actively and directly participate in research as a real partner rather that just added on for staging purposes - I think this is one of the key successes of the project.'
Start Year 2014
 
Description Collaboration with One-to-One Development Trust - Dreaming Methods 
Organisation One to One Development Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution A relationship was established with the digital fiction artists at Dreaming Methods (part of One to One Development Trust) through 'The Future of Reading?' digital literature exhibition held in Oct/Nov 2014. Informed by the PI and Co-I's research on immersion and multimodality in digital fiction, Dreaming Methods, Bank Street Arts Gallery, and the PI and Co-I from the Reading Digital Fiction project team devised a concept for installing a new digital work, called WALLPAPER, written by Dreaming Methods. WALLPAPER was developed via funding from Sheffield Hallam University Higher Education Innovation Fund (reported on in 'Further Funding') and an Arts Council, England 'Grants for the Arts' grant of £12,618 which was awarded to One-to-One Development Trust (March 2015-March 2016). The premier of WALLPAPER and the associated exhibition was held at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield from 12th November to 5th December 2015. The installation was also supported by a series of public events including reading groups and artists' talk.
Collaborator Contribution One to One Development Trust will bring expertise in producing digital fiction to the partnership. They will be creating a new digital work which will be shown at Bank Street Arts gallery in 2015. This project will be launched exclusively with Sheffield Hallam and Bank Street Arts. The artists will also deliver two workshops to support the exhibition. They have a strong track record in effective community engagement often involving audiences/participants who may fall outside of the mainstream.
Impact We have secured c.£9,000 in HEIF funding from Sheffield Hallam University for the WALLPAPER project which was born directly from the Reading Digital Fiction project and will feed back into it in terms of empirical research and impact. Outputs include an exhibition and a series of public workshops in 2015, both of which formed a central part of the Opening Up the Book programme in 2015. The research team will analyse the digital work and build on existing experience of digital exhibition curation to evaluate the best way to display digital art. Working with the gallery and One-to-One we also explore new ways of participation in digital literacy and access of electronic text based art through computer technology.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Sheffield Libraries 
Organisation Sheffield Central Library
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell, former Co-Investigator Prof Astrid Ensslin, and Researcher Dr Jen Smith held workshops with Sheffield Libraries staff to facilitate knowledge exchange with regard to free digital fiction and how it could be used by library staff to expand their resources offer.
Collaborator Contribution Fourteen librarians from across the Sheffield Library service participated in a knowledge exchange session. In addition to the contribution of Anne Frost, Early Years Librarian, detailed below, the library has promoted Reading Digital Fiction events through publishing a reading guide to digital fiction on their website, mentions in their Twitter account, and inclusion in their Multi-Story Library Festival materials.
Impact Building on the success of the knowledge exchange, Dr Bell also co-hosted a workshop with Anne Frost, Early Years Librarian, to introduce toddler readers and their parents to digital fiction. The workshop was so successful that it is being rolled out to every service point in the Sheffield Libraries system. Frost remarks that the success of these library sessions is demonstrated by the fact that 'we'll probably run it through all our service points. We've got eleven council-run libraries and we'll probably do it in all eleven'. Furthermore, a workshop introducing adult readers to digital fiction was held in the Local Studies Library by Dr Smith. This workshop was held in conjunction with the exhibition 'The Future of Reading?: An Exhibition of Digital Literature' and brought a diverse audience into the library.
Start Year 2014
 
Description 'Introducing Digital Fiction' public workshop at Sheffield Library 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Members of the public were invited to join a researcher-led discussion about a work of digital fiction in Sheffield Central Library. On 21 October 2014, 6 members of the public shared their views with each other in a conversation that focused on various aspects of the work, including multimodal analysis, hypertext theory, game interface design, and textual criticism. The session was included in the Off the Shelf literary festival programme which is an annual event that takes place in Sheffield.

All of the participants reported an increase in knowledge and awareness of digital fiction; likewise, they all reported an increase in their confidence in using digital media. In addition, they all felt that they learned something new during the session regarding interactivity, the cybernetic feedback loop, and digital fiction as a medium.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description Article on "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition on New Media Writing Prize website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An announcement about the "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition was published on the New Media Writing Prize website on 10 October 2016.

The New Media Writing Prize is sponsored by Bournemouth University in partnership with if:book UK.

The announcement on the website detailed the parameters of the competition, including the categories for judging and how aspiring writers could submit their entries.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://newmediawritingprize.co.uk/opening-up-digital-fiction-writing-competition/
 
Description Article on "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition on The Writing Platform website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact An article about the "Opening up Digital Fiction" competition was published on The Writing Platform on 30 August 2016. The Writing Platform is a Literary Platform project associated with Queensland University of Technology and Bath Spa University, and is funded by the Arts Council of England.

The article outlined the parameters of the competition, including the categories for judging and how aspiring writers could submit their entries.

PI Alice Bell and Co-I Lyle Skains were both quoted in the article. Dr Bell explained 'There is a new generation of readers and writers who see digital media as a dynamic and genuinely immersive means of experiencing fiction. We're trying to capture that within the Reading Digital Fiction project by engaging with established audiences as well as introducing more readers to this form of storytelling.' Dr Skains went on to say 'As a writer of digital fiction, I'm excited to see the public engage more with it, and to see more popular forms emerging from this engagement'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://thewritingplatform.com/2016/08/uks-first-popular-digital-fiction-writing-competition-launched...
 
Description Article on Reading Digital Fiction in The Sheffield Telegraph newspaper 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about the Reading Digital Fiction project and associated public engagement activities (exhibition and book club) was published in The Sheffield Telegraph on 17 October 2014. The PI Dr Alice Bell was quoted in the article which also advertised the events. The Sheffield Telegraph (printed) is listed as total readership of 51,000. No figures are available for the website.

n/a
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/what-s-on/latest-in-digital-arts-at-sheffield-gallery-1-6901995
 
Description Article on Reading Digital Fiction in The Yorkshire Times newspaper 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about the Reading Digital Fiction project and associated public engagement activities (exhibition and book club) was published in The Yorkshire Times on 18 October 2014. The PI Dr Alice Bell was quoted in the article which also advertised the public engagement events.

n/a
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/The-Future-Of-Reading
 
Description Article on WALLPAPER exhibit and research activities on The Writing Platform website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about the Reading Digital Fiction project and its influence on the site-specific installation Wallpaper was published on The Writing Platform on 28 January 2016. The Writing Platform is a website and programme of live events dedicated to arming writers with digital knowledge. The PI Dr Alice Bell and research from the RDF project are mentioned in the article as having had a positive impact on the team who created the piece and on the gallery installation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.thewritingplatform.com/2016/01/wallpaper-uncovering-digital-fiction-2/
 
Description Article on WALLPAPER exhibit and research on The Literary Platform website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact An article about the research planned by the Reading Digital Fiction Project involving the Wallpaper exhibition was published on The Literary Platform on 25 February 2016. The Literary Platform online magazine explores the intersection of books and technology. The PI Dr Alice Bell was quoted in the article discussing reader response and the research underpinning the exhibition.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://theliteraryplatform.com/2016/02/wallpaper-understanding-reader-response-to-digital-fiction/
 
Description Artwalk featuring WALLPAPER installation at the Being Human Festival of the Humanities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The WALLPAPER installation at The Art House, Wakefield, featured on the "The Artwalk" on 30 November 2016. The Artwalk is an established and growing alternative night out that exists to showcase local, national, and international talent in a whole range of settings. Project collaborators, Judi Alston and Andy Campbell of One-to-One Development Trust, hosted participants. They gave an introduction to the project, linking the installation to the Reading Digital Fiction project research explicitly.

