Journal of Interactive Narrative (Special Issue)
Deadline: January 19, 2026
This special issue is an initiative and sponsored by the Digital Storytelling and Innovation Network (DSIN), a research cluster hosted by the Leeds School of Arts.
Scope of the Special Issue
Building on previous work in the disciplines of art, design, communications and media —i.e. on open cultural production (Velkova, 2016b), the interactive digital narrative field (Murray, 2018; Rouse & Koenitz, 2018), interactive documentary production (Dubois, 2021), and autonomous art schools (Hudson-Miles and Goodman, 2024)— this special issue seeks contributions that raise questions of autonomy in and through interactive digital storytelling.
Recent scholarship has highlighted the need for negotiation of “human-machine co-creativity” (Fisher, 2023; McCormack et al., 2020) and distributed cognition (Taffel, 2019; Hayles, 1999).
We are particularly (but not exclusively) interested in surfacing complexity and ambiguities around maker agency and authorship within cooperative or independent interactive digital narrative (IDN) production arrangements. Communication and social interactions among makers in various human/nonhuman assemblages (Romic, 2022; Zylinska, 2020) and engagement with generative AI software in particular are of key interest.
The use and détournement (de Certeau & Rendall, 2004) of technological tools can lead to more or less creative autonomy (Banks, 2010) or craft autonomy (Velkova, 2016) in media making. This is particularly true in autonomous media (Langlois & Dubois, 2005) settings, where the final work and the process are intrinsically aligned with the very empowerment of makers of media.
Interactive digital storytelling practices —e.g. interactive film, narrative-based computer games (Buckles, 1985), digital and participatory theatre (influenced by Laurel, 2013), narrative virtual reality, or augmented reality stories— have seen practitioners share their autonomy together with increasingly interdisciplinary teams on the one hand, and end users on the other (as the limits of what is internal or external to production teams has become malleable at best). Put differently, Koenitz (2023) points to IDNs being ‘incomplete’, as long as the user is not interacting with it: “The designer of an IDN work no longer produces a finished object in the sense of a printed book or the theatrical release of a movie. Instead, they create artifacts that can be considered purposefully incomplete, as they require the active engagement by an audience to be fully realized.“ (p. 101)
In parallel, technological infrastructures such as big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and large language models have percolated production cultures to a point where the lines between what is maker-driven and what is algorithm-driven have started to blur. This in turn provokes questions of various forms of shared agency between human and nonhuman actors (Spierling & Szilas, 2009; Zylinska, 2020).
It is in this context of organisational and technological innovation in interactive digital storytelling production that we are asking how autonomy can be defined, as part of the shifting maker culture and where it is found/negotiated.
We are also interested, following the scepticism of writers such as Goldsmith and Wu (2007), about philosophical conceptualisations of the term ‘autonomy’ (see, for example: Coeckelbergh, 2004), including its manifestations in various niche contexts of interactive digital storytelling, such as Hakim Bey’s ‘temporary autonomous zones’ (1985).
We welcome research-creation scholars, reflective practitioners, critical and analytical scholars to participate in the special issue. Please submit one of three options by 19 January 2026 at: https://journal.ardin.online/index.php/jin/about/submissions
You can choose between:
1) a scholarly essay or paper of 6,000-8,000 words (excluding abstract, reference list, and meta information),
2) a 20-minute audiovisual-essay, or
3) a 12-minute IDN in combination with a short paper (between 2,400 and 3,200 words).
For any inquiry related to the special issue, don’t hesitate to contact us via autonomy@filmschule.de
Guest editors
Frédéric Dubois, Department of Digital Narratives, ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln
Bojana Romic, School of Arts and Communication (K3), Malmö University
Important dates
20 October 2026: Publication of the call for papers
19 January 2026: Deadline for submission of draft manuscripts
2 February 2026: Desk-selection sent to authors
13 April 2026: Combined peer review and editorial review back to authors
15 June 2026: Deadline for submission of full advanced manuscripts
20 July 2026: Second and final review
21 September 2026: Deadline for submission of final manuscripts
1 November 2026: Papers are published as they are readied. They are bundled into a special issue post-publication.
References:
Banks, M. (2010). Autonomy Guaranteed? Cultural Work and the “Art–Commerce Relation.” Journal for Cultural Research, 14(3), pp. 251–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/14797581003791487
Bey, H. (1985). 'The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism', Available <https://hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont>.
