[Commlist] Call for papers: Autonomy In and Through Interactive Digital Storytelling

*CFP-Special Issue: Autonomy In and Through Interactive Digital 
Storytelling**


  /**N**o payment from the authors*// will be required as this is in the
  context of the Journal of Interactive Narrative, a diamond open access
  journal./


  *Acknowledgement*


  **/This special issue is an initiative and sponsored by theDigital
  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 /at/ filmschule.de)

*Guest editors*

  * Frédéric Dubois, Department of Digital Narratives, ifs
    Internationale Filmschule Köln
  * BojanaRomic, 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.


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