CARVER WILCOX        

StoryVerse

Your world-building notes visualized







2023 

My Role:

UX Research
Concept Direction
Product Narrative


Team:

4 graduate students




Unpacking the impact of AI 



Generative AI is expected to automate 26% of work tasks in arts, design, entertainment, and media.

With the rise of text-generating tools like ChatGPT, our team identified novelists as a community to explore current and possible future impacts and opportunities in depth.
We reimagined AI to scaffold human creativity rather than replace it. StoryVerse is a dynamic note repository and librarian that can retrieve and visualize note details across maps, timelines, and more.









Notecards are the building blocks of StoryVerse that can be visualized in maps and more











RESEARCH + INSIGHTS

Indirectly supporting the craft



See our research report

I took a leading role in our research: exploring news, writing tools, academic papers, and communities. I recruited diverse participants among seven published novelists and two subject matter experts.

We found that even amongst the avid AI experimenters, many published writers don't want AI to write for them. However, we found compelling experimentation and rigor in activities and tools that support the writing.





 

"I will create documents that are like Wikipedias of the universe... so I can have a consistent reference point for everything from political structures to family structures of the characters, to street maps, to ecologies."

—Participant 2








CONCEPT + TACTICS

Note-details in dynamic context


With notecards as building blocks, we conceived ways to visualize their details across modes such as maps, timelines, and character webs.

I put together early concept mock-ups that helped define the foundational aspects of our designs. I drew inspiration from non-writing software and ideated new ways to build off writers' analog methods.

Through our analysis, we established design principles to mitigate negative impacts and provide genuine support for the craft, which we additionally validated through concept evaluations with participants.






The different modes where Notecard details can be retrieved and visualized










THE NARRATIVE 

Supporting the flow of writing 

 I directed, scripted, and narrated our concept video and enlisted film and music collaborators from my network. It was completed in under two weeks with five work streams across three cities.

We further explored ways users could customize the software, including AI opt-in and opt-out functionality. I helped create FAQ content to inform users of the benefits and trade-offs with access to their data.






Writers can opt-in and out of AI functionality to retain control while using StoryVerse












OUTCOMES

Reception and future work

StoryVerse gained positive reception from writers and other individuals across diverse sectors. We also considered what the future could entail for the software concept and collaborative potential AI:


AI implementation

What is the most economical and environmentally conscious system we could implement while maximizing benefits for writers?


Prototype testing to further define functionality

What features and functionality might be refined, added, or removed?


Explore use cases beyond fiction/novels

Cross-pollinating techniques from different communities could potentially benefit writers and other creators in new and exciting ways