109 people went on the Artwalk, and they were enthusiastic in their response to the WALLPAPER installation: "Brilliant. Very realistic. Freaked me out, in a good way"; "I felt like I was in one of my dreams"; "Very interesting and much more exciting and enjoyable than expected"; "Wow. That was mint!"; and "Absolutely fantastic - really immersive virtual worlds."

A number of people were also interested in continuing their experience beyond the installation: "Love the narrative-driven gameplay. Where do you download this from?"; "Unique and at times unsettling. I'd definitely play this at home"; "Interesting use of narrative, creepy atmosphere. Love the soundtrack. Is this on STEAM?"; and "Would definitely be interested in seeing how this develops".

The novelty of the digital fiction and virtual reality format were widely acknowledged as well: "A new genre of artistic creativity"; "Staggeringly brilliant. New and exciting"; "Really cool and innovative projects"; "Loved the VR headset experiences"; and "Clever, I can see how you are bringing stories to life".

Finally, one participant praised the WALLPAPER installation's "Excellent approach for getting people engaged with storytelling, wider concepts and art".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.the-arthouse.org.uk/event/131/artwalk-open-studio-tours-and-events
 
Description BBC Radio Sheffield interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell was interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield by Paulette Edwards. They discussed the first UK-wide competition for digital fiction, which is part of this project (Opening Up Digital Fiction). Dr. Bell also explained what digital fiction is and how it differs from e-books. The intended purpose was to publicise the competition, publicise the project as a whole, recruit participants for public engagement events, and disseminate knowledge of/research about digital fiction.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p042t9tk
 
Description Curator-Led Guided Tour of 'The Future of Reading?' Exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact on 25 October 2014, 18 members of the public attended a tour of 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature' at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield. The tour was led by curator Dr Alice Bell. She introduced the digital literature in the exhibition, gave an introduction to digital literature, an overview of its historical development, and a closer look at the works in the exhibition. The tour was included in the Off the Shelf literary festival programme which is an annual event that takes place in Sheffield.



Many attendees asked questions and the tour generated one-to-one discussion with four attendees afterwards. One attendee reported in the feedback digital fiction 'could have possibilities in U3A retirement group' and another, working as a translator, that they would 'like to find out if works are translated into Italian so that it can be used for teaching'

16 attendees completed a feedback form. 15 out of 16 attendees reported that their knowledge and understanding of digital fiction had increased after the tour.

When asked 'How has your experience of the tour today influenced your understanding of reading and literature in the 21st century?', many visitors answered this with 'a lot'. Comments included: 'Yes, broadened it', 'expanded the possibility space', and 'it has broadened my knowledge'. 38% of attendees reported that the tour had increased their knowledge in particular of the historical development of digital fiction and its place in the history of literature in general.

Asked 'do you feel more confident about using digital media after your experience of the tour?', 66% answered 'yes', 12.5% answered 'maybe', 12.5% said 'no', 12.5% did not respond to the question. Qualitative comments included: 'I feel more confident when I return [to the exhibition] to use the different media', 'I now understand the wider range of applications', 'I am confident of producing artworks with digital media', and 'I know a little more about the various ways in which they work'.

General comments which suggested an improvement to quality of life included: 'amazing, lovely, educational', 'liked the historical/methodological/academic approach', 'fantastic tour', 'great tour', 'v. interesting - more talks/exhibitions please!', and 'very interesting and informative tour'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description Curator-Led Tour of Exhibition for Students 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact On 22nd October 2014, 14 undergraduate students from Sheffield Hallam University (from the BA English, BA Creative Writing, and BA Stage and Screen degrees) attended a curator-led tour hosted by the PI Alice Bell. The tour contextualised the works in the exhibition and allowed students to interact with the works.

9 students completed a feedback questionnaire. 78% reported an increase in knowledge about digital fiction and 12% reported no change. In the qualitative comments, 100% of attendees reported that they had learned something new from the exhibition. When asked whether they felt more confident about using digital media after experiencing the exhibition, 78% reported an increase in confidence and 12% reported no change. Asked whether the exhibition has 'influenced your understanding of reading and literature in the 21st century?' 78% answered positively and 12% did not respond to the question. Qualitative comments included 'It has made me think about the types of experimental literature you don't often hear about when looking at literature'; 'the exhibition has put literature in the 21st century in historical context'; 'it has opened my eyes to more kinds of digital fiction'; 'fun - like the gallery!'; 'literature can be more like a game'.

44% of attendees were based in Sheffield; 56% of attendees were based outside Sheffield.

Several students expressed a desire to return to the exhibition again.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Digital Fiction App Reading Group on Immersion and Psychological Projection (February 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 5 members of the public were invited to experience Karen, a digital app-fiction, over the course of 10 days and then to reflect on and discuss their reading experience in a group, which was set up by the RDF project specifically for the study. The participants recorded the session themselves, and they were asked by the RDF researchers to focus their discussion on the following: the main character (Karen), their relationship with Karen, and the experience of interacting with the story on their mobile phones. These areas were developed by the RDF in relation to their research on immersion and multimodality in digital fiction.
In addition to the questions for the empirical study, participants were also asked two general feedback questions.
When asked 'What influence will this session have on your reading choices in future (if any)?', four out of five participants replied that that they were more open to reading more digital fiction. One replied that they did not regard the experience as 'reading'. When asked 'What are you taking away from this session?', the participants all declared that they were inspired by the experience to start their own discussion club in they they would discuss books, films, theatre or other kind of media themselves. One participant remarked that 'I found it particularly enjoyable to sit down with a group of people I know really well, and discuss something in a more structured way than we would normally.' Another participant came away with the 'realisation that different people take different things away from the same text'.
Overall, the feedback showed that participants had a positive experience with digital fiction, with the research process, and were eager to find more to read in the future as well as to discuss and reflect on cultural experiences more generally.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Digital Fiction Pop-Up Book Club (Future of Literature) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On 1 November 2014, 3 members of the public shared their views about digital fiction with each other in a lively debate that focused on various aspects of the work, including multimodal analysis, socio-cultural commentary, textual criticism, and interface design evaluation.

