Friday, April 29, 2011

Visual and interactive future

Reading through this article - www.niemanlab.org/2011/04/ap-interactive-visualizes-a-future-of-stories-that-reach-beyond-text/

It is a good summary and example of how the world is moving to a more visual/pictoral means of communication.

The world started with oral means as a major method of telling stories and sharing content. Then the written word began to replace that. Now a more pictoral form is taking shape.

Something interesting I note, and I am sure linguistic people have detailed this even more, true visual/pictoral communication may be the most global form of communication as oral and written require knowing the language, yet most of us can decipher what a photo of a fish is....

Also of note - America's education system has been cutting art and media programs for years, and now, perhaps, art and media education will be needed once again.... I love the way the world cycles ;)

And as a side note - this goes to supporting the trend of moving to cross-media/transmedia forms of content consumption - You know, I really like that phrase - content consumption :P

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

comments on a transmedia and high ed post

Read this article http://meetcontent.com/blog/2011/04/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed/ and had to comment

My comment

Wonderful post - I teach high school and college and weave transmedia elements into many of my classes. I have found there are many things to consider when moving to this approach. It takes time and planning to move a story (or in education a lesson) across multiple points (whether you want to say platforms, mediums or storylines). Then there is the need to assess in some manner how effective the delivery was to students and if the student was educated (and as we must keep in mind, educated in the goal/objectives that the lesson/story was designed to meet - many transmedia properties by their very nature wander and diverge). Also, many transmedia properties/events/stories/etc. have an element of active participation - which is actually just a more student-centered classroom - yet, many have a hard time designing a learning environment.

I also have some reservations as voiced by another person regarding fictional mixing with reality - are students ready and prepared to separate fact from fiction? There are so many hoaxes and false information now that education has to combat - have we taught the students the needed skills to thrive and learn in a transmedia environment? It is one thing to enter a transmedia universe for pleasure - another for academic/business.... will students be able to make the distinction?

Oh so much to talk about!!!!! :)

Hypernarrative - an old article rediscovered

As I plug away on my collection of transmedia resources - I found this - as I read the assorted recent articles on transmedia and related, it makes me wonder - hypernarrative - an ancestor of #transmedia perhaps? :) ( http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/neapaper.html

I especially like this concept from the article, "Indeed part of the hypertext experience may be described as foraging for episodes."

check out the wiki entry for hypernarrative for more on the article - http://transmediaresources.wikia.com/wiki/Hypernarrative
Check out some of the referenced projets in the article

http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/partyone.html

http://www.eastgate.com/malloy/


http://www.eastgate.com/

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Elisabeth Sladen - you will be missed

I didn't know it then, but I had a major crush on Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen) - after Ace (and again a major crush), SJS was my fave. When she came back and then had her own series, I was in heaven.

Ppbckwrt sent this link to me - it really does fit and I am with K-9

http://blastr.com/2011/04/image-of-the-day-dork-tow.php

Monday, April 18, 2011

transmedia intertextuality - marsha kinder's definition

As I wind my way through updating the transmedia resources wiki - I find resources now and then that just catch my eye and I want to somehow push them out in front a little more - here is one such resource and it is from waaaaaaaaaay back in 1991 ;)

The author uses the term transmedia intertextuality to define and discuss how narrative for children's projects moves across multiple sources and has levels of interaction - great thoughts and one of the very early works in the resurgence of the transmedia concept!

Marsha was transmedia savvy wayyyy back then


source "Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" by Marsha Kinder, 1991 (published in paperback in 1993)

From her book - "What I found [from recording Saturday morning children's TV] was a fairly consistent form of transmedia intertextuality, which positions young spectators (1) to recognize, distinguish, and combine different popular genres and their respective iconography that cut across movies, television, comic books, commercials, video games, and toys; (2) to observe the formal differences between television and its prior discourse of cinema, which it absorbs, parodies, and ultimately replaces as the dominant mode of image production; (3) to respond to and distinguish between the two basic modes of subject positioning associated respectively with television and cinema, being hailed in direct address by fictional characters or by offscreen voices, and being sutured into imaginary identification with fictional character and fictional space, frequently through the structure of the gaze and through the classical editing conventions of shot/reverse shot; and (4) to perceive both the dangers of obsolescence (as a potential threat to individuals, programs, genres, and media) and the values of compatibility with a larger system of intertextuality, within which formerly conflicting categories can be absorbed and restrictive boundaries erased."

