Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights
In this article we introduce a theory of ambimedial reading as a distinctive postdigital reading strategy from an empirical study with readers of Virtual Reality (VR) fiction. VR is known for its immersive, experiential qualities yet less for its affordances for literary fiction and verbal art. In e...
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| Language: | English |
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Institute of English Studies
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625802 |
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| author | Alice Bell Astrid Ensslin |
| author_facet | Alice Bell Astrid Ensslin |
| author_sort | Alice Bell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article we introduce a theory of ambimedial reading as a distinctive postdigital reading strategy from an empirical study with readers of Virtual Reality (VR) fiction. VR is known for its immersive, experiential qualities yet less for its affordances for literary fiction and verbal art. In experimental VR fiction, 360-degree, fully embodied spatial experiences can engender diverse ontological spheres, leaving readers straddling multiple diegetic and extradiegetic layers of storytelling. These ontological ruptures, evoked by what we call ambispatial design, can lend VR fiction an emersive quality, constructing readers as self-conscious voyeurs rather than granting them an unreflected, immersive experience. To illustrate these emersive effects, we consider participants’ discursive responses to reading Randall Okita’s VR memoir, The Book of Distance. We show how readers attempt to make sense of an unfamiliar postdigital storytelling experience by means of ambimedial responses, in which they attempt to reconcile an unfamiliar medial experience with more familiar ones. Our data shows that emersed readers conceptualize their doubly embodied and hybridized position as a constituent of both the actual world and digital VR world, a phenomenon we refer to as dual embodied metalepsis. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-73d98eb6e8154a57a724f5dfcfc27f91 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0860-5734 2957-0905 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Institute of English Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-73d98eb6e8154a57a724f5dfcfc27f912025-01-13T20:49:21ZengInstitute of English StudiesAnglica. An International Journal of English Studies0860-57342957-09052024-10-01332517010.7311/0860-5734.33.2.04Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical InsightsAlice Bell0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9737-4081Astrid Ensslin 1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2189-0025Sheffield Hallam UniversityUniversity of RegensburgIn this article we introduce a theory of ambimedial reading as a distinctive postdigital reading strategy from an empirical study with readers of Virtual Reality (VR) fiction. VR is known for its immersive, experiential qualities yet less for its affordances for literary fiction and verbal art. In experimental VR fiction, 360-degree, fully embodied spatial experiences can engender diverse ontological spheres, leaving readers straddling multiple diegetic and extradiegetic layers of storytelling. These ontological ruptures, evoked by what we call ambispatial design, can lend VR fiction an emersive quality, constructing readers as self-conscious voyeurs rather than granting them an unreflected, immersive experience. To illustrate these emersive effects, we consider participants’ discursive responses to reading Randall Okita’s VR memoir, The Book of Distance. We show how readers attempt to make sense of an unfamiliar postdigital storytelling experience by means of ambimedial responses, in which they attempt to reconcile an unfamiliar medial experience with more familiar ones. Our data shows that emersed readers conceptualize their doubly embodied and hybridized position as a constituent of both the actual world and digital VR world, a phenomenon we refer to as dual embodied metalepsis.https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625802postdigital readingambimedial and intermedial readervr fictionthe book of distancequalitative methods |
| spellingShingle | Alice Bell Astrid Ensslin Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies postdigital reading ambimedial and intermedial reader vr fiction the book of distance qualitative methods |
| title | Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights |
| title_full | Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights |
| title_fullStr | Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights |
| title_full_unstemmed | Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights |
| title_short | Postdigital Reading Strategies in Emersive VR Fiction: Empirical Insights |
| title_sort | postdigital reading strategies in emersive vr fiction empirical insights |
| topic | postdigital reading ambimedial and intermedial reader vr fiction the book of distance qualitative methods |
| url | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625802 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alicebell postdigitalreadingstrategiesinemersivevrfictionempiricalinsights AT astridensslin postdigitalreadingstrategiesinemersivevrfictionempiricalinsights |