Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age

Samantha Murphy Kelly:  "Selfie drones, virtual reality headsets and simulated art farms are just a few of the most-buzzed-about "toys" getting a big push at the 2016 Toy Fair in New York City this week. Wireless connectivity, integration with the "Internet of Things" and voice activation are some of the most innovative features."

Xeni Jardin:  "People who aren't nerds never cared much about the Unicode Consortium until everyone started caring, a lot, about emoji."

Sandra Gaudenzi:  "Digital Me is an adventure that started more than a year ago when I got obsessed with the idea of using personalisation to make a story that could speak to each user in a private and meanigful way. I had seen Take This Lollipop, by Jason Zada, and thought it was very clever, but I somehow felt that using personal data to speak about the self would be more helpful than using it to scare people.  How could we use data mining to empower users – rather than to sell them things? And could this narrative be a tool for self-reflection?"

Kevin Ohannessian:  "Gamers and early adopters are going to put virtual reality on shelves, but social uses of VR will bring it into all our lives."

Meredith Mattlin:  "For years, Misha Collins has curated a list of tasks ranging from imaginative to absurd, allowing people to compete in an international competition that could bring them anywhere from a water park to a particle accelerator."

Sergio Nouvel:  "High quality templates, mature design patterns, automation, AI, and mobile technology are signaling the end of web design as we know it."

Ted Hope:  "Filmmakers, Hollywood, The Industry, rarely know whom their audience is. We do it so ass-backwards: we make a movie and we think it is so wonderful that people all over the world will come to see it. Wouldn’t it be a hell of a lot easier ifall we did was take our movies where people are already gathered?"

Christine Weitbrecht:  "As some of you may have gathered from my Twitter feed, I was back at SXSW this year. Just like last year, my time at SXSW has been incredibly inspirational and educational, and there are a few key entertainment trends that I would like to share with you."

Chuck Fishman:  "Today’s TV viewer doesn’t just watch TV anymore — they scroll through Twitter and Facebook in real time, watch YouTube Videos, send Snapchats and pin to Pinterest boards."

Klint Finley:  "The world's first publicly traded person and Kanye West's former technical consultant want to help you IPO anything."

Mathew Ingram:  "A description from 19-year-old Andrew Watts provides a fascinating glimpse into how some teenaged users approach different social-media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat."

Josh Constine:  "There is a battle raging for curated social media supremacy. When big things happen, each of these apps wants to be where you see the best of and behind the scenes."

Indiegogo:  "More and more independent filmmakers are turning to crowdfunding as an option to help raise money for feature-length and short films, documentaries, TV show pilots, web series and transmedia and VR projects. To help aspiring filmmakers achieve their dreams, we analyzed over 22,000 film campaigns to find best practices and insights. Here are 8 key film crowdfunding stats you need to know."

Michael Wesolowski:  "It’s no longer just about unique and memorable game characters and exciting incentives, but holistic and immersive user experiences."

Ethan Saplenza:  "It's not just big-budget blockbusters that get sponsorship deals. Indies do too - and there's quite a big upside."

Nicole Kobie:  "Think back to when you were a child: the thought of your favourite doll or teddy bear learning your name and intelligently talking to you would be simply magical" ...

Simon Jenkins:  "However well-connected it makes us, cyberspace is lonely. That’s why, more and more, we are looking for live experiences" ...

Austin Carr:  "Inside Disney's radical plan to modernize its cherished theme parks."

"Snapchat has expanded far beyond its social beginnings, VideoInk's reporter [Jessica Klein] explains" ...

Oakley Anderson-Moore:  "While it's true that many Sundance films get distribution deals, they aren't always the deals of the filmmaker's dreams. With over a dozen feature films at Sundance this year that raised part of their budget on Kickstarter, is it possible to use that crowdfunding platform as collateral to attract a distributor? Or can you bypass a distributor all together using Kickstarter?"

Rob Wile:  "An unidentified individual or group responsible for uploading videos that simply show a woman opening Disney toys made an estimated $4.9 million last year, more than any other channel for 2014, according to OpenSlate, a video analytics platform that analyzes ad-supported content on YouTube."