Some of the participants reported feeling more confident about using digital media after the session, and they all plan to seek out other forms of digital fiction. Two of the participants had already attended other events in our public engagement programme (the Curator-led Guided Tour of the Exhibition and the Kate Pullinger Lecture), so this session helped to reinforce their interest in digital fiction. One participant commented, "I look forward to seeing [digital fiction] evolve".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description Digital Fiction Reading and Writing Workshop at Off the Shelf Festival of Words 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom and digital media artist/writer (and project partner) Andy Campbell of One to One Development Trust convened a workshop on reading and writing digital fiction on 21 January 2017 at Sheffield Hallam University as part of the Off the Shelf Festival of Words literary festival. 10 participants attended. The master class began with an introduction to digital fiction which was underpinned by research, followed by an exploration of how digital storytelling is different from writing for the traditional print medium. The participants were then introduced to digital writing software and given the opportunity to write some digital fiction themselves. The workshop concluded with a short exposition of what the participants had achieved.

The participants left feedback via paper questionnaires and as comments on the Reading Digital Fiction project website. All of the participants reported that their knowledge of digital fiction increased after attending the workshop. All of the participants also mentioned that being introduced to the specific software packages, including Twine and CopperCube, was the most significant thing they learned during the day: 'I've never seen Twine before, very nice!'.

Many of the participants felt more confident about using digital media in their own writing, and a few of them had specific plans: 'I would like to use it for residential care home residents to create memory box stories'; and 'I don't usually use images in my work, but this has prompted me to consider doing this more'. Experienced practitioners of digital media also benefited from the session: 'I was already confident with digital media, but the workshop helped me understand how easy it would be to get started with a new method'.

Overall, participants enjoyed themselves, and they were keen to continue their exploration of the medium in the future: 'Great fun!'; 'Interesting and useful!!'; 'Influenced me to go and find out more'; 'curious and would like to experiment more'; 'we certainly learned a lot and came away with plenty of things to try', and 'it's totally new to me and I'm hoping to practice using the technology'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2016/12/09/new-date-for-the-off-the-shelf-reading-writing-digital-...
 
Description Digital Fiction Reading/Writing Workshop for School Children at Games Britannia 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Pupils were given an introduction to digital fiction as a form of literature; an introduction to the writing tools available for creating digital fiction; and an overview from Andy Campbell as to how he came to digital writing and the works he has produced.

Pupils were then introduced to Twine software to create their own digital fictions.

Three forms of evaluation were used: sticky notes, an RDF questionnaires, and the Games Britannia questionnaire. 14 out of 17 pupils completed the evaluation. Out of these 14 pupils, three pupils opted for 3 "my knowledge of digital fiction is okay/average", three pupils opted for 4.5/5 "My knowledge of digital fiction is quite/very good", two pupils opted for "3.5", two pupils opted for "3/4", one student opted for "5" and one student did not indicate a number. Pupils' knowledge of digital fiction thus went up overall from 1 (nothing) to 3 or 5 (some/a lot).

The pupils came up with interesting definitions of how they saw digital fiction, and they all commented on how they enjoyed the writing and how they understood it much better now. The only "critical" comment we received, from one pupil, is that they wanted more time for writing. Qualitative comments included:
1. "I really liked creating the story and how everything was organised. I also like the fact that you make choices";
2. "I have learnt that stories don't just have to be told page by page, you can show your writing more creatively ?"
3. "I have learned how it is possible to create your own digital fiction stories"
4. "Yes. I think I am more likely to write my stories and things in a digital fiction format"
5. "I have seen how digital fiction is quite broad, from very experimental stuff to more traditional"
6. "Very informative. Teaching was practical and easy to understand"
7. "I really enjoyed the session and want to continue it in lesson"
8. "I know how to create a story with digital fiction. I also know many of the features of it";
9. "I feel more confident and the workshop showed another way of telling a story"
10. "I might consider this as a job and I think that digital fiction is the future of reading"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.gamesbritannia.com/
 
Description Digital Fiction and Toddler Readers at Sheffield Central Library 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact PI Alice Bell co-facilitated a session with Sheffield Central Library (SCL) as part of the "Bookstart and Early Years" programme at Sheffield Children's Library. Anne Frost (SCL), who attended one of the Reading Digital Fiction Introduction to Digital Fiction library staff workshops in July 2014, was inspired to use digital resources in this Storytime session. With support from Alice Bell, Anne devised a session using child friendly computer hardware and resources from a variety digital fiction resources. PI, Alice Bell, delivered the session with Anne.
Nineteen families, with children under 5, attended the event and the majority reported knowing more about digital fiction after the session.
This session achieved a number of different aims, including providing a taster day to showcase alternative book sharing ideas available in libraries to parents and children; demonstrating how digital technology can support learning; promoting safe use of new technologies; and increasing awareness and access of sites available.
Most of the families were quite positive about their experience of the workshop: 67% said their child enjoyed the experience and 56% were surprised at the range of websites available. A few comments from parents included 'Both children loved looking at the books on the computer, they were extremely engaged throughout', 'I think it's a great idea', 'teaches me many things, benefit all of us', and 'useful to know about the story book websites'.
Anne Frost, the Sheffield Central Libraries Early Years facilitator, appreciated the chance to work with the Reading Digital Fiction project team and liaise with the university. She also welcomed 'the chance to ask our users what they would like from us and what they expect from us. It demonstrated how we are keen to learn how we can develop the service in the future'.
Encouraged by the success of the session, Anne said 'we'll probably run it through all our service points. We've got eleven council-run libraries and we'll probably do it in all eleven"; furthermore, she has planned some pilot sessions using digital fiction to help children with the new computer sciences national curriculum. Regarding the promotion of digital fiction, Anne would like to include it in the library's Book Award project, and she will be trying to work more closely with publishers as well. Ultimately, Anne points out, helping toddlers and their parents learn to read digital fiction is "just another way of book sharing ... a valuable thing to do because it's family time".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2015/04/24/digital-fiction-and-toddler-readers-at-sheffield-childr...
 
Description Digital Literature masterclass with Christine Wilks 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On 29 October 2014, digital literature author, Christine Wilks, delivered a creative writing master class at Sheffield Hallam University. 34 people attended. These were 10 members of the public and 24 students from Sheffield Hallam University MA in Writing.

17 attendees (50%) completed feedback sheets.

82% reported that their knowledge about digital fiction had increased following the talk; 12% reported no change; 6% did not answer the question. When asked for qualitative comments about what they had learned, 88% reported that they had learned something new about digital fiction. Comments about what was learned included: 'lots about software tools, creative ideas, research methods'; 'more fully understand what digital literature is and how it is created'; 'very useful re tools'; 'definitely (re)stimulated ideas'.

Asked 'do you feel more confident about using digital media after the class'?, 65% said yes, 17.5% did not respond, and 17.5% responded in a way that did not answer the question. Qualitative comments for this question included ''will include e-fiction in my own art practice', 'would absolutely look further into it', 'the process doesn't seem so exclusive to people who know how to code'. Comments in general suggested that a number of people would change their artistic behaviour as a consequence of attending the class.

Asked whether 'the class influenced your understanding of reading and literature in the 21st century?', 83% said yes and 17% did not answer. Comments included 'the way that gaming and narration interact', 'it has opened up my mind to the creative potential of computer-based interactivity', 'it is interesting to see how storytelling is starting to hark back to the oral tradition', 'interesting that the primary motivation is fragmentation and the solution mash-up, yes all the examples offer a notion of completion'.

