dialogie

Dialogie is a term used in contemporary media studies and digital writing to denote a structured, multi-voiced form of dialogue designed for interactive or non-linear texts. It describes both a methodological approach to crafting dialogue and a data model for organizing conversational content across channels.

Origin and usage: The word is a coinage blending dialogue with the suffix -ie to indicate a field of study or practice. It emerged in academic discussions of interactive fiction, educational chat interfaces, and transmedia storytelling, where conventional dialogue needs to be navigable, catalogued, and reconfigurable.

Core features: Dialogie emphasizes explicit turn-taking metadata, polyphonic voice design, and modular units called turns, speakers, and intents. It supports non-linear navigation, parallel threads, and the ability to remix conversations without losing coherence. Accessibility considerations stress legible typography, clear role labeling, and interoperable data formats.

Applications: In interactive fiction, dialogie structures enable players to switch between characters with distinct voices. In educational technology, it helps design tutor–student conversations and peer dialogs. In data analysis, dialogie provides a framework for annotating transcript corpora and mapping conversational networks.

Limitations and reception: As a relatively new label, dialogie lacks formal standards, leading to inconsistent implementation. Critics note potential complexity and cognitive load for readers and users, and call for interoperable schemas and better tooling to support creators.

See also: dialogue, interactive fiction, polyphony, conversational user interfaces, dialogism.