Entry 5

10–16–12

RTF 344M Blog Prompt #5

Korsakow is a program that allows a non-linear narrative to flourish and take on an extra dimension with interactivity. This engagement is a powerful tool for getting users more involved with your project. The strength of Korsakow relies on the flexibility of the software and the presentation of the content, and the program does that pretty well. Korsakow is easy to test and easier to learn. It is a great way to break into non-linear storytelling. I feel liberated through Korsakow because of it's freedom of movement and reception to multimedia.

However, there are some negative aspects of Korsakow that are a hindrance to the experience. The interface designer has too few options for true customization and the keywording scheme favors thematic narratives rather than simply non-linear.

For the interface, a few issues arise that could benefit from added support and greater functionality. For example, there is no easy way to make an animated background image for the SNUs to work on top of. Support for animated interfaces would drastically improve the quality of the projects. Also, SNUs with new interfaces can be jarring. Functionality for SNU dissolves (from background to foreground) and added transitions could solve that issue.

Concerning the keywording system; I understand that for some projects, the best way to proceed is to let the content of the SNUs speak for themselves and allow for a bit of randomness to creep in. But in other projects, more control over the unruly SNUs may be desired. One might want to place specific previews in a certain place on the interface and be sure it does not stray from that location. A non-linear story often involves a set path with divulging narratives off of the obvious way forward, but a thematic story revolves around a central theme like spokes in a wheel. Korsakow likes thematic narratives but lacks support for non-linear stories. I would suggest a way to further control the interfaces, and allow a designer to dictate directly when previews will pop up and where. Currently, the only way to do this is through trial and error using SNU ratings. It could be better if a designer knew exactly how a play-through would pan out given a list of user decisions and she/he could just plug in their script and expect it to work. A lot of divulging or non-linear stories have areas where a choice can play out in different ways and then resume the story normally, but still remembering the choices a user has made for later usage. Korsakow currently has no sort of memory functionality without a lot of tinkering.

Despite these shortcomings, I did enjoy my time with Korsakow and would recommend the program to anyone interested in a open-narrative system that didn't want to learn how to code or use a complicated program. It's a great tool for exploring a topic without boring the user. I would use it for documentary-style projects, but I would shy away from using it on projects where I want more control over my narrative arcs.