Storytelling in Times of Technological Change

In November, PCU hosted an International Academic Conference on Storytelling in Times of Technological Changes and Challenges at the City Centre Campus. The conference was organised by Zdeněk Sloboda and Maia Horniak from the Creative Media Production programme and featured global academics who joined online and in person to discuss how advances in technology have influenced storytelling across various mediums and platforms.

How is storytelling evolving?

Conference speakers covered traditional media, as well as emerging and evolving media such as video games, social media, VR, AR, Immersive cinema and interactive exhibitions or live performance. Discussions often centred on the growing influence of AI in narrative creation and the way it is transforming how stories are conceived, told, and experienced. In addition, participants debated the cultural impact of immersive technologies and how these innovations are reshaping audience engagement and participation in storytelling.

Keynote Speakers

The event featured leading experts in their field such as Jaroslav Švelch from Charles University who delivered a presentation on monsters in video game narratives and Simon McKeown from Teesside University who traveled from the UK to speak about his research on preserving memories through technology.

Additional speakers and attendees from the UK, India, Poland, and Canada participated in the event. They were joined by academics from Prague City University, Prague Film School, and Charles University, who shared their experiences with AI-driven storytelling, immersive installations, and storytelling's role in journalism, climate, and social media activism.

Panel Highlights

Along with the keynote speakers the conference featured three themed panels: Challenging Film, Challenging Experiences and Challenging Information.

• The Challenging Film panel presented topics like the role of CGI in Hindi film storytelling, screening surveillance, the narrative function of space in storytelling and the rise of vertical 9:16 aspect ratios.
• The Challenging Experiences panel covered creating immersive gallery experiences for younger audiences, storytelling shaped by technology and algorithms, the intersection of immersive art, social media and audience engagement and the difference between immersive and interactive/experience design in collective storytelling.
• The Challenging Information panel included AI-generated personal storytelling and its effects on well-being, a future climate of open endings, abortion storytelling and solidarity on social media and journalism in the metaverse.

On concluding, it was agreed that the conference succeeded in bringing together diverse perspectives across continents which highlighted how storytelling is evolving and the ways that it will drive the future of entertainment and communication.

For more information visit the full conference programme here.