A uniquely interdisciplinary look at storytelling in digital, analogue, and hybridised contexts, this book traces different ways stories are experienced in our contemporary mediascape. It uses an engaging range of current examples to explore interactive and immersive narratives.

Critical Encounters with Immersive Storytelling considers exciting new forms of storytelling that are emerging in contemporary popular culture. Here, immersion is being facilitated in a variety of ways and in a multitude of contexts, from 3D cinema to street games, from immersive theatre plays to built environments such as theme parks, as well as in a multitude of digital formats. The book explores diverse modes and practices of immersive storytelling, discussing what is gained and lost in each of these ‘genres’. Building on notions of experience and immersion, it suggests a framework within which we might begin to understand the quality of being immersed. It also explores the practical and ethical aspects of this exciting and evolving terrain.

This accessible and lively study will be of great interest to students and researchers of media studies, digital culture, games studies, extended reality, experience design, and storytelling.

Dr. Alke Gröppel-Wegener is an Associate Professor of Creative Academic Practice at Staffordshire University where she teaches as part of the animation team. She is interested in the retelling and regenreing of stories in all forms. As a National Teaching Fellow, she retells ‘hidden’ academic practice in visual metaphors (some collected in Writing Essays by Pictures, Innovative Libraries 2016), blogging about her work at www.tactileacademia.com. Her research focuses on the design of experiences, in particular within theme parks.

Dr. Jenny Kidd is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. Jenny researches across the fields of digital media and digital cultural heritage studies, often in collaboration with partners in the cultural sector. She is the author of Museums in the New Mediascape: Transmedia, Participation, Ethics (Routledge 2014) and Representation (Routledge 2015). She has published widely on participatory media, transmedia, and immersive heritage. Jenny has been a core project partner on a number of immersive storytelling projects, including With New Eyes I See (2014) and Traces/Olion (2016). www.jennykidd.org