Fish sketch, Indrajit Das, Source
Tap essay is a unique form of digital storytelling introduced by fiction writer Robin Sloan in his 2012 essay Fish which exploresthe distinction between “liking something on the internet and loving something on the internet” (Sloan, 2022). This narrative form adopts a rhythm, leverages different visual features, and cues the reader. Sloan describes the experiment by defining the new format as an essay “presenting its argument tap by tap, making its case with typography, color, and a few surprises.” Fish was originally created as an iPhone app, but tap essays can be created using PowerPoint. Open the Box by Nikki Gordon (2020) is an example of a tap essay created by PowerPoint. It is essential to note that “Open the Box” discusses domestic abuse and violence. If you prefer not to explore the entire essay, the first ten slides offer a sense of the format without directly addressing the sensitive content.
If ethnographers seek to learn from storytellers about engaging their audience, tap essay proves to be an exceptional genre worth studying and experimenting with. This form demands reader engagement at the very least, as they are required to tap or press the spacebar to progress through the narrative and explore each element.
Work Cited
- Sloan, Robin. 2022. Fish: A Tap Essay. https://www.robinsloan.com/fish/
- Gordon, Nikki. 2020. “Open the Box.” TheJUMP+: The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects: 10.1. https://jumpplus.net/issue-10-1/open-the-box/