Center for Digital Narrative stars in Research Council podcast

Curious Norway (Nysgjerrige Norge) is a podcast funded by the Research Council of Norway, where host Kristopher Schau meets the leaders of 12 of the Research Council's Centers of Excellence (SFF). Through the series, we get an insight into what and why Norwegian researchers study what they do, as well as how their research can impact society.

Our leader and deputy leader, Professors Scott Rettberg and Jill Walker Rettberg, are interviewed in the latest episode.

"Digital narratives" is that the same as "storytelling"?," asks Schau.

"They are comparable, but digital storytelling encompasses more than what we would traditionally call storytelling, such as conspiracy theories on the internet based on election interference. Storytelling is at the core, but influenced by algorithmic narrativity," answers Scott Rettberg.

"Algorithmic narrativity is when people tell stories, but in interaction with algorithms, AI, or just the internet and technologies like that. If our center has a central argument, it is that the meeting between technology and humanity's really old skill, telling stories to each other, creates new things that we do not understand well enough today," answers Jill.

(After a short intro in Norwegian the interview itself is mostly in English.)

A field in rapid development

The professors emphasize the need to understand that digital storytelling is not just about the stories themselves, but also about the technology that shapes them. They call for more research into the interaction between humans and technology in storytelling, and believe that we are facing a new era in the development of narrative, which is changing very fast:

"Do you think anything has happened just while we've been sitting here?" asks Schau.

"I'm sure of it. Just between each episode of [our podcast] "AI Update," five things happen that we should have discussed," answers Scott.

"I've always loved new things. It's one of the things that got me interested in research to begin with, and working under such major changes is exciting," says Jill.

Since February 3rd, one episode has been released every Monday on all major podcast platforms and forskning.no. In addition to the episode with Scott and Jill, you can also hear interviews with Alexander Wright Cappelen and Bertil Tungodden from FAIR at the Norwegian School of Economics, as well as neuroscientists May Britt and Edvard Moser at NTNU. A total of 12 episodes will be published, with a new episode every week until April 21st.