Critical Reflection – Literature in Digital Environments
By studying Literature in Digital Environments (ETL533), I have reconsidered what I know, what has changed, and what remains the same in my understanding of digital literature and my role as a teacher librarian (TL).
I was already a confident adopter of digital technologies, integrating them into literacy and literature studies (Sloan, 2025, August 13). Early in my MEdTL, I introduced Year 6 students to interactive texts such as My Grandmother’s Lingo (SBS, 2014) and K’gari (SBS, 2017). Through ETL533, however, my perspective shifted from using digital texts to critically evaluating their affordances and even creating them.
Initially, I defined digital literature broadly, including read-alouds with basic multimedia. I now recognise that these works lack the fully integrated features that distinguish genuine digital literature. One key takeaway has been that defining digital literature remains contested, just as the notion of “literature” itself evolves with technologies and cultural expectations. The evaluative process was a powerful way to explore both definition and quality, asking how digital affordances deepen, rather than dilute, the literary experience (Sloan, 2025, August 18). For example, My Grandmother’s Lingo cannot be printed without losing its interactivity, highlighting how meaning is in inextricably bound to its digital form.
This expansiveness is evident in experimental texts such as Grand Theft Hamlet (Crane & Grylls, 2024), where Shakespeare was performed inside Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar, 2013). Such works blur the line between “game” and “literature,” echoing my blog inquiry: is The Legend of Zelda interactive literature? (Sloan, 2025, August 13). This led me into the narratology versus ludology debate. Aarseth (1997) defined games as systems, while others highlighted narrative potential (Herman, 2002). Today, many dismiss the binary as a “trope” (Aarseth, 2019), instead viewing games on a spectrum of story and play (Domsch, 2013; Juul, 2005; Kokonis, 2014). As I argued in my blog post (Sloan, 2025, October 1), this spectrum view is most practical for TLs: it acknowledges that some games embody quality narratives that foster literacy, multimodal comprehension, and critical thinking.
This study has reframed my stance on videogames as digital stories. For example, my review of Paper Trail (Newfangled Games, 2023) recognised that even puzzle mechanics contributed to theme, character, and setting (Sloan, 2025b, August 25). This confirmed that digital features should contribute to literary quality rather than distract from it (Dobler, 2013; Serafini, 2010; Unsworth, 2006). Returning to Zelda, examining authorial intent reinforced this view. The game’s creator, Miyamoto sought to evoke an exploratory arc, while co-creator Tezuka scripted specific story elements. This deliberate narrative intention supports the argument that games like Zelda can be considered as digital literature.
Designing my own transmedia project, Whispers of the Red Thread: A Red Riding Hood Transmedia Story (Sloan, 2025a, August 25), consolidated these insights. I chose transmedia for its non-linear, multimodal structure, aligning with Universal Design for Learning (CAST, n.d.) by offering multiple ways for students to express learning. Extending the project into the real world, such as a poetry tree installation leading to digital artefacts, blended physical and digital spaces, giving students the choice to create artefacts without technology. This convinced me of the value of transmedia collaborative storytelling.
The feedback process on the project was also valuable. Through comments on my project proposal, my peers suggested I carefully consider cohesion in collaborative transmedia storytelling (Cameron, 2025; Tielman, 2025). In response, I developed a colour-coded story map and guide sheets to scaffold character and theme consistency, positioning the TL as facilitator and guide in the process: the protector of literary cohesion. Another suggestion was to include structured student reflection (Jaeger, 2025), which aligned with my aim of ensuring students can justify narrative design and digital affordances. Integrating this feedback highlighted that digital projects demand not only creativity but also thoughtful orchestration of process, ensuring collaboration translates into meaningful learning (Walsh, 2010).
Engaging with generative AI extended this reflection into the ethics and digital citizenship. I experimented with ChatGPT for structure and Gemini for images (OpenAI, 2025; Google, 2025), which I then critically adapted outputs to meet learning intentions. Sharing these processes with students will turn this AI-use into teachable moments (see teaching slideshow in the site’s Appendix B (Sloan, 2025). This also deepened my awareness of ethical issues and copyright. While folk tales like Little Red Cap (Grimm & Grimm, 1815) can be adapted, using AI-generated images and ideas led me to investigate questions of authorship and intellectual property of my finished product. As a result, I have transparently acknowledged the use of AI on my project site in Appendix A (Sloan, 2025).
