interactive storytelling 

& descriptive 

within a digital medium

											drew miller

											iap 1997

											with angelyn grant 
	

"In his little story about a family of »migr» Russian Jews called 

"Signs and Symbols" (1948), Vladimir Nabokov suggests that the son 

is destroyed by the very forces he fears in his "referential mania." 

At least he tantalizes us with this possibility, yet all the while 

he is chuckling at us, and particularly if we are symbol-hunting 

critics, for momentarily believing in it."



	-from "deciphering 'Signs and Symbols', by Larry Andrews



This project is meant to objectively induce "referential mania" 

in the viewer/reader, by influencing their perception of possible

signs and symbols, forcing the user to acknowledge elements of the 

story within multiple contexts of each other.  The style of presentation 

is meant to reflect the unsettling and fragmented tone of the story. 

The project was completed using Macromedia Director and can be 

viewed with the Shockwave plug-in for Netscape and Internet 

Explorer.  Click on "Interactive" in the title to go to their site.
  

dfm 1997, massachusetts institute of technology