Playable Comms is an interdisciplinary, collaborative network of projects with the aim of examining interactive digital narratives (IDNs) as tools for educating audiences on topics of science and health. More specifically, the research evaluates the efficacy of using IDNs for health and sci-comm, attempting to measure message uptake from outright rejection to holistic adoption engendering associated behavioural change.

IDNs comprise an interdisciplinary and ubiquitous communication method that can be employed for multiple UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. IDNs can be used in schools, GP waiting rooms, on tablets and smartphones; interactivity significantly increases retention, particularly when incorporated into media that audiences voluntarily and eagerly devote attention to. As a practice-based practitioner/researcher composing IDNs and evaluating their efficacy on multiple projects, I aim to develop a model for health and science communication through reading and writing IDNs that can be implemented in a wide array of scenarios and topic areas.