Friday, April 15, 2011

Innovative video

So reading techdirt - they had a link to this video - I really like the video, the music and group - I think it would be cool to do something like this - is also could see something like this being a cool project to work on, to use as a crowdfunding incentive and to connect to fans and other artists....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whv1tLqKZig&feature=player_embedded

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Windmills of our Transmedia Minds

Not sure I mentioned this before - but going through some of my transmedia links/references as I update the transmedia resources database site (www.transmediaresources.com) and the wiki (http://transmediaresources.wikia.com/wiki/Transmedia_Resources_Wiki)

I found the link to this cool app by Gary Hayes called windmills of our transmedia minds - the music is addicting (well to me) and the ideas are very cool, as well as the concept. How many of these have you included in a project of yours?

http://www.personalizemedia.com/randomizers/windmills-of-our-transmedia-minds-app/


Saturday, April 09, 2011

Shared Storyworlds (thanks Scott Walker)

Ok - I need to say more on this topic and website - but I am running like mad GO RUN DO NOT WALK to this web site especially if you like the idea of a place where people come together and share a world and share their thoughts and stories about this world


http://sharedstoryworlds.com/


I snagged this from their about section
--------------------

Shared Story Worlds explores new models, frameworks, and best practices for creating, curating, sustaining, and maintaining collaborative entertainment properties which invite audiences to participate in the co-creation of the world and ideally rewards them for doing so (please read What is a Shared Story World? for a more detailed definition).


Shared Story Worlds examines this participatory entertainment space in several ways:

• Publishing articles about the unique aspects of shared story worlds (legal, narrative, creative, community)

• Publishing interviews with the creatives behind shared story worlds

• Maintaining a list of shared story worlds
--------------------------------------



Please do go check the site out and spread the word - below is a panel description I am working on to submit to a little fanfiction oriented conference coming up - it summarizes some of the thoughts I have on this topic.


Title: Writing in a post-apocalyptic black sandbox and the idea of a storyworld built on the Creative Commons concept – a newer sort of publishing/writing?


There are more and more instances of fans involved in the creation of story - crowdsourcing and crowdfunding is exploding as is a participatory culture)


I've been following The World of Depleted (WoD) (www.worldofdepleted) for some time now, a world where technology is destroyed, only 11% of the population still lives and life is very different. I started following the neat idea waiting for the films to come, then got sucked into the first Canon written piece (Gavin Hesterdale's Journal) and the ARG and interactive elements of that world that are part of the fan participation. As my imagination gathered steam, I wrote a fanfiction piece based on the world. I was encouraged to submit it for official canon consideration and was blown away when it wa accepted as one of the first canon submissions.


What really draws me, is the design of the World of Depleted. It is based on a Creative Commons and fan participation model. WoD ENCOURAGES fanfiction and gives an outlet for fanfiction to be worked into other elements of the storyworld. Is this a possible future business model for writing? Do fanfiction writers have potential to contribute to a storyworld in a more intimate way?


This workshop will cover: the model of WoD, writing for a post-apocalyptic storyworld, how fanfiction and fan participation is part of this model and then hopefully people can jabber about the topics.


PS – I am interested in completing many of the WoD challenges – if any others are interested in building a team…. Give a holler!

Friday, April 01, 2011

Fanfiction vs Published writing - Characters, stories and copyright

So, I have a story I am working on for World of Depleted and because I want to submit it as possible official canon, I am learning some of the nitty gritty differences between fanfiction and "official" writing, a big one being, you can get away with a lot of stuff in fanfiction.

The question (among many) I am chasing tonight is - I have a character and I want them after doing something to quote the Homer Simpson line about being "I am so smart, SMRT" - yes there is a reason for using the Homer line, if there was not, I'd just take it out and not worry, but pop references is something I can see this character doing a lot, and it ties the story more to "this world" you know that thing where you try to make your character seem real by surrounding them with the same things your reader would be surrounded by...

Well my question is - can you do this with out contacting the holder of the property and can I basically use that (and in the future) similar references in my story.

I think the answer is a reference to a general character, place or story is ok (although if in a defamation/negative way you may get sued or in trouble for that). But song lyrics definite no no and quoting sayings and catchphrases still not sure.

This is leading me to one of the things that the traditional publishing system is very good for - the copyright, leagalese, fact checking part....

Ok here are some references

http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/2004-04-01-2.shtml
- makes me think I am ok

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2011/03/character-copyright.html - verifies the above

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3699267
- reading the comments - very helpful

http://www.scriptmag.com/2010/09/10/primetime-can-i-legally-write-a-story-based-on-another-writers-character/


http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
(from http://copyright.cornell.edu/)

http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en - international IP info