Welcome to Carolyn Handler Miller's Website!

Hi, there!
THIS WEBSITE focuses on the many hats I wear as a writer (and my specialty in new media), and also on my work as a speaker, teacher and consultant…

I invite you to...

check out my bio;
look over a list of my credits;
read, watch and listen to interviews and articles about my work;
learn about my work as a writer, speaker, teacher and consultant;
and get some essential contact information.

AND HERE'S THE LATEST NEWS…

Book News

The second edition of my book, DIGITAL STORYTELLING: A CREATOR'S GUIDE TO INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT (Focal Press) has just been published! It covers hot new areas like Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), virtual worlds, serious games, and user generated content. It also contains some fascinating new chapters, such as the one on robots, androids and animatronic characters. In addition, there's a whole new multi-chapter section on using digital storytelling techniques for information, education, training, promotion and marketing. And of course it includes updates of all the topics covered in the first edition. It’s available in various retail bookstores, through my publisher, Focal Press, and through Amazon (which you can order from the box on the right)….

Upcoming and Recent Speaking Engagements

In conjunction with the publication of the new edition of my book, I've been doing a number of talks throughout the West, and have several more scheduled in coming weeks.

On September 10, I’ll be doing a talk in Albuquerque, NM, on serious games (games created for non-entertainment purposes). The talk is for the Rio Grande Chapter of the International Game Developers Conference. Since it’s back to school time, we’re calling the event “Back to School Night at the IGDA.”

On October 18, I’ll be on a panel in Los Angeles, talking the many exciting forms of interactive narratives that exist outside the well-known world of video games. It's part of an all day event sponsored by The Writers Guild Foundation. The full-day event, Getting into the Game, features Writers Guild writers who work in video games and other forms of interactive media.

In late May, I did a presentation for an international conference called Visionary Landscapes. The four-day event was put on by the Electronic Literature Organization and took place in Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland, Oregon. The conference brought together a group of experts and artists from 17 different countries who work in the field of electronic literature -- verbal and visual content that is meant to be accessed through computers and other electronic devices. My talk, "Digging for the Roots of Interactive Storytelling," investigated the pre-computer origins of interactive narrative.

In early June, I did two presentations on interactive narrative for the Crested Butte Writers Conference, which was held in the beautiful little town of Crested Butte, Colorado, high up in the Rockies.

I followed that with a "mini book tour" of the Colorado Springs area, doing talks for two writers' groups. On June 24, I did a presentation for a group called the Pikes Peak Write Brain, and then on June 26, I gave an informal talk to the Woodland Park Writers' Group.

Please check back here for more public appearances!

New Writing/Consulting Projects

I'm currently working on two Web-based virtual worlds for children, each quite different from the other. The Jasmine Club is a multi-faceted site, partially geared for social networking, and it's designed for girls in the Middle East, an under-served group if there ever was one. It's going to be visually rich and full of interactive possibilities, but right now it's still in its earliest stages. The other children's site I'm involved with, however, is much further along. It's called the Bamboo Bunch, and it's a fantasy site populated with gnomes, fairies, imps and the like. It even has its own video on YouTube.

In addition, I've been doing some consulting for a company designing an innovative B2B (Business to Business) tool, helping them build digital storytelling elements into their project.

I'm also finishing up my part of the work on the prototype of Medical Cyberworlds. I'm doing a variety of tasks, but the primary ones involve working with our SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) and writing the inital script for the scenario we are using in our demo. It’s an extremely challenging project, because we are doing it as a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). As far as I know, it’s the first time a MMORPG has been used as a vehicle for education, and the producer has assembled an impressive team of people to work on it. For more information about my work as a writer and consultant, please visit the section of my website on writing, speaking, teaching and consulting.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's Council on Film and Media Industries

I've been serving as a member of Governor Richardson's prestigious Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries since the Governor appointed me to the Council early in 2007. Recently, the Governor gave us an exciting new mandate: to investigate ways to help shape the curriculum of New Mexico schools (K-12, colleges and universities) so that students here are well-prepared for jobs in film and new media. The council works closely with the film office and the New Mexico Department of Economic Development to promote the growth of New Mexico’s media industries.

University Teaching

I'm currently teaching a course on interactive narrative for The University of New Mexico (UNM). The course is based on the second edition of my book, supplemented by several other texts, and each student creates an original work of Digital Storytelling. It’s an extremely lively and bright group, and I look forward to seeing the projects they come up with.

Also this fall, I'll be doing another week of guest teaching for De Montfort University in the UK, for a cutting edge program Master's Degree program in Creative Writing and New Media. Sadly, I won’t get to go to England to do this – all my teaching for them is done online – but teaching for this program has been a very exciting opportunity nevertheless. I've already done three guest lectures for De Montfort, and next year I may teach a full semester for them, doing a new course called Writing for the Creative Industries. If it does happen, I'll be able to use the new edition of DIGITAL STORYTELLING as a textbook!

Also in connection with the De Montfort University, I've been serving as a Dissertation Mentor for one of the students in the Master's Degree program in Creative Writing and New Media. Her dissertation project is creating a Wiki devoted to nanotechnology. Her take on the topic, the "Nanoteck Mysteries," is extremely engaging and understandable, even if you lack any kind of science background. For example, it will allow visitors to listen to a broadcast over "nano radio" -- a radio made out of a single carbon nanotube. Hard as it may be to believe, this "radio" is 10,000 times thinner than a human hair!

MIT Citation

I recently discovered that the first edition of my book was cited on an MIT website. It was mentioned in a four-part series about the marketing of breakfast cereals, of all things. The author talks about my chapter on developing interactive projects for children, and specifically refers to what I say about the importance of addressing parents' concerns about the material their children are exposed to. It's really cool to think my book is being used in some way at MIT!

Please, do come back again for updates and new features! Thanks.