Storytelling in Online Atlases

Abstract

From the Introduction: 1.1 Background: An atlas is a geographic communication device comprising a selection of maps related by theme, or region, and organized into a coherent volume (Buckley 2003). While print atlases have existed--in one form or another--for hundreds of years, the advent of digital atlases in the 1980s prompted reconsideration of an atlas’ core qualities (Ramos and Cartwright 2006). Ultimately, there was agreement: all atlases, from print to digital, are united in their ability to tell stories (Buckely 2003).

Broadly, storytelling is a method of documenting and sharing human experience through abstraction (Roth 2021). In cartography, storytelling is used to challenge the Western view-from-nowhere--which asserts that objectivity in science is possible--and center individuals, emotions, and place (Pearce 2008, D’Ignazio and Klein 2020). In the world of atlases, however, storytelling was simply conceived as way to relate individual datasets based on a specific theme, such as Canadian history, or world agriculture (Van Elzakker 1993, Ormeling 1995). While there has been some reflection on coalescence of individual atlas maps into a larger story (Pearce 2008), there has been little discussion of how this could manifest in atlases with even fewer concrete examples (Bentley 2012). This gap is especially wide for online atlases, a subset of digital atlases hosted on the internet, which have structural characteristics and storytelling opportunities unique to the online medium that afford new and unique forms of digital storytelling (Pulsifer et al. 2007,Caquard et al. 2009, Berendsen et al.2018).

Narrative structure refers to how a story is organized, in other words, how elements of a story are arranged and presented to the reader (Pearce 2008, Cohn 2013). Structure can be linear, following a temporal, or highly ordered, series of events (Roth 2021), or it can be nonlinear, providing little or no explicit ordering, potentially leaving choice in the reader’s hands (Koenitz2015). Different structures can result in different user experiences (Ryan 2006). Online atlases, as series of interconnected webpages, have inherently nonlinear qualities. As a result, each individual user will have a unique experience every time they interact. Thus, online atlases could be considered Interactive Digital Narratives(IDNs)--narratives that dynamically change in response to user input (Koentiz 2015).

1.2 Problem Statement and Research Questions: At the intersections among online atlases, narrative, and structure, lie multiple lines of inquiry. The internet, as a medium, has its own unique possibilities, capabilities, and constraints, different from those offered by print. Thus, I sought to explore online atlases from multiple perspectives, combining digital atlas, visual storytelling, and IDN scholarship to ask three interrelated research questions.

Question 1: What new structures are possible in online atlases, and what are their unique affordances and constraints? The internet has increased the types of stories that digital atlases tell, who can tell them, and how they are told (Buckly 2003)--from using cutting-edge data visualization techniques to re-map American history (e.g. Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond 2021), to cataloguing counter-mapping examples from throughout the world (e.g. Kollektiv orangotango 2021). Online atlases can be “living”, or constantly updated, while interactivity creates an experience fundamentally distinct from print (Keller 1995, Pyne and Taylor 2012). This research question explores current trends in online atlas structure and design and how these relate to the internet as a medium.

Question 2: How does a narrative approach to atlas maps influence user experience? In an atlas, narrative operates on two levels: across the whole atlas and within each atlas map (Ormeling 1995). Narrative is used by individual maps to capture the idea of a place beyond its location, and center emotion in the process (Pearce 2008, D’Ignazio and Klein 2020). As such, the examination of visual storytelling is a natural avenue for hybridization in cartography, bringing together art, science, and the humanities in a way that extends the definition of what cartography is and can be (Caquard 2013).While the previous question addresses overall atlas structure, this question explores individual maps within atlases, and examine how incorporating narrative elements can affect the user experience.

Question 3: How does a non-linear Interactive Digital Narrative atlas influence user experience? IDNs facilitate storytelling through user input (Koenitz et al. 2015). In an IDN, unlike in traditional narrative media--such as print or film--the story is not fixed or linear. Instead, the story is transformed into something with multiple possibilities, and the user is granted agency to explore those possibilities. As such, the way in which users navigate an IDN, through its structure, effects their experience of the story (Ryan 2006). Many cultural artifacts qualify as IDNs, such as interactive cinema, visual novels, and video games (Murray 1997, Koenitz et al. 2015).

In cartography, most applications of narrative structure borrow from classical narratology and literary theory, and as a result are highly linear (Thöny et al. 2018, Roth 2021). However, online atlases--because they are hosted on the internet--have unique characteristics that are inherently nonlinear. Thus, online atlases, I argue, can be reconceptualized as IDNs. The user is given the freedom to visit webpages in any order. There may be suggestions of what to look at first, but ultimately, the narrative is constructed through a user’s own experience. Reconceptualizing online atlases as IDNs provides a lens for studying the relationship between narrative and structure. How could choice in online atlases be used to engage users, complementing what individual maps in the atlas already provide? This question explores how structure can be used to facilitate narrative in online atlases.