(Dis)Orienting Media and Narrative Mazes

(Dis)Orientation appears to be a phenomenon that is connected to media in numerous respects: today, finding your way in the world often means finding your way with the help of as well as within media, which in turn creates new virtual realms of (dis)orientation. This book deals with recent media technologies and structures (navigation devices, databases, transmediality) and unconventional narrative patterns (narrative complexity, plot twists, non-linearity), using the ambivalent concept of (dis)orientation as a shared focus to analyse various phenomena of contemporary media, thereby raising overarching questions about current mediascapes.

Julia Eckel is research assistant at the Department of Media Studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and scientific coordinator of the DFG research training group 'Documentary Practices. Excess and Privation'. Her main research interests are audiovisuality and individuality, animation and documentation, as well as complex temporalities in audiovisual media. Bernd Leiendecker (M.A.) is working on his PhD-thesis on the history of unreliable narration in film. His research interests are narratology and the relationship between sports and media. Daniela Olek (M.A.) is working as a support specialist for an IT-corporation. Her research interests are contemporary media narratology and visual communication. Christine Piepiorka (Dipl./M.A.) writes a PhD-thesis about televisual complex narrations and resulting viewer concepts. Her further research interest is the spatial construction of serial environment.