General comments about the class included: 'really enjoyable and informative', very useful to see the dynamics of an organic creative process', 'it is useful to consider the risks in a multimedia fiction', 'thank you very much for the educational and interesting workshop'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description Digital fiction sessions (x 3) with established reading groups (WALLPAPER) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Members of three local reading groups were invited to attend an exhibition of a site-specific installation of digital fiction entitled WALLPAPER. After everyone had read the piece on their own, they met in the gallery and participated in a researcher-led discussion of their experience of reading the work, which was based on research on multimodalty and immersion by the Reading Digital Fiction project. The discussion included their responses to the story and characters, their feelings of immersion, and the physical gallery setting.
In addition to discussing the digital fiction installation, participants were also asked to evaluate the experience. They reported that the sessions had a significant impact on future reading choices; ten of the twelve participants said they would read more digital fiction. Three participants wanted to come back and try WALLPAPER again. Overall, the comments show how the session expanded readers' knowledge of digital fiction, and how participants gained 'a more open approach to different mediums' in general.
When asked 'What influence will this session have on your reading choices in future (if any)?', participants responded with comments such as 'had not thought there may be different genre before I came', 'I'll keep an eye open for more digital fiction, especially of the non-horror/suspense variety', and 'I would sign up for a monthly 'here are some interesting new dig fics' newsletter'.
When asked 'What are you taking away from this session?', participants replied with 'reflections on the nature of reading and gender differences in approaches to fiction and video games', 'a willingness to try more interactive fiction (where I am in control and expected to react)', and 'a lovely memory of a fine conversation and a richer understanding of the work'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2016/02/05/reading-wallpaper-at-bank-street-arts/
 
Description Entry in Writing Magazine 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition was included in the Writing Magazine special issue on Writing Competitions. The magazine print readership is 66,000.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.writers-online.co.uk/
 
Description Feature in The Sheffield Star newspaper 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about the Reading Digital Fiction project and associated public engagement activities (exhibition and book club) was published in The Sheffield Star on 17 October 2014. The PI Dr Alice Bell was quoted in the article which also advertised the public engagement events. Sheffield Star (printed) has a total readership of 113,000. No figures are available for the website.

Unknown
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.thestar.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/latest-in-digital-arts-at-sheffield-gallery-1-6901995
 
Description Film of WALLPAPER launch at Being Human Festival of the Humanities (Wakefield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact One to One Development Trust produced a film about the WALLPAPER exhibition at the 2016 Being Human Festival of the Humanities. It was filmed at the launch event at The Art House in Wakefield on 17 Nov. 2016. The film interweaves footage from members of the public who attended the launch, creators of digital fiction, students, and Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell who talks about: the collaboration between the project and One-to-One, the empirical research being undertaken with WALLPAPER, and the Reading Digital Fiction project more widely.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://wallpaper.dreamingmethods.com/being-human/
 
Description Hyperlink Study Dissemination Event, Bangor, Wales 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Co-I Dr Lyle Skains and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom faciliated a session with previous participants in the Hyperlinks study for the Reading Digital Fiction project on 26 April 2017. Drs Skains and van der Bom led a discussion about their initial impressions of the data, how the study was designed, and how hypertexts work for readers and writers alike.

Based on the presentation, participants discussed point-of-view, character identification, likeable vs. unlikeable characters, and reader-identification with moral choices in the narrative. Though the event was only scheduled for an hour, the conversation continued for two further hours, which demonstrates how keen the participants were to engage with the topics around research and reading digital fiction.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2017/04/27/hyperlink-study-dissemination-event-bangor/
 
Description Introducing Kids to Digital Fiction at the National Library of Wales 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Co-I Dr Lyle Skains and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom conducted a workshop at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth on 4 April 2017. They met with 25 five- and six-year-olds from the Lucy Davies' school and did several activities, beginning with an 800-year-old book that had been digitized, then drawing their own monsters inspired by the digital text for the day, and finally reading and playing through an app.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2017/04/04/introducing-kids-to-digital-fiction-at-the-national-lib...
 
Description Kate Pullinger Lecture (Off the Shelf literary festival, Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On 12th October 2014, a digital fiction author, Kate Pullinger, gave a talk as part of the Off the Shelf literary festival in Sheffield. Dr Alice Bell gave an introduction which provided an overview of what digital fiction is and what the programme of events aimed to do.

38 people attended. Several members of the audience asked questions throughout the talk and generated discussion afterwards. New connections were made between the project team and some attendees (e.g. a project team working on digital literature for children).


38 people attended, 21 attendees completed a feedback questionnaire. 90% reported that their knowledge of digital fiction had increased as a consequence of attending the session - many indicating that their knowledge had increased from 'none' to 'a lot'. 86% reported that the talk had 'influenced their understanding of reading and literature in the 21st century'; 14% did not answer that question. Comments about the session included: 'I'll be looking out for the other events'; 'it was brilliant!'
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/digitalfiction
 
Description Launch Event of 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Approximately 85 people attended the launch of the 'Future of Reading?' exhibition at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, on 23rd October 2014. These included members of the public, authors of the works, gallery staff, academic colleagues, and some press. The PI and Co-I for the project gave a presentation, outlining the aims of the exhibition. Average attendance figures for a launch event at Bank Street Arts are approximately 40 people, so this event represents a strong success comparably.

Many attendees made informal positive comments to the project team and gallery staff about the exhibition and the launch event. Several attendees said they planned to revisit the exhibition.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description Launch of WALLPAPER Exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Approximately 90 people attended the launch of the WALLPAPER exhibition at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, on 12th November 2015. WALLPAPER, and this launch event, was not directly funded by the AHRC as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project funds. It was funded by Sheffield Hallam University Higher Education Innovation Fund and via the artists' Arts Council England funding. It was, however, developed as a direct result of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project and also forms part of the Reading Digital Fiction empirical research.
The launch aimed to publicise the exhibition and to celebrate the opening of the exhibition run. Attendees included members of the public, artists involved in creating the work, digital fiction writers, gallery staff, academic colleagues, and some press. The PI, Alice Bell, and the authors of WALLPAPER, Judi Alston and Andy Campbell, gave presentations, outlining the aims of the exhibition and the collaborative process. Average attendance figures for a launch event at Bank Street Arts are approximately 40 people, so this event represents a strong success comparably. Feedback was gathered via a 'visitors' book'. All the comments from the launch were positive: 'Tremendous experience'; 'Interesting! I want another go!'; 'really beautiful!', 'fantastic'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2015/10/09/launch-and-premier-of-digital-fiction-installation-wall...
 
Description Library Staff Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A knowledge exchange workshop was held on 17th July 2014 at Sheffield Central Library. Seventeen Community Liaison Librarians attended the event, during which they were introduced to digital fiction and asked about how it might be used with the library service users.