Buckles, M. A. (1985). Interactive Fiction: The Computer Storygame “Adventure”. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, San Diego. https://www.proquest.com/openview/c7864197158c0dc9cf96c199b4c9963e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Coeckelbergh, M. (2004) The Metaphysics of Autonomy: The Reconciliation of the Ancient and Modern Idea of a Person. Palgrave Macmillan.
De Certeau, M., & Rendall, S. F. (2004). From the practice of everyday life (1984). The city cultures reader, 3(2004), p. 266.
Dubois, F. (2021). Interactive Documentary Production and Societal Impact: The Case of Field Trip. Doctoral thesis. Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.
Fisher, J.A. (2023). “Centering the Human: Digital Humanism and the Practice of Using Generative AI in the Authoring of Interactive Digital Narratives.” In: Holloway-Attaway, L. & Murray, J.T. (eds.) Interactive Storytelling. 16th International Conference of Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2023, Kobe, Japan, Proceedings, Part I. pp.73-88.
Goldsmith, J., and Wu, T. (2007). Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hargood, C., Millard, D., Mitchell, A., & Spierling, U. (Eds.). (2022). The Authoring Problem. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05214-9
Hayles, K. (1999) How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, Chicago, University of Chicago Press
Hudson-Miles, R., and Goodman, J. eds. (2024). Cooperative Education, Politics, and Art, London and New York: Routledge.
Koenitz, H. (2023). Understanding Interactive Digital Narrative. Immersive Expressions for a Complex Time. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106425)
Langlois, A., Dubois, F. eds. (2005). Autonomous Media: Activating Resistance and Dissent. Montreal: Cumulus Press.
Laurel, B. (2013). Computers as theatre. Addison-Wesley.
McCormack, J., Hutchings, P., Gifford, T., Yee-King, M., Llano, M.T., D’Iverno, M. (2020). Design Considerations for Real-Time Collaboration with Creative Artificial Intelligence. Organised Sound 25(1), pp. 41–52
Murray, Janet. (2018). Research into Interactive Digital Narrative: A Kaleidoscopic View: 11th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2018, Dublin, Ireland, December 5–8, 2018, Proceedings. 10.1007/978-3-030-04028-4_1.
Romic, B. (2022) ‘It’s in the Name: Technical Nonhumans and Artistic Production’. Transformations, issue #36. pp. 1-16. ISSN 1444-3775
Rouse, R., & Koenitz, H. (2018). “Preface: Authoring Our Own Disciplinary Identity as the Interactive Digital Narrative Field Matures.” In: Rouse, R., Koenitz, H., Haahr, M. (eds.). Interactive Storytelling: Lecture Notes In Computer Science. Proceedings of ICIDS 11th Interactional Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Dublin Ireland, December 5-8, 2018, Springer Verlag.
Taffel, S. (2019). Automating Creativity - Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Cognition. Spheres: Journal for Digital Cultures. Spectres of AI #5. pp. 1-9. ISSN 2363-8621.
Spierling, U., & Szilas, N. (2009). Authoring issues beyond tools. In Interactive storytelling: Second joint international conference on interactive digital storytelling, ICIDS 2009, guimarães, portugal, december 9-11, 2009, proceedings (pp. 50–61). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10643-9_9
Velkova, J. (2016). Free Software Beyond Radical Politics: Negotiations of Creative and Craft Autonomy in Digital Visual Media Production. Media and Communication, 4(4), pp. 43-52. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v4i4.693
Velkova, J. (2016b). Open cultural production and the online gift economy: The case of Blender. First Monday, 21(10). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v21i10.6944
Zylinska, J. (2020) AI Art: Machine Visions and Warped Dreams. Open Humanities Press.
