Just Tripping Along The Freakazoid: Massive Transmedia resources and stuff

edit 2/24/2010 - I am collecting the resources below and many more and trying to add a little order to the massive chaos locate here - sites.google.com/site/transmediaresources/ anyone wanna help???

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Ok - I am working on a Transmedia/Transmedia storytelling page for Mahalo.com - http://www.mahalo.com/transmedia . I am waiting to see if it is accepted and I become that page's manager. Below is the general stuff i submitted - I'll cull it a bit and add it to the Transmedia page on my web series site - but for someone wanting some info - lots of links and some more work at trying to consolidate all of the massive info out there

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Transmedia is a very vague term that is often used in many different ways leading to the need to use the surrounding context to determine meaning. The most general definition can be taken as media delivered in multiple formats/platforms; content is delivered to the intended audience using multiple means/methods. Essentially a transmedia project will use various forms of content delivery (multiple media platforms) each form unique yet serving as a possible entry point into the bigger narrative/story/scheme.

Stephen E. Dinehart uses the term transmedial and transmedial play to describe this type of experience. "In a transmedial work the viewer/user/player (VUP) transforms the story via his or her own natural cognitive psychological abilities, and enables the Artwork to surpass medium. It is in transmedial play that the ultimate story agency, and decentralized authorship can be realized. Thus the VUP becomes the true producer of the Artwork. The Artist authored transmedia elements act a story guide for the inherently narratological nature of the human mind (see illustration) to become thought, both conscious and subconscious, in the imagination of the VUP." http://narrativedesign.org/2008/05/transmedial-play-cognitive-and-cross-platform-narrative/

Transmedia storytelling/entertainment/narrative is another popular topic using the concept of transmedia. At least as early as January, 2003 the topic was used by Henry Jenkins (http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/13052/) Transmedia storytelling is defined by Henry Jenkins as, "Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience."http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html

Many often use the single word transmedia to mean transmedia storytelling (see the article http://thevarsity.ca/articles/24855 for an example of this). A good summary of the concept can be found in the article - Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production b CARLOS SCOLARI - http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/477/336

A transmedia experience/project/narrative would have content delivered in one form and there is no SINGLE source someone can use to find/gather all of the information. For example, the overall structure is provided in a print book. More of the content is then provided through a second source, say a web video that further develops a topic from one of the book's chapters. A third source might be a series of text messages sent over a mobile device. A fourth transmedia outlet for content could then be a series of related web sites.

A sampling of transmedia projects are listed in the Transmedia Examples section Review these two interviews to look at the question of how transmedia storytelling differs from telling a story using different mediums - http://www.smartplanet.com/people/blog/pure-genius/the-power-of-transmedia-storytelling/695/ and http://www.lunchoverip.com/2008/05/from-crossmedia.html as well as and these two articles that work to define the differences between using transmedia and a transmedia narrative - http://www.jillgolick.com/2009/12/jeff-gomezs-principles-of-transmedia-narrative/ and http://lukefreeman.com.au/papers/transmedia-storytelling-the-art-of-world-building/

The relationship of the content and sources, the use of the sources are some of the topics that still are being discussed as people try to better define and understand the use and application of transmedia. Topics for discussion include the following:

1. How related these sources must be to be classified as a transmedia project (is it really effective transmedia if the exact same story is told in all methods?).

2. How original the content delivered by each source should be (the content in the web video is new from what was in the book and furthers the story such as chapters in a book).

3. How crucial it is to the user to experience all forms of the transmedia (If the user does not have a cell phone to get the texts, can he/she understand the other transmedia content? Does the order in which the user accesses the sources matter?)

4. How distinct should the roles of writer/creator and user be (Should transmedia be interactive? Can the audience participate and actually change the story? Is crowd sourcing a form of transmedia?).

Review http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html to examine some of those concepts in more detail.

This type of content delivery and story telling has been around for centuries in one form or another. Transmedia delivery is used in fictional media, nonfiction and academia as well as for marketing/advertising, and professional business/industry related projects. However, in the last decade interest in transmedia has become renewed as a major way to deliver content. This is in part due to new technologies that offer a wider variety of content delivery and audience participation. Social networks and social media forms have especially provided alternate methods for content delivery.

