Ana Catarina Monteiro has a degree in Journalism from the University of Coimbra and a Master’s in Multimedia from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. She is currently attending the Ph.D. program in Digital Media at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, where she is developing research in the area of computation, aesthetics, and narrative. She also has a research grant from the Institute for Comparative Literature (FLUP), where she focuses on the promotion of multidisciplinary and cross-articulation between Literature and Digital Humanities.

Thesis title
The Aesthetics of Behavior at Interactive Digital Narratives: A Practice-Based Exploration on the Construction of Meaning

FCT reference
2021.04532.BD

Abstract
Significant developments in computational systems provide new means and media to be used in the arts. At the intersection with interactive systems, this project proposes a theoretical and practical approach to understanding the meaning-making processes on interactive digital narratives, analyzing literature in the fields of media theory and media art, and developing a taxonomy. Considering that the aesthetic experience of interactive digital narratives consists mainly of observing and reflecting on the outcomes of the interactions between agents, we seek to understand how is it that readers construct knowledge about the internal structures of the artifacts. In parallel, this project seeks to frame how the aesthetics of behavior have a significant role in creating different forms of this embodied and action-guided medium, while promoting discussion on an object-oriented relationship between physical interaction and the space in which it occurs, aiming to foster a critical resource to epistemology.

Supervision
Miguel Carvalhais

More info

• 7C10-C8B7-6396
• 0000-0003-4203-093X