All of the librarians enjoyed the session, and they also all reported learning something new: 'I didn't realize there was so much digital fiction available and it was interesting to see how interactive the stories were'; 'I now have more of an appreciation of what digital fiction is all about'; 'This was the first time I had read a digital story. I'm sure the medium will grow and it would be good to see libraries playing a part in promoting it'; and 'gave me an awareness of what is available online'.

The session was the first time many of the librarians had encountered digital fiction, and many of them immediately recognized the potential for introducing the medium to younger readers: 'something to engage young people in thinking about narratives and the different ways of telling a story'; 'would recommend it to young people'; 'as a tool to encourage younger readers to continue to read print long term'; 'personal reading work with teenagers in the library'; and would be useful for library users who usually only game or read no printed material'.

Moreover, as a direct result of participating in the knowledge exchange, Early Years Librarian Anne Frost co-facilitated a workshop with Dr Bell to introduce toddler readers and their parents to digital fiction at the library (detailed under the Engagement Activity "Digital Fiction and Toddler Readers at Sheffield Central Library").



Several participants suggested that young people's reading groups associated with the library would find digital fiction useful for introducing younger people to literature. One librarian asked for support with using digital fiction with a child and parent reading group and a meeting was held in January 2015 to discuss that. An event with young children and families will take place in April 2015 to introduce them to digital fictions and offer them resources for using digital fiction in the libr
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
URL https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/readingroom/a-good-read/digitalfiction.html
 
Description Online Exhibition of Digital Literature 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The online exhibition complements and archives the physical exhibition, 'The Future of Reading? An Exhibition of Digital Literature', which ran from 22 October-14 November 2014 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, UK. The exhibition comprises the Curatorial Statement and Acknowledgements, three galleries which mirror the three galleries in the physical exhibition, a map of the physical exhibition, and a timeline titled "A Brief History of the Internet". The online galleries have descriptive texts about each of the works in the exhibition, and there are links to all of the digital works so that virtual visitors can experience them on their own devices.

The online exhibition has had 180 page views in the three weeks since its launch. The tweet announcing the online exhibition has had 943 impressions. We are gathering online feedback and will analyse it in a future report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/the-future-of-reading-online-exhibition/
 
Description Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The "Opening Up" digital fiction writing competition was originally launched as the Opening Up Digital Fiction writing competition in 2017. The competition is designed to expand digital fiction readership to include a broader segment of the public. Therefore while the competition is open to all writers (rookies and veterans) and all types of digital fiction, entries are sought that are broadly accessible, both in terms of intended audience and device compatibility. In 2021, the competition was integrated as a distinct category within the New Media Writing Prize which is a very prestigious international competition for digitally born writing that has been running since 2010. In 2021, 125 international entries were submitted to the New Media Writing Prize of which 54 were eligible for the "Opening Up" category. 964 people voted internationally with all "Opening Up" submissions published on the New Media Writing Prize website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://newmediawritingprize.co.uk/opening-up-2021/
 
Description Opening Up Digital Fiction writing competition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact PI Dr Alice Bell and Co-I Dr Lyle Skains organised a competition for new pieces of digital fiction in Welsh and English.

The the Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition is designed to expand digital fiction readership to include a broader segment of the public. Therefore while the competition was open to all writers (rookies and veterans) and all types of digital fiction, we sought entries of works that are broadly accessible, both in terms of intended audience and device compatibility. This is the first ever digital fiction competition which aimed to produce "popular" works of digital fiction.

The prize categories were:

Judges' Prize
People's Choice
Welsh Language Prize*
Student Prize
Children's Story Prize
*Welsh language entries are eligible for all prize categories.

Winners will receive a cash prize (£300 to the winner of each category), publication on the Reading Digital Fiction website, and a series of mentoring meetings with select judges on a future digital fiction project.

The competition was widely publicised to writers and the general public through a variety of channels, including print media, radio, and the internet. 110 entries were received, one of which was in Welsh. The entries came from all over the world, including Sweden, Brazil, Israel, Ireland, the Russian Federation, Mexico, Denmark, Norway, Lebanon, Iran, Chile, Ukraine, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, Australia, Pakistan, USA, Canada, Nigeria, Switzerland, France, and the UK. There were 34 entries in the Student category, and 3 for the Children's Story category.

The competition was a major driver for traffic to the project website. The most visited page in 2016 was "Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition", and the most visited page in 2017 was "Shortlisted Competition Entries".

The competition judges included: Prof Kate Pullinger, Dr. Bronwen Thomas, Prof Astrid Ensslin, Dr Eben J. Muse, PI Dr Alice Bell, and Co-I Dr Lyle Skains. The judges appreciated various aspects of the experience: "I would say my experience of judging was enjoyable but tough - it was great to see a strong showing for the student prize, and hope to see more Welsh language entries in the future!!"; "As a judge it has been a real privilege to read lots of new digital fiction and it's given me a real sense of where the field is now. I was bowled-over by the quantity and quality of the entries! The entries were of an extremely high quality in terms of technical ability, the way in which the digital medium was used to tell a story, and the quality of the writing. The shortlisted works truly show how digital fiction can be opened up to new writers and audiences. It's clear that Twine has really opened up digital fiction to new writers but there we've also seen huge variety in terms of the software used to write digitally. I was particularly impressed by the entries that utilized the digital medium intrinsically so that interactivity or multimodality had a real role in the narrative"; "It was a fantastic experience to be able to read and play such a wide variety of innovative works, and the manifold ways in which they push the aesthetic boundaries of the technologies they use. Identifying the top runners in the competition was a tough call because of the sheer diversity of top-quality digital fictions submitted, and the very distinctive reading/playing experiences they afford. Personally I am delighted to see this creative area burgeoning and flourishing like this. Congratulations to all successful artists in this competition, and thanks to all participants for enriching the process as a whole"; and "I was overwhelmed by the submissions we received, not only the quality but the diversity. To receive so many different styles and types of digital fictions from all over the world (24 countries!) shows just how many people are engaging and active in digital fiction. The potential is enormous, and I can't wait to see what this competition could turn into in 5, 10, 20 years".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/writing-competition/
 
Description Podcast on "Cultural Mechanics: A Podcast on Culture and Technology" with James O'Sullivan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell was interviewed by Dr James O'Sullivan for a podcast on his blog, Cultural Mechanics. They discussed Alice Bell's research in digital fiction, debates in the field of electronic literature, and Bell shared some research findings from the Reading Digital Fiction project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://culturalmechanics.org/digital-fiction-according-to-alice-bell/
 
Description Prize ceremony for "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition in Bangor, Wales 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The winners of the "Opening Up Digital Fiction" competition were announced at a ceremony in Bangor, Wales, on 25 May 2017. Approximately 20 people attended the ceremony at Bangor University, and it was also livestreamed through a Google Hangout and captured on YouTube.

The winners and honourable mentions for each category are as follows:
Judges' Prize Digital Fiction: "How to rob a bank", Alan Bigelow (winner); "Bad Influences", Emma Pooka (honourable mention)
People's Choice Digital Fiction: "Frritt-Flacc", StoryMax (winner); "Psychic High School", Dean Hammer (honourable mention)
Children's Digital Fiction: "Switcheroo: Mrs. Wobbles & the Tangerine House", the Marino Family (winner)
Best Student Digital Fiction: "astra inclinant", Kaitlyn Ensley (winner); "Slumber", Benjamin Woodier (honourable mention)

For the People's Choice category, a total of 805 votes were received.

