Modeling and Visualizing Storylines in TM4Book

Lars JohnsenUniversity of Southern Denmark

TM4Book as a creative writing tool

The potential of TM4Book

• TM4Book as a tool for ontological support in creative writing

• TM4Book as a tool for textual analysis

• TM4Book as a semantic annotation tool for e-books

Specific

GenericTopic Maps (TM) inside!(search, filtering, analysis, visualization, reuse and integration)

Ontological support in TM4Book

• Text layer– Chapters, scenes

• Fabula layer– Events, plot, subplots, story lines

• Item layer– Characters, places, objects

Focus today: modeling and visualizing events and story lines

Story lines

Narrative threads experienced by different but specific characters or sets of characters that together form a plot element or subplot in the work of fiction (Wikipedia)

Modeling story lines in TM/TM4Book:striking a balance between semantic richness and usability

Storylines - events, plot and scenes1. Before the War Jacques travels to Paris to find his brother Louis 2. Jacques meets Madeleine in Montmartre3. Jacques falls in love with Madeleine although she is married to Jean-Claude,

the baker4. Madeleine tells Jean-Claude about Jacques 5. Jean-Claude threatens Madeleine with a soggy baguette 6. Madeleine leaves Jean-Claude7. Madeleine hides in the Moulin Rouge while Jean-Claude is looking for her8. Jacques again meets Madeleine in Montmartre9. Jacques proposes to Madeleine10. Jean-Claude turns up – now with a whole loaf of bread …

Tabula (events): 1, 2, 3, 4 … Plot: Exposition[1,2,3], Rising Action[4,5,6,7,8], Climax[9,10 …], …Storylines: Jacques[1,2,3,8,9,10 …], Madeleine[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 …]Presentation (scenes): A[8], B[1], C[2], D[3], E[4,5,6], F[7], G[9, 10] …

Subjects, Objects and Optionals (items and events)

• Time: Jacques meets Madeleine before the War• Place: Jacques finds Louis in Montmartre• Company: Jacques visits the Louvre with Louis• Recipient: Jacques gives the ring to Madeleine• Beneficiary: Jacques sings for Madeleine• Instrument: Jean-Claude threatens Madeleine with a knife• Source: Louis drives out of Paris• Direction: Louis travels to Paris• Path: Louis drives via Paris• Cause: Madeleine leaves Jean-Claude because he threatens her with a baguette• Sequence: Jacques arrives in Paris and finds Louis• Result: Jacques saves Madeleine and wins her heart • Concession: Jacques is happy although he cannot find Louis• Purpose: Jacques travels to Paris to find Louis• Contrast: Jacques is poor but/whereas Louis is rich• Solution: Jacques cannot pay his rent but Louis lends him some money• Reason: Louis is happy for he a bachelor• Motivation: Jacques wants to marry Madeleine as it will improve his status in life • Condition: Jacques becomes rich if he marries Madeleine

Events and storylines in TM?

• Events as scoped associations• Role players: items and events • Roles

– Obligatory: subject/object (RDF-like!)– Optional: place, time, instrument, cause/effect,

purpose, concession, solution, etc.

• Scope: scenes and part of plot• Temporality: implicit or explicit?

Events – and their linksmeet(subject : jacques, object : madeleine, place : montmartre) @sceneB, @exposition

threaten(subject : jean, object : madeleine, instrument : soggy_baguette, result: mleavesj ) @sceneE, @rising_action

leave(subject : madeleine, object : jean) @sceneE, @rising_action ~mleavesj

meet(subject : jacques, object : madeleine, place : montmartre) @sceneA, @rising_action

•A storyline is a set of events in which a specificcharacter plays the role of subject or object

•Order in TM reflects chronological order of events (tabula)

Events and facts

fall_in_love(subject : jacques, object : madeleine, concession : mmarriedtoj) @sceneD, @exposition

# knowledge base

married-to(subject : madeleine, object : jean) ~mmarriedtoj

madeleine isa character;-”Madeleine”.

jean isa character;-”Jean Claude”;profession: ”baker”.

Visualization: ”story maps”

• The programmatic presentation of:– Ontological meaning (is a, is a kind of, be married

to, be a brother of)– Narrative meaning (meet, fall in love, threaten,

leave, hide)– Rhetorical meaning

• Salience• Focus• Order• Perspective

… using verbo-visual means in limited two dimensional space

Visualization: building on …

• General gestalt principles– Similarity, proximity, reinforcement,

connectedness, common region, goodcontinuation, etc.

• Semiotics– The notion of polarized zones

• Concept mapping– Convention of linking concepts in propositions

using visual objects and lines

Visualization: polarized zones

Ideal

Real

Given New

Central

Marginal

Source: Introducing Social Semiotics (Van Leeuwen)

Jacques

Madeleine

meets

Montmartre

in

Paris Louis

travels to

is the brother ofto findis a part of

City

is a

falls in love with

Jean-Claudeis married to

although

Baker

is a

The War

before

Storyline = JacquesPart of plot = exposition

Scene B ”Narrative concept maps”

Interactive features

Story maps: suggestions

• Subjects and objects are linked directly by lines; optionals are attached to lines

• Items of same type must be visually similar• Items serving the same function must be visually

similar• Top/bottom indicates hierarchical order• Left/right indicates narrative order• Size indicates salience• Centrality imposes perspective and relevance

Visualization tools in TM4Book

• Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)– Pathways, zoom and dimming tools, search

functionality, Java-based, …

• HTML5 (SVG, Canvas)– Integrated in e-book, web-oriented, accessible to

CSS and JavaScript (animation, interaction, etc.)

Testing material

• Matador (Danish for magnate and Monopoly®)– Danish TV-series about two families in the 30’ies and

40’ies against the backdrop of the depression, the German occupation, etc.

– Themes: Romeo and Juillet , ”upstairs/downstairs”, old/new money, the transformation of society, the forming of character, success/failure, etc.

– existing topic map containing characters, actors, episodes – but no narrative structure!

Questions for discussion

• Modeling: right balance between semanticrichness and usability?

• Modeling choices, for instance– Subject/object versus semantic roles?– Temporality?

• Visualization– Problems and what other possibilities?

• Implementation: which way to go (Java vsweb)?