It's an Online Soap Opera

Corrugation Street--by Dave Miller--is an experiment in collaborative storytelling and networked narratives. It’s a soap opera that you can help write. Get involved in making the story. Be a co-author, co-illustrator or a researcher. Change the subject of the story, the mood, or the look and feel. Create your own unique version of the story, told in your own personal way.

Chinese Cocklepickers is an interactive narrative which deals with the tragedy of the chinese migrant workers who died in Morecambe Bay, in the tragic events of February 2004. There are many separate and interconnected strands to this story: the experience of the workers who drowned, the bosses exploiting their cheap work, the reactions and feelings of the local people, the families in China and their reactions, and lastly the media/political reactions and economics behind the story. These strands are presented as parallel narratives through the story. Each one is small view of the bigger picture, each giving a different perspective. Users can choose their own path through the separate strands, so that they can affect, choose or change the plot. The result, we hope, is that each user experiences the story in a different way, and gains a unique perspective of the story. Design/story: Dave Miller; Programming: Kalle Kormann.

Dave Miller is currently studying a Master's Degree at Ravensbourne College, Kent, UK. His focus is on exploring new interactive story possibilities using networked technology. He's set up a blog to help develop his project and dissertation.