Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narratives (ARDIN)
Purpose
ARDIN’s purpose is to support research into Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN). ARDIN defines IDN broadly and includes all existing forms, such as video and computer game narratives, interactive documentaries and interactive fiction, journalistic “interactives”, interactive art projects that have a narrative component, educational works, transmedia, virtual reality and augmented reality titles, as well as emerging forms of IDN. ARDIN supports technical research as well as arts/humanities research.
ARDIN provides a home for an interdisciplinary community and for a range of activities that connect, support, grow and validate the IDN research community. These activities include membership services like newsletters, job postings, and support for local gatherings, but also conferences, publication opportunities, research fellowships, and academic/professional awards. It is understood that not all of these activities can be supported right from the start, but it is the ambition of ARDIN to support all such efforts in the long term. It is further envisioned that there will be SIGs (special interest groups) and local chapters of ARDIN could be explored as a possibility in the future.
The International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) is the main academic conference of ARDIN. The Zip Scene conference is also affiliated with ARDIN. Additional international and local conferences are welcome to join the organization. Such conferences will gain representation on the ARDIN board and access to all services (see above), including the website members-only content (e.g. newsletter, grant and publication opportunities, job postings, evaluation help, shared curricula, etc), communication channels and evaluation services. In exchange, they will also accept all duties of ARDIN membership.
Organization and Governance
ARDIN takes the form of a non-profit foundation registered in the Netherlands. ARDIN is governed by an executive board of five members who are responsible for the day-to-day operations, and a larger general board.
Duties and responsibilities of ARDIN board members
Executive board member duties and responsibilities
One executive board member acts as President and another as Treasurer. The Treasurer will be responsible for financial oversight and report in regular intervals to the executive board, at least once per quarter, and to the yearly General Assembly. The Treasurer will coordinate with an external Accountant to comply with the reporting requirements for a foundation under Dutch law.
General board member duties and responsibilities
General board members have a topic portfolio and are expected to represent said topics at board meetings, to the public, and also to act as points of contact and essentially understand themselves as leaders of SIGs, with the assignment to promote their topic and invite additional ARDIN members to work with them on said topic.
While general board members generally are expected to have achieved a certain level of academic seniority, a number of seats are reserved for emerging scholars, as well as industry representatives. Details of the general board member portfolios are provided below in the table.
Election process
The term is 3 years for general board members, and 5 years for executive board members. For both boards, members can be re-elected once to encourage knowledge transfer.
General Board
The process to join the board is by invitation by an existing general board member or application. A board member candidate needs the stated support from an existing general board member. The applicant also needs to submit a letter of motivation explaining their proposed contribution to the board. A feedback period (1 month) will be provided for ARDIN members to provide non-binding feedback on the application. The current general board then votes on whether to accept the application.
Executive Board
Candidates for the executive board are proposed by the general board. Candidates are members of the general board. Candidates are approved by ARDIN member vote at the General Assembly (50.1% of members physically present at the General Assembly required for acceptance).
Transitional Board
The transitional board (2018-2019) was formed from the ICIDS steering committee. The first general board (2019-2022) was formed from the transitional board plus an initial group of invitees (see below). The general board proposes the first executive board (see below), to be voted on at the Utah ICIDS conference.
Membership
Initial membership fee will be €75 per year (students €25 per year). Members will receive a discount at ARDIN conferences and access to the mailing list, job postings and invitations to ARDIN activities. Members can also vote for executive board members in the yearly General Assembly, provide feedback on proposed applicants to the general board, and apply to join the general board. The General Assembly is held during the annual ICIDS conference.
Diversity Policy
Diversity is important to ARDIN. The organisation will strive towards gender balance and the representation of different people from different origins. Diversity also includes representing scholars at different levels of their careers.
No ARDIN member shall discriminate against any other ARDIN member or others outside of the organization on the basis of gender, nationality, race, or religion. Such discrimination will not be tolerated and membership in ARDIN can be withdrawn based on evidence of such behaviour.
Executive board (proposed, to be voted on at ICIDS 2019)
Hartmut Koenitz, President (Theory, IDN studies, Design Research)
Frank Nack, Treasurer (AI, Authoring Tools)
Alex Mitchell (Communications, HCI, Theory)
Rebecca Rouse (Art, Theater, Theory)
Lissa Holloway-Attaway (Games Education, Serious Games, Art)
General board (additions for ICIDS 2019 in bold)
| Topic | Subtopic(s) | Current board member | Potential board member |
| PR and social media presence | Alex Mitchell | Agnes Bak | |
| Community Support and Development | Website and communication platforms | Rebecca Rouse /Hartmut Koenitz | |
| Academic recognition and support | Tenure equivalency documentation | Frank Nack /Andrew Gordon /Luis Emilio Bruni | Michael Young |
| Referees for academic evaluation | Janet Murray | ||
| General help for academic recognition | Arnav Jhala | ||
| Emerging Scholar Support | Janet Murray/ Nicole Basaraba/ María Cecilia Reyes | ||
| Diversity and research ethics | Diversity | David Thue, Rebecca Rouse | Tess Tanenbaum |
| Ethics | |||
| Publications | Journal | Hartmut Koenitz, Mads Haahr, Rebecca Rouse | Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera |
| Other Publication | |||
| Conferences | ICIDS conference | Frank Nack/Alex Mitchell | |
| Zip Scene conference | Agnes Bak | ||
| Conference location scout | |||
| Liaison Officer (coordination with other conferences | David Thue | ||
| Education | Education outreach | Luis/Lissa/Hartmut | |
| Model curricula | |||
| Topical Areas | Theory | Hartmut Koenitz/Alex Mitchell/Luis Emilio Bruni | |
| AI | David Thue | Mirjam Eladhari/Michael Mateas | |
| Location-based/XR | Valentina Nisi | Josh Fisher/ (María Cecilia Reyes) | |
| Art | Valentina Nisi/Lissa | ||
| Benchmarking | David Thue/Mads Haahr | ||
| Theater/performative | Rebecca Rouse | Dan Barnard, Darshana Jayemanne | |
| Interactive video | Marian Ursu | ||
| Authoring/Design | Frank Nack | Clara Fernandez-Vara | |
| HCI | Valentina Nisi | Tess Tannenbaum | |
| Industry | Games Industry | Mads Haahr | |
| Serious applications | (Michael Bas (&Ranj)) | ||
| Film/TV | |||
| Artist & Indie | (Chris Hales) | ||