Thesis subject
Immersive Storytelling for Sustainability
With the rise of new technological opportunities, virtual and immersive experiences and communication contexts are likely to play a more prominent role compared to traditional communication media. Approaches like Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and recent social sustainability examples (for example Clouds over Sidra) suggest that immersive storytelling has the capacity to foster a sense of connectivity, empathy, and engagement with complex, distal, and unattached systemic impacts of consumers’ and citizens’ everyday choices. The existing evidence supporting or refuting these claims has so far been fragmented and lacks consolidation.
Goal?
The aim of this thesis proposal is to systematize and synthesize the available evidence on approaches and audience effects of the use of immersive storytelling in a sustainability context.
How?
The student working on this thesis will scrutinize and critically appraise the available research literature to consolidate the available evidence and identify promising avenues for future research.
What’s in it for you?
You will learn to utilize a methodologically guided literature review approach (systematic literature review, meta-narrative review, or integrative review). These skillsets will enable you to systematically synthesize the state of scientific knowledge on a given problem – a skillset of high value in future professional contexts.
Who?
You are familiar with using scientific databases and reading scientific papers. You are a structured and well-organized person and appreciate systematic and transparent procedures. You are also prepared that you thesis work will entail mostly desk research.
What else?
Depending on the quality of the final work, the thesis could be further developed into a scientific paper submission to an academic journal.