Anonymised comments by the judges about the winners are as follows:
"How to rob a bank": "This was an enjoyable story with a simple interface idea that drove it forward in a creative way. It felt like a structure that could be duplicated by others for a range of narrative arcs or styles"; "Very funny and fun, with good use of the interface. Very good narrative, woven in with clear understanding of the 'google it' attitude, used well for humor. Well-executed"; "Very readable and original story design, letting our personalized interfaces tell biographical narratives; evokes contemporary concerns with mass surveillance and global everyday terrorism".

"Bad Influences": "The layout is good, the blog entries interact and it's an effective way to tell the story"; "for a blog fiction this is pretty immersive. It's very well written and suspenseful, and shows an interesting use of reversed narrative timeline, distributed across different voices; the topic is gripping and strangely topical"; "This is a well-written, deftly woven set of fictional blogs. It uses the interface well, including comments and interactions, and is a very compelling story. I happily spent one evening just reading the whole thing".

"Switcheroo: Mrs. Wobbles & the Tangerine House": "This really stands out for me as a model of how families can co-create and enjoy digital fiction together; love the gaming aspects and the personalization features"; "lovely story"; "well developed story for an early teen. The use of the software tools is effective, the tone is engaging, and the story is interesting".

"astra inclinant": "Has a polished feel. I like the design and the story line works well"; "Beautifully written and rendered, good mix of interaction and animation, one of the best sci-fi Twine fictions I've read"; "a really effective piece of sci-fi. While the narrative is somewhat derivative, it is well-executed, and the interface works extremely well".

"Slumber": "this makes good use of parallax scrolling to create a dynamic graphic effect that takes comic narrative design on to the web"; "this is a very simple story, a webcomic, but making excellent use of its interface, as well as audio and visual art, for horror effect. Showing that more is not necessarily better".

The winners themselves were delighted to have been chosen: "Thank you so much for this honor. I am entirely surprised and happy. Honestly, there were so many great works, I did not think I had a chance. I am very, very grateful. Thank you so much!"; "I'm so very amazed and chuffed, the rest of the entries were absolutely astounding! Shout out to all who took part in Bad Influences when it was live!"; and "Thank you so much! It was an honour to be recognized by the competition".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/2017/05/26/opening-up-digital-fiction-competition-winners/
 
Description Public Engagement and Impact Workshop, Sheffield 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact PI Dr Alice Bell and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom conducted a workshop on public engagement and impact. The workshop was targeted at academics working within English studies nationally. 12 academics, including ECRs and PhD students, from across the UK attended the event on 22 June 2017.

The session covered the following topics:
• Discussing the meaning of impact;
• Creating and maintaining networks;
• Strategy assessment: shaping your ideas;
• Evaluating and evidencing impact;
• What can go wrong?;
• FAQ - Questions & answers, practical advice;
• Developing a personal action plan.

The event was extremely well received with all-but-one participants (whose status stayed the same) reporting a significant increase in their levels of confidence and/or knowledge about doing impact work.

Qualitative comments to the question "what did you get out of the workshop?" included:

- "Confidence, knowledge of possibilities and processes";
- "Clarity around evaluation and evidencing impact";
- "A lot!";
- "Getting a firmer understanding of what impact is";
- "That impact doesn't have to mean saving the world and can be small in scope but still be significant";
- "Good links to follow up on";
- "New ideas".

Qualitative comments to the question "what will you do in response to this session?" included:

- "Move forward with impact work";
- "Share findings with colleagues";
- "Reflect on ideas discussed and how they can be implemented";
- "Make an impact plan";
- "Build my networks";
- "Apply for funding".

The feedback suggests that the participants will put into practice what they learned and thus the workshop will lead to the development of more public engagement and other impact projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/academic-impact-workshop-for-english-studies-researchers-tickets-3370...
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Feature in Our Favourite Places: Sheffield Culture Guide 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about the Reading Digital Fiction project and associated public engagement activities was published on the Our Favourite Places website on 15 October 2014 and advertised in the Our Favourite Places newsletter on 17 October 2014. The Our Favourite Places website on which the feature was published received an average of 20,000 page views on the site per month. The Our Favourite Places newsletter in which the feature was advertised was distributed to approximately 600 people.

n/a
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.ourfaveplaces.co.uk/events/happenings/reading-digital-fiction
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Resources for Readers 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction project team has created a number of resources to engage different audiences with digital fiction. Each page has been tailored to provide the most relevant digital fictions and approaches for the different audiences, and links to the appropriate titles are embedded within the pages to facilitate quick access.
The Resources for Readers page explains the definition of digital fiction and gives several annotated examples to start readers on their journey through the medium.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/resources-for-readers/
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Resources for Reading Groups 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction project team has created a number of resources to engage different audiences with digital fiction. Each page has been tailored to provide the most relevant digital fictions and approaches for the different audiences, and links to the appropriate titles are embedded within the pages to facilitate quick access.
The Resources for Reading Groups page is aimed at reading groups (also known as book groups) or other groups of readers who are interested in discussing digital fictions in detail. The material can also be used by individual readers who want to think about digital fiction in greater depth.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/resources-for-reading-groups/
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Resources for Researchers 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction project team has created a number of resources to engage different audiences with digital fiction. Each page has been tailored to provide the most relevant digital fictions and approaches for the different audiences, and links to the appropriate titles are embedded within the pages to facilitate quick access.
The Resources for Researchers page provides a succinct annotated bibliography of academic resources for those new to the field. The selections have been limited to five per category and, in line with the project focus, these recommendations fall largely within the remit of narratology, stylistics, and otherwise formalist or cognitive approaches.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/resources-for-academics/
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Resources for Writers 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction project team has created a number of resources to engage different audiences with digital fiction. Each page has been tailored to provide the most relevant digital fictions and approaches for the different audiences, and links to the appropriate titles are embedded within the pages to facilitate quick access.
The Resources for Writers page explains that digital writers have historically used a lot of different platforms, often proprietary software that was both expensive, and repurposed for digital fiction; however, a lot has changed as digital fiction has grown in popularity, and the page provides an annotated list of platforms for writers to explore.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/resources-for-writers/
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction Twitter account 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction Twitter account has 466 followers. As of February 2017, the location of followers was as follows: UK (58%), USA (12%), Canada (5%), Spain, (3%), Germany (3%), Ireland (3%), Other (6%). The main audience interest is books news and general info (83%), followed by politics and current events (77%), business and news (59%), and nonfiction (56%).

The account is used to publicise events, communicate information about the project's research activity, publish research, provide resources for the public.

Followers regularly retweet or favourite tweets from this account. Several followers asked questions about events via Twitter.

According to Twitter analytics, tweets from this account earned 12.4K impressions over the 28 day period during which the majority of the project events were run (8 Oct to 5 Nov 2014).

