I have no idea where this will lead us. But I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange”
(Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks).
The Association for Learning Technologists (ALT) organises the Open Education OER conference every year. In 2021, the event took place in an online capacity. In 2022, the event took place in a hybrid way in London and online with the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) contributing to the chairing of the event. The aim of the conference is to explore “Open Education research, practice and policy” (Association for Learning Technology, 2022). The conference explored five core themes including pedagogy in a time of crisis, open textbooks, open in action, open research and wildcard proposals (Association for Learning Technologists, n.d.).

Responding to the theme of pedagogy of crisis, one of the critical questions is “what does an ‘open’ response look like?” (Association for Learning Technologists, n.d.). For me, an open response is to explore what we can do with what we have. Necessity is the mother of (digital) invention.
Autoethnography is “a method that allows us to reconsider how we think, how we do research and maintain relationships, and how we live”
(Adams, Holman Jones & Ellis 2015: p8).

Creating a story/game in Twine can be visualised as map on a grid. It is possible to test to game.
Twine is a both free and open-source storytelling tool that enables users to create text-based interactive games and non-linear storytelling (Twinery, n.d.)
(Eclipse Digital Imaging, 2022)

Twine can be argued to be “a new tool has emerged that empowers just about anyone to create a game” (Petit, 2013)
(Eclipse Digital Imaging, 2022)
Twin Peaks (1990-1991) explores “…. idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks” (IMDb, 2022). For online presentations, presenters were invited to use Discord to respond to ideas and answer questions which enhanced the conference experience.

Drawing on the well known television programme Twin Peaks (1990-1991) the presentation draws on Twine to create a techno-auto-ethnographic “identity performance” game/story to explore the idiosyncratic identity story of a Learning Technologist working in higher education (Clark, 2020). Techno-auto- ethnography has been novel, innovative and open methodological thread running throughout research and practice (see blog posts exploring this topic here).
Bibliography
Adams, T, E, Holman, Jones, S & Ellis, C (2015) Autoethnography Understanding Qualitative Research (USA: OUP).
Association for Learning Technology (2022) Open Education (OER) Conference (Online) Available at: https://www.alt.ac.uk/events/open-education-conference [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Association for Learning Technology (n.d.) Open Education Conference #OER22 (Online) Available at: https://altc.alt.ac.uk/oer22/ [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Clark D. (2020). Tech and me: an autoethnographic account of digital literacy as an identity performance. Research in Learning Technology, 28. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v28.2389
Discord (2022) Discord (Online) Available at: https://discord.com/ [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Eclipse Digital Imaging (2022) Smart Phone with Transparent Screen (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/smart-phone-transparent-screen-pid-15851 [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Eclipse Digital Imaging (2022) Computer Monitor Blank White Screen (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/computer-monitor-plain-white-screen-pid-2081 [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Eclipse Digital Imaging (2022) 8-bit Message Text (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/video-background/8bit-message-text-pid-12118 [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Eclipse Digital Imaging (2022) 80s Retro Text Custom (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/video-background/80s-retro-text-custom-pid-19907 [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Eclipse Digital Imaging (2022) Store Front (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/store-front-pid-19128 [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) (n.d.) Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) (Online) Available at: https://go-gn.net/ [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Petit, C (2013) Power to the People: The Text Adventures of Twine. Gamespot, [online] (Last updated 2:11AM PST on 21 January). Available at: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/power-to-the-people-the-text-adventures-of-twine/1100-6402665/ [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Twinery (n.d) Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories (Online) Available at: https://twinery.org/ [Accessed 3 May 2022].