Pervasive media + other Petty Perversions

Lisa Hsia, executive vice-president of Bravo Digital Media at NBCUniversal, gives us five predictions for the Social TV industry over the next few years.

Josh Hallet via FlickrDisney confirmed rumours this week that it would be laying off staff in a move to streamline its businesses.  

Mouse House cu...

"Somethin’ Else has developed a multi-platform storytelling kit, Story Farm, based on its work for Company Pictures' Skins drama on Channel 4.

The kit is a software platform, together with a package of strategic and support services, designed to give dramas or soaps an integrated transmedia aspect, using web-based platforms and social media.
 
Somethin’ Else is taking Story Farm to MIPTV, where it is looking to license it to producers, broadcasters and brands.
 
The Story Farm software enables the writing, scheduling and publishing of content to digital platforms. It is designed to be used by story editors and scriptwriters, including importing from scriptwriting software. Images and video can also be loaded on directly by the production team. 

The system contains tools designed to track content through broadcasters’ compliance processes. It also has a comprehensive verification system to ensure smooth scheduling and commercial-grade reliability for time-sensitive publishing, such as simultaneously with television shows...."

What is Transmedia Storytelling? Learn all you need to know about it and read case studies on how brands used it.

"...Several technology brands have created branded transmedia storytelling programs to launch new products, highlight product features, and showcase the potential of technology to change our world. Intel & Toshiba created The Beauty Inside (video), an interactive film where anyone could play the role of the lead character. Nokia created an interactive story called Someone Else’s Phone to show how a lost phone might reveal all our secrets to a stranger. Nokia also partnered with Tim Kring to create the Conspiracy for Good (video) to support social organizations and showcase its Ovi platform. Microsoft created The Vanishing Point ARG (video) to launch Vista. Google created the Niantic Project ARG to showcase its augmented reality app Ingress (video). Orange has created a series of ARGs — Alt Minds (video), Detective Avenue (video) and Fanfan 2 (video) — to showcase the transmedia storytelling technologies created by the Orange Transmedia Lab. Cisco created The Hunt ARG to engage its sales force and inform them about upcoming Cisco technologies...."

The increase in multi-screening, coupled with time spent on social channels, means content creation strategies need to evolve. Here are five principles to help

Lance Weiler on Transmedia 

A digital entrepreneur is offering $1-million and a berth on Cineplex screens to anyone with a two-minute trailer and the smarts, energy and talent to garner lots of buzz. Robert Everett-Green reports on J.

Design methodology for creating participatory transmedia stories

New program "Inventing The Future" launches today at 2:15PM PST Sure, 92% of the information on the planet has been collected just in the last two years, but what do we do with it?

TV-viewers can be part of programs and interact with friends with their computer, smartphone or tablet. Over 700 shows deployed.

When looking in their crystal balls, experts predict that social media will dramatically alter how we experience television content in 2013. Read this post by Jennifer Van Grove on CES 2013.

Following up on my curation of my blog from last year – “One Year In Transmedia” – I today published “One Year In Now Media”.

It’s a curation of this blog, with a number of articles divided into subsections according to topic. It’savailable for free on Slideshare on a Creative Commons license.

I’m very grateful towards all the people that took time out from their hectic schedules to answer a few questions of mine -  Brian Clark, Christy Dena, Jeff Gomez, Ian Ginn, Andrea Phillips, Robert Pratten, Inga Von Staden, Nuno Bernardo, Michael Monello, Chantal Rickards, Steve Stokes, Yomi Ayeni, Scott Walker, Lance Weiler, Liz Rosenthal and Nick DeMartino. Brilliant people, all in their own ways. Thank you.....

Trion Worlds reveals new player figure for open-world transmedia shooter since launch last month.

"Media, organizations and brands curate content to drive social engagement. What is Social Curation?

Social curation involves aggregating, organizing and sharing content created by others to add context, narrative and meaning to it. Artists, changemakers and organizations use social curation to showcase the full range of conversations around a topic, add more nuance to their own original content, and set the stage to crowdsource content from their community members.

The rise of social curation can be attributed to three broad trends. First, people are creating a constant stream of social media content, including updates, location check-ins, blog posts, photos and videos. Second, people are using their social networks to filter relevant content, by following others who share similar interests. Third, social media platforms are also curating content, by giving curation tools to users (YouTube playlists, Flickr galleries, Amazon lists, Foodspotting guides), using editors and volunteers (YouTube Politics, Tumblr Tags) or using algorithms (YouTube Trends, Auto-generated YouTube channels, LinkedIn Today).

As a result, a number of niche social curation platforms have emerged to enable people to curate different types of content — including links, photos, sounds and videos — into boards (Pinterest), trees (Pearltrees (video)), pages (Scoop.it (video)) and narratives (Storify (video), Cowbird). Some social curation platforms are focused on specific niches; for instance, Learni.st(video) helps people curate lessons and Fancy helps people discover cool things to buy...."

This weekend the new horror film  "Mama" opens in theaters nationwide. It's the spooky tale of a pair of young girls who are abandoned in a cabin in the woods for several years. When they are finally discovered and returned to society, to live with their kindly uncle (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from "Game Of Thrones") and his punkish girlfriend (Jessica Chastain), something else comes along with them… a spectral figure the girls name "Mama." In other words: perfect material for producer Guillermo del Toro to shepherd to the big screen....

What is it about ghosts that constantly fascinates you?

You know, amongst the characters in supernatural fiction, one of the ones I've been the most intrigued about is ghosts. I've done "Devil's Backbone," produced "The Orphanage," read every ghost story that you need to read for the curriculum, everybody that is noteworthy. And I think it's steeped in tradition. In England they used to tell great ghost stories during Christmas and I really find that it is, of the themes in horror, the one that invites themes of reflection. You reflect about what it is to be human, what it is to be alive, so on and so forth."

TORONTO – Canada is poised to become a major player in digital storytelling, thanks to the National Film Board of Canada and other local pots of gold for indie digital production.

"I believe storytellers can create deeper experiences for their audiences when they unfold a story and its world via multiple venues, and when they invite audiences to participate meaningfully in that world—especially when they strategize the unfolding of the adventure from the outset of the project."