Transmedia Exploration Continued - TRANSMEDIA NECESSITY RATING

Ok - as I redirect my focus on my Web series website - I am focusing on a few categories - and Transmedia/Derivative web series is one category. As I set up the structure for my More Info pages, I am working on an idea I want to include - the TRANSMEDIA NECESSITY RATING

Ok - so not sure the name is the best :P and I am trying to find out if anyone has already done this in a very structured manner so I can use. I am very willing to use other terminology and systems - but I think this concept is important - and again, not seeing it around.

Ok so what is it I am trying to do? Basically a transmedia/derivative web series is one that is part of a bigger storytelling universe. Meaning the full story is not told in the web series, but using multiple mediums (see my blog on trying to define this as well as some other resources here).

Well when you delve into this topic, you find everyone has a slightly different view of what transmedia really is... I am still working on that... but... back to the rating...

If you look, some transmedia sources have really spread the story across the different mediums and you really do need ALL sources to understand the full story. That is a tightly woven story and, IMO, effectively using the concept of Transmedia. This however has the result that you need to experience ALL pieces and media to understand the story.

Conversely, some sources are very loosely linked, and while they expand the universe and story, they are very independent, and some might argue, NOT a true transmedia experience (which is a separate post I am working on and will revisit - what does a good and a bad transmedia world look like : ) - But to relate to web series, could a web series could be viewed as a stand alone and not suffer or lose any of the overall story to be told if the viewer has not, or does not, experience any of the other transmedia?

So this is an attempt to rate how integral the web series is to the overall story universe.

As I have set it up, for now, the rating is done from the perspective of how stand alone are the web series episodes. A rating of 1 means there is not much of a link to the rest of the universe and the web series can be viewed without needing other sources (some might argue it is almot more a derivative or sequel, etc. and not a true transmedia experience) and that one does not need to view the web series to understand the other sources. 5 means the web series is tied very tightly to other transmedia sources and that part of the web series will not be fully understood without the other sources and that a viewer needs to interact with the other sources to fully understand the web series.

With that said - for transmedia/derivative web series, I am trying to rate the use of transmedia, list all sources for the universe and also list them in chronological order as released as well as if there is a preferred viewing order.

Because that then is the other thing people struggle with - if there are multiple mediums (transmedia) - is there a preferred viewing order? Should a person be able to pick up any media source and enter the story fully, or is it not until the very END of the journey that a person could understand everything....

See where I am going with this? The Rating opens up a few other can of worms regarding transmedia.

So please, comment and let me know what you think, if others have done this, and so on........

Oh and anyone interested in helping with this fun venture - please give me a holler docwho2100@gmail.com