Abstract
Stories and events that are not worth telling or do not have access to the necessary media cannot even get lost from the dusty pages of history because they cannot enter those pages at all. Historical records became the books with the invention of the printing press, and in time, the term “dusty pages” was used as the approach made on these books. Nowadays, these dusty pages are replaced by obsolete codes or graphics. Today, the narrative and the story, which has become completely digital, have different means of expression. “Virtual reality” narratives, which is one of the new generation tools used by digital storytelling, have become more common. The virtual reality content that transforms the codes and forms of the traditional narrative with its own means and approach brings the narrator to an interactive dimension by positioning the viewer/listener as “user” in this context. Thus, in this study, through the example of “Eleven Eleven VR” game, a hermeneutic approach to virtual reality technology as a digital storytelling tool, will be performed.
TopDigital Storytelling
During the history of the world of more than four billion years, numerous and different life forms have existed. These life forms, which can sometimes be simple and single-celled and sometimes more complex and capable, have somehow disappeared over time or evolved into different species. The human being, who has existed on Earth for a very short time compared to the entire history of the universe, has a fundamental characteristic that is distinguished from all living beings up until today: consciousness and complex thinking ability. As Harari reported (2015), the homo sapiens species, which can evaluate events in a cause-and-effect relation and make assessments through “gossip” as Harari puts it (2015), have laid the foundations for their civilization that exists today. It is a known fact that a deer informs its herd about the lion attack, but in the evening they do not evaluate the chases during the day. The main feature that separates mankind from other living things lies here. The difference is that the human evaluates the events of the day and the previous days and creates his memory by connecting and sharing this memory with other people, in other words “telling stories” is the difference. The events and stories that have previously been told verbally evolved over time into pictures, written texts, audio and video recordings, and into new media environments, which have been digitized today.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Diorama: This concept refers to the modeling and visualization of a moment or event/situation on the basis of a scale.
Augmented Reality: In summary, this is the change and augmentation of reality by the computer.
Digital Storytelling: It is a form of digital media production that enables the sharing of stories digitally with technological support. Digital stories are often embodied in the art of storytelling combined with a variety of multimedia tools such as audio, visual and video.
Digital Native: Describes individuals that meets technology by birth. Digital natives are a very important mass in our age.
New Media: The new media encompasses a new generation of internet-based communicative environments that are created as a result of rapid developments in communication technologies, offering interaction and speed.
Virtual Reality: It is the name of environments created with three-dimensional computer technologies that individuals can explore and interact with. Most of the definitions of virtual reality express the experiences gained with interactive computer technologies.
Digital Footprint: It refers to all traces we leave when using the Internet. The digital footprint is, in fact, all kinds of data about us that we transfer to the electronic environment. It is also considered that children should be taught to manage their digital footprints. This requirement concerns Internet security.
E-Learning: Electronic environments are mediated learning.