Ultimately, ETL533 has shifted my professional stance. I now view the TL’s role in digital environments as multifaceted: curator of quality literature, facilitator of multimodal learning, advocate for ethical practice, and designer of inclusive, participatory storytelling experiences. My initial enthusiasm for digital tools has grown into a critical, evaluative approach that balances innovation with literary merit, ethical responsibility, and pedagogical purpose.
Cover image generated using Gemini: Google. (2025). Gemini (October 3, Pro. Flash 2.5) [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com/
References
Aarseth, E. (1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on ergodic literature. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Aarseth, E. (2019). Game Studies: How to play — Ten play-tips for the aspiring game-studies scholar. Game Studies. https://gamestudies.org/1902/articles/howtoplay
Cameron, H. (2025, September 13). Peer feedback on project proposal [Comment on the blog post “Project Proposal: Twisted Fairytales – A Transmedia Storytelling Experience”]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/25/project-proposal-twisted-fairytales-a-transmedia-storytelling-experience/#comment-7
CAST. (n.d.). Universal Design for Learning guidelines. CAST. https://udlguidelines.cast.org
Crane, S., & Grylls, P. (Directors). (2024). Grand Theft Hamlet [Film]. Project 1961; Grasp the Nettle Films.
Dobler, E. (2013). Looking beyond the screen: Evaluating the quality of digital books. Reading Today, 30(5), 20-21.
Domsch, S. (2013). Storyplaying: Agency and narrative in video games. De Gruyter.
Google. (2025). Gemini 2.5 Flash [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com/app
Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (1812). Kinder- und Hausmärchen [Children’s and Household Tales]. Original manuscript.
Herman, D. (2002). Story logic: Problems and possibilities of narrative. University of Nebraska Press.
Jaeger, A. (2025, September 11). Peer feedback on project proposal [Comment on the blog post “Project Proposal: Twisted Fairytales – A Transmedia Storytelling Experience”]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/25/project-proposal-twisted-fairytales-a-transmedia-storytelling-experience/#comment-6
Juul, J. (2005). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. MIT Press.
Kokonis, M. (2014). Post-classical narratology and digital literature. Literary Studies Journal, 23(2), 44–59.
Newfangled Games. (2023). Paper trail [Interactive digital game]. Netflix.
Nintendo. (2017). The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Video game]. Nintendo Switch.
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (GPT-5 version) [Large language model]. chatgpt.com
Rockstar North. (2013). Grand Theft Auto Online [Video game]. Rockstar Games.
Serafini, F. (2010). Reading Multimodal Texts: Perceptual, Structural and Ideological Perspectives. Children’s Literature in Education, 41(2), 85–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-010-9100-5
Sloan, T. (2025, August 13). Diving deeper into digital literature [Blog post]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/13/diving-deeper-into-digital-literature/
Sloan, T. (2025, August 18). Evaluating digital stories: Looking beyond the colour and movement [Blog post]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/18/evaluating-digital-stories-looking-beyond-the-colour-and-movement/
Sloan, T. (2025a, August 25). Project Proposal: Twisted Fairytales – A Transmedia Storytelling Experience [Blog post]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/25/project-proposal-twisted-fairytales-a-transmedia-storytelling-experience/
Sloan, T. (2025b, August 25). Paper Trail – a digital literature review [Blog post]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/25/paper-trail-a-digital-literature-review/
Sloan, T. (2025, October 1). The “trope” of the narratology-ludology debate and why it continually respawns [Blog post]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/10/01/the-trope-of-the-narratology-ludology-debate-and-why-it-continually-respawns/
Tielman, R. (2025, September 10). Peer feedback on project proposal [Comment on the blog post “Project Proposal: Twisted Fairytales – A Transmedia Storytelling Experience”]. Unlock the School Library. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/unlockthelibrary/2025/08/25/project-proposal-twisted-fairytales-a-transmedia-storytelling-experience/#comment-5
Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal literacy: What does it mean for classroom practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(3), 211–239.Wright, K. (2019, July 10). From Twitterbots to VR: 10 of the best examples of digital literature. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/from-twitterbots-to-vr-10-of-the-best-examples-of-digital-literature-110099
