Formative Evaluation of a Constrained Composition Approach for Storytelling

In this paper, we present the evaluation of a pen-and-paper mockup for the composition of comics using a pre-defined set of images and sentences. Our goal was to investigate the effectiveness and the satisfaction of use of such an approach in comparison to a less constrained one. This pilot study is meant as an initial step to inform the design of a tool to support teenagers who speak different languages to remotely create collaborative stories. Initial results are encouraging, since they suggest that the limitation of expressiveness imposed by the pre-defined sentences do not hinder the possibility of creating sensible and creative stories.