Many industries and organizations embrace using transmedia.

- Transmedia activism (http://www.namac.org/node/6925 http://transmediaactivism.wordpress.com/ and http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/04/transmedia-storytelling-and-cocreation-networks.html ).
- Marketing/Advertising companies, public relations and businesses have begun to use transmedia (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/24339.asp, http://nett.com.au/marketing/quick-fix/exploring-transmedia-campaigns/11642.html and http://www.slideshare.net/lksriv/transmedia-activism-1615040 ).
- Movie/Entertainment industry has begun to turn their focus to transmedia projects as a "new", "hot", buzzworthy, market (http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2010/02/canada-goes-multiplatform-or-message-is.html and http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005442.html?categoryid=1019&cs=1 and http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6694771.html )
- The individual/career oriented - http://astoriedcareer.com/2009/09/my-wackiest-proposal-yet-trans.html
- Transmedia teaching - http://mediterraneanworld.typepad.com/the_archaeology_of_the_me/2009/12/transmedia-teaching.html

Related terms: Cross-media, cross platform, multi-platform, transmedia narrative, multi-modality, multimedia stories, multiple media platforms, augmented reality, immersive storytelling, hypersociability, narrative design, branded entertainment/content and distributed storytelling are a few and there are many more. See the following sources http://www.christydena.com/online-essays/terms-genres-formats/ and http://www.astoriedcareer.com/2009/08/storytelling-crossmedia-transm.html

Resources to explore to learn more about transmedia

www.cross-mediaentertainment.com

http://www.henryjenkins.org

http://home.comcast.net/~DOCWHO2000/moreinfopages/transmedia.html

http://www.personalizemedia.com/the-future-of-social-media-entertainment-slides/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhayes/sets/72157613331811096/

http://sparksheet.com/the-future-of-branded-entertainment-qa-with-brent-friedman/

http://astoriedcareer.com/

http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/07/20/the-need-for-storytelling-skills/

http://www.personalizemedia.com/

http://www.transmedialab.org/en/

http://seizethemedia.com/what-is-transmedia/

http://narrativedesign.org/2009/08/creators-of-transmedia-stories-html/

http://thevarsity.ca/articles/24855

http://henryjenkins.org/2009/08/transmedia_storytelling_and_en.html

http://www.hollywoodeasttv.com/video/the-series-what-is-transmedia

http://www.thebookishdilettante.com/blog/2010/1/2/transmedia-storytelling-pioneers-in-the-new-age-of-narrative.html

http://canarytrap.net/

http://braincandyllc.com/

http://www.namac.org/node/6925

http://interactions.acm.org/content/?p=1318

http://narrativenow.org/2009/06/30/variety-discovers-transmedia-not-quite/

Videos

http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/4720

http://techtv.mit.edu/genres/21-events/videos/4759-session-5-producing-transmedia-experiences-participation-play

http://www.hollywoodeasttv.com/video/the-series-what-is-transmedia

http://www.vimeo.com/4672634

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWyo00IoXo8 - "Heroes" creator Tim Kring on transmedia storytelling by sakirsner. Nice interview. Starts with his definition of transmedia and how it helps in telling a story. He then provides specific examples using the show "Heroes". Great example is how characters that are not featured in one aspect, say a television, can have a life in another medium. He also brings up the point that transmedia helps extend canon of a story/universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfH8WwClSx0 - Jeff Gomez on Creating Transmedia Experiences by digitalmediawire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhGBfuyN5gg&feature=related - Transmedia missionaris: Henry Jenkins by crossmediaboek

Resources providing examples of transmedia experiences

http://www.alternaterealitybranding.com/whysoserious_viral09/

http://home.comcast.net/~DOCWHO2000/moreinfo.html

http://www.argn.com/2009/09/riese_the_series_delivering_transmedia_with_a_side_of_steampunk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ghosts/

http://news.tubefilter.tv/2009/10/06/bbc-sends-out-transmedia-shivers-with-the-well/

http://www.echoditto.com/blog/entertainment-engagement-part-2-choose-your-own-adventures

http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/nine-inch-nails-tell-a-transmedia-story/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_%28game%29

http://www.geoffreylong.com/miscellany/actionfigures.php