The number of followers and related activity increased dramatically during the period of public engagement events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016,2017
URL https://twitter.com/ReadDigFic
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction programme flyer 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 12,000 flyers for the Reading Digital Fiction programme of events (12 Oct - 14 Nov 2014) were distributed across Sheffield.

Attendance at all events was high.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/2014/09/29/reading-digital-fiction-programme-of-events-published/
 
Description Reading Digital Fiction website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Reading Digital Fiction website was launched in 2014.

In 2014, the website had 4,578 views from 1,684 unique visitors. The majority of the views were from the UK (67%) and the US (9%), with some from Brazil (5%) and Canada (5%) as well.

The project was paused for most of 2015, but there was still a significant amount of traffic on the website. 1,701 unique visitors viewed the site 3,377 times. The UK had 28% of page views, but the website increased its global global reach, to the US (21%), Brazil (8%); Canada (7%); and Germany (3%).

In 2016, the Reading Digital Fiction website had 9,761 views from 5,672 unique visitors. The views were from all over the world, including UK (47%), US (18%), Canada (4%), India (3%), and Brazil (3%).
The most popular post in 2016, with nearly half of the views, was "Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition".

As of May 2017, the website had 5,518 views from 2,463 unique visitors. The most popular post in 2017 is the list of "Shortlisted Competition Entries", with 40% of the page views.

Overall, in the three years that the website has been live, there have been 23,234 views from 11,520 unique visitors.



Unable to report any results.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016,2017
URL http://readingdigitalfiction.com/
 
Description Research Dissemination Event for public, Sheffield 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact PI Dr Alice Bell and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom invited previous study participants to a dissemination event held in Sheffield on 20 June 2017. 12 people attended the event. Results from three studies (on 'You', immersion, and psychological projection) were presented and attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions about the study and the results.

The event was extremely well received and the study participants engaged in discussion and asked questions throughout the session. Evaluation of the session was unanimously positive. Comments included:

• "I learned a lot about digital fiction - how we respond to it - and this involved some new concepts for me"
• "I very much enjoyed being involved in the project"
• "I enjoyed the discussion and interactivity"
• "I enjoyed learning about the research and what has come out of it"
• "Lots of thought-provoking stuff"
• "I enjoyed finding out how a project I was involved with has led to some theoretical developments"
• "I will engage more with digital fiction"
• "This kind of engagement/debriefing event is an excellent way to bring closure to a project"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Site-specific exhibition pop-up book club (WALLPAPER) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Members of the public were invited to participate in a pop-up book club at Bank Street Arts, where the site-specific piece of digital fiction Wallpaper was being exhibited. While 6 people signed up for the event, only two participants attended on the night. (We suspect this was due to bad weather as well as the normal drop-out rate.) The session was led by PI Dr Alice Bell and Co-I Prof Astrid Ensslin and questions informed by their research on immersion, multimodality, and interactivity in digital fiction. The two discussion centred largely on the two participants' experience of the work, feelings of immersion, and the boundaries between digital fiction and literary games.
When asked 'What influence will this session have on your reading choices in future (if any)?', both participants responded with comments including 'wanting to explore more digital fiction' and 'considering what it means to 'be' in a digital fiction'.
When asked 'What are you taking away from this session?', participants had mixed reactions, with one wanting to 'look for more digital fiction but not game ones' while another expressed an interest in 'reading more 'game-like' narratives'. Both participants asked to be kept informed of the research outcomes, suggested a sustained interest beyond the discussion group setting.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description The Future of Reading: An Exhibition of Digital Literature 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The exhibition comprises three galleries. Gallery 1 focused on the historical context of digital literature; Gallery 2 focused on different forms of interactivity; Gallery 3 focused on multimodality. Each station had descriptive texts about each of the works in the exhibition. Links to the Online version of the exhibition were included in the exhibition catalogue from which virtual visitors can experience the works outside of the gallery on their own devices.

The exhibition was included in the Off the Shelf literary festival programme in Sheffield.

General admission to the exhibition (excluding tours, student groups, and launch event) = 340 (Week 1: 200; Week 2: 50; Week 3: 90). Average attendance for an exhibition at Bank Street is between 10 and 20 people per day and thus 40-80 per week.

To evaluate the exhibition, a feedback form was distributed to attendees. 66 people completed a feedback form. 84% of respondents said that their knowledge of digital fiction had increased after seeing the exhibition. 88% of those that responded (to this particular question) felt more confident using digital media after experiencing the exhibition. 78% of those that responded (to this particular question) felt that their experience of the exhibition influenced their understanding of reading and literature in the twenty-first century. Comments included: 'Made me realise the versatility of storytelling, something I'd never considered before.'; 'I am so happy to see a focus on this work. Exactly the sort of real/placed approach to research that is needed.'; 'It has completely opened my eyes to a whole new world of literature.'

A more detailed Impact Report for the exhibition is available on the project website: https://readingdigitalfiction.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/impact-report-for-the-future-of-reading-exhibition-december-2014.pdf

A full impact report for the exhibition is available at: https://readingdigitalfiction.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/impact-report-for-the-future-of-reading-exhibition-december-2014.pdf

As a summary, 41 people completed a feedback form. 80% of respondents said that their knowledge of digital fiction had increased after seeing the exhibition; 15% reported no change; 5% did not answer the question. When asked whether attendees felt more confident about using digital media after experiencing the e
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/the-future-of-reading-an-exhibition-of-digital-literature/
 
Description WALLPAPER Artists' Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 16 people attended an artists' talk by Judi Alston and Andy Campbell (of One-to-One Development Trust's Dreaming Methods). It took place on 19 November 2015 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield as part of the Opening Up the Book programme. The event aimed to introduce attendees to a range of digital fiction, show the creative methods and technical skills involved in creating digital fiction, and inspire people to create their own works.

This was a very successful event. Comments were gathered in a comments book and included:
'That was so interesting! Really opened my eyes up to the different kinds of art forms there are' ; 'The amount of story/thought gone into the finer details really captivates you. Hope to see more.'
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/events/
 
Description WALLPAPER Exhibition at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact As a direct result of 'The Future of Reading?' exhibition held in 2014, PI Dr Alice Bell and Co-I Astrid Ensslin were invited to serve as academic consultants on the development and installation of the first site-specific piece of digital fiction exhibited in the UK. This immersive digital fiction, WALLPAPER was not directly funded by the AHRC as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project funds. It was funded by Sheffield Hallam University Higher Education Innovation Fund and via the artists' Arts Council England funding, with support from Bank Street Arts and Bangor University. It was, however, developed as a direct result of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project and also forms part of the Reading Digital Fiction empirical research.

The WALLPAPER digital fiction installation ran from 13 November to 5 December 2015 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, UK. The installation formed a central part of Bank Street Arts' project 'Opening Up the Book' (http://openingupthebook.com/category/november/), being promoted as one of three central exhibitions in the programme. It aimed to increase public awareness of and engagement with digital fiction via a collaboration with the One-to-One Development Trust and specifically their Dreaming Methods initiative. It also aims to understand how new media art and digital fiction in particular can be best exhibited in a public art space. The project resulted in a site specific digital fiction installation as well as a programme of supporting public engagement events (reported on in other sections).

