(Dis)Orienting Media and Narrative Mazes (Cultural and Media Studies)

(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 ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Medienwissenschaft der Ruhr-Universität Bochum sowie wissenschaftliche Koordinatorin des dortigen DFG-Graduiertenkollegs »Das Dokumentarische. Exzess und Entzug«. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Audiovisualität und Individualität, Animation und Dokumentation sowie zeitliche Komplexität in audiovisuellen Medien.

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.