WHY USE TWINE?
This section will discuss two key perspectives on why you might want to use Twine. The first of these will be from an archaeological perspective whilst the second will cover this from a more technical and broad lens.
The Archaeological Perspective:
The archaeologcial discipline is used to capturing, representing and communicating the past through text, image and increasingly 3D data. However, the narratives that we create for field-reports, excavation and general communications tend to be constructed in a linear fashion. Often this linearity is a result of the media forms and practices we use For example, context forms, word documents and journal articles all facilitate specific ways which archaeological data and narratives can be created and communicated.
yet we also acknowledge that there is choice involved (agency), the possibility for other outcomes to have eventuated (multilinearity), multiple story-lines happening at the same time (multiplicity and syncracity) or different perspectives on the same topic (multivocality). Twine is a way to play around with these concepts easily.
Hypertext has become a significant aspect of some archaeological data-sets, playing a vital role in creating linked data and multilinear narratives (such as in Holtorf's hypertext thesis). Twine makes creating multilinear, linked or agency centric stories easy.
Whilst the internal media affordances of Twine make it immediately valuable for post-processual paradigms it also has a place for examining and interrogating structural systems and objective investiagations of the archaeological record. Which is to say - Twine is an incredibly effective and versatile tool for structuring systems and narratives for and about the past.
One of the biggest issues that post-processual paradigms run into in archaeological contexts is that the media forms and formalized archaeological processes used in data capture and presentation do not reflect the extent of the experience or acknowledged possibilities in past or practice. Further to this reflexivity - from the edge of the trowel through to post-production - has been difficult to attain. The process of writing a Twine game facilitates constant examination and re-examination of the relationships between narratives, protagonists, antagonists, objects and creator (you!), and in doing so facilitates a space where reflexivity is possible. Further to this the act of playing a Twine game allows the space for the player to exert and experience agency in the past - possibly even contributing ideas or experiences through the game interface. This relationship and potential for agency has the potential to invert traditional power dynamics between archaeologists, archaeological record and the public. Evidently the ability to natively host multivocality, multilinearity or syncracity also allows for different interpretations and presentations of the past than many of our traditional recording methods. Finally, and probably most importantly, because Twine is free, easy to use (provided the user has basic computer literacy) and reasonably accessible (requires access to a computer) it can be used to give marginalised narratives a voice - to weave between objects, ideas and different voices.
To this end Twine can be an effective tool for thinking about, doing and collaborating on archaeological aspects.
The Technical Perspective
Twine is free and can be used with no programming skills meaning you can start creating complex narratives and games immediately. Further to this it is hugely customization and can make surprisingly complex and beautiful games if a little effort is expended. Uploading games is also incredibly easy – finished stories are held as web-pages so you can simply drag and drop them to a web-host or play them locally with no specialist programs or fuss!