Responses to the exhibition were collected using an iPad positioned at the door of the gallery and a traditional comments book near the door. More than 50 people responded. Many visitors were inspired to look at or make more digital fiction or recommend the exhibition to others: 'loved the interactive potential. I'll bring my 11 year old granddaughter in a week to look at it with her'; 'It was well put together and I will check out digital fiction again'; 'Interesting! I want another go!'; and 'Very interesting idea, find the thought of audience interaction exciting. Will keep an eye out for more in the future'.

When asked 'Is there anything else you'd like to say about the exhibition?', most of the visitors (65%) left a positive comment, for example: 'like nothing else!'; 'I want more!'; 'Lovely atmosphere, amazing landscapes, brilliant attention to detail'; 'Tremendous experience - love the atmosphere both of the visuals, storytelling and sound'; 'Thank you for an intriguing story'; and 'I really love the overall aesthetic; the amount of story/thought gone into the finer details really captivates you'.

It was motivating to hear comments from attendees that echo our research goals, such as 'Blimey! That was really intuitive and naturally intriguing, great that you weren't just sat consuming the story from someone else but actually creating the story, the word agency kept springing to mind'; 'Unusual experience, held my breath through most of it. Beautiful design and incredibly immersive'; 'I especially liked the interactive element'; 'I was extremely impressed - the atmosphere is incredibly claustrophobic and the colour, grading, audio, and visuals are all excellent'; 'One of the most immersive experiences I have had in an art gallery. This is a fantastic piece of work'; 'It made me feel like I was walking through the room. I could imagine you'd be really spooked'; and 'A very creepy surreal experience. I am a game player so it's not unfamiliar but it felt different. The outcome of this project/art piece is not as clearly defined as it is in narrative computer games. That uncertainty is unsettling'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/wallpaper/
 
Description WALLPAPER VR Installation (Wakefield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact WALLPAPER is an interactive and immersive piece of digital fiction presented as a large scale projection and cutting-edge Virtual Reality experience (Oculus Rift and Gear VR). Through a launch event, gallery installation and exciting talk/workshop, readers were invited to explore an atmospheric 3D storyworld set in the remote North Yorkshire moors, uncovering a family history of unfulfilled hopes and hidden fears.

More than 150 people experienced the installation and the associated events in the Wakefield region. Many of the audience members reflected positively on their encounter with digital fiction, especially in the context of the wider community: "It's interesting to see the lengths people are going to to get involved in different disciplines, so bringing together the writing, illustrating, drawing, filmmaking, storytelling, and promoting that to a wider audience can only be a positive thing"; "I didn't know how long it would take to put together a digital fiction story and how much of a wide community got involved with it"; and "I think it's interesting to have a conversation about [digital fiction], and [this event] has given me the opportunity to talk with people in the field".

N.B. The original version of WALLPAPER (2015) was developed as a direct result of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project and also forms part of the Reading Digital Fiction empirical research on immersion and multimodality in digital fiction. This enhanced version was not directly funded by the AHRC as part of the Reading Digital Fiction project funds. It was funded by the Being Human Festival of the Humanities (School of Advanced Study, University of London; AHRC; and the British Academy), and Sheffield Hallam University Humanities Research Centre Impact Fund.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://readingdigitalfiction.com/wallpaper-wakefield-2016/
 
Description WALLPAPER installation launch at Being Human Festival of the Humanities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact More than 50 members of the public attended the launch of the WALLPAPER installation at The Art House in Wakefield on 17 November 2016. Building on the success of the immersive large-scale projection of WALLPAPER in Sheffield in 2015, this new version was a complete virtual reality experience using Oculus Rift and Gear VR. In addition to being able to enjoy the immersive digital experience, attendees were also able to meet the team behind the pioneering project - Andy Campbell and Judi Alston (Dreaming Methods and One to One Development Trust), and Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom - and discuss the project research including empirical findings.

Many of the attendees provided feedback via audio interviews and paper questionnaires. Most of the attendees were new to digital fiction and virtual reality, and they all reported enjoying the installation: "using the headset was very impressive", "first time using a VR headset -- the concept and execution is cool"; "from what I can see and the reactions I've heard it's so amazing". One attendee was nine years old, and she learned "how to work a headset and how people reyact [sic]".

Encouragingly, several people also praised the accessible and friendly nature of the event: "it widens your view, because you think 'this could well be mainstream' rather than just a gimmicky thing"; "it's great to see events open to the general public, also excellent that artists and creative practitioners are involved"; "anything that widens people's experience is a good thing"; and "it's really good to get out of the ivory tower of academia and connect with the general public, and I think these kinds of events really help towards that".

Finally, the event increased understanding of digital fiction as well: "I think it's very enlightening, especially for somebody like me who knows nothing about it whatsoever"; "I'm more aware of it. I now know digital fiction is in more places than we know"; "I didn't know how long it would take to put together a digital fiction story and how much of a wide community got involved with it"; and "Yes, it's improved my knowledge of digital fiction. I didn't even know the term".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/wallpaper-hope-fear-and-digital-fiction-launch-event/
 
Description WALLPAPER: Digital fiction and the hopes and fears for storytelling workshop at Being Human Festival of the Humanities 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact In conjunction with the WALLPAPER virtual reality installation at The Art House in Wakefield, Principal Investigator Dr Alice Bell and Researcher Dr Isabelle van der Bom ran a workshop on "digital fiction and the hopes and fears for storytelling" on 23 November 2016. This was co-delivered with Judi Alston and Andy Campbell of One-to-One Development Trust. Eighteen participants explored the origins and future of digital fiction, including a historical tour of digital fiction from its origins in 'Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books' through to experiments in hypertext to videogames and apps, and the hopes and fears that digital technology bring to the future of writing. Attendees were invited to ask questions and to debate the issues explored in the research talk. The participants were also invited to experience WALLPAPER, an immersive digital fiction installation set in the North Yorkshire Moors.

Participants enjoyed the workshop, particularly the audience interactions that arose after the initial lecture and demonstration: "the conversations the talk and demo inspired were very interesting, very thought-provoking"; "triggering discussions about hopes and fears"; and "challenging my views on storytelling".

The experience of the WALLPAPER installation was also popular with participants: "the practical use of the game--VR was brilliant"; "loved trying out the tech and learning about VR"; and "introducing me to the WALLPAPER work [was the most successful aspect of the event]".

Two participants also appreciated discovering more about digital fiction for "the educational possibilities it presents" and "the wonderful opportunities that this kind of literature opens up".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/digital-fiction-and-the-hopes-and-fears-for-storytelling/
 
Description YouTube video about WALLPAPER exhibition and research 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The PI Dr. Alice Bell introduced how the Wallpaper exhibition, the first site-specific piece of digital fiction to be installed in an art gallery, which will be used in empirical research about immersion and mutlimodality in digital fiction. As of 29 February 2016, the video has been viewed 230 times.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGe9_5djv4E