Storyfutures - Royal Holloway University. Research trip 8th July. Hannah Thompson

Storyfutures, National Centre for Immersive Storytelling.  Royal Holloway University

Dr Hannah Thompson

Prior to the research trip to London, Dr Alison Eardley provided details of fellow academic, Dr Hannah Thompson, based within the Royal Holloway University, as a research connection in the field of visual impairment.  Dr Hannah Thompson is a partially-blind British academic and disability activist and blog creator of The Blind Spot (Thompson, 2019). Her research reflects upon blindness in history, literature, art, film and society and in collaboration with Vanessa Warne of the University of Manitoba, Canada delivered the international micro-arts Blind Creative Conference in London (Thompson and Warne, 2015). Defining ‘blind’ as anyone who relates to the world using senses other than sight, the conference included a plenary talk, keynote speakers, an art exhibition.

A face-to-face meeting with Dr Thompson was conducted in July 2019 to discuss this project and Dr Thompson’s research. In discussion about networking, Dr Thompson noted that the Royal Holloway University has been awarded AHRC funding, as designated as the national centre for immersive storytelling. Led by the National Film and Television School and Royal Holloway, the centre incorporates an R&D project Storyfutures, which focuses on research and development with businesses and storyfutures academy for training in immersive technology for the screen industries (Storyfutures, 2019).Opportunities for expanding the network, both during the project and for future collaborations were discussed as part of possible future public engagement events.

In discussion, Dr Thompson stressed that her research and network connections adhere to the principle that blind art practice is not considered a ‘spectacle’ or ‘freak-show’ but rather a different way of doing and that, from the outset, accessibility ought to be integrated from the outset into the VR experience. This can be achieved by detailed audio description, to describe the VR landscape, the art practitioner characters, their creative practice plus their creative environment. This detailed audio-descriptive narrative can be embedded into the narrative enquiry and semi-structured interviews with blind art practitioners.