Week 11: Co-Creation & Crowdsourcing

Week 11: Co-Creation or Crowdsourcing: Moving Beyond Multiple Choice

Required and Recommended Readings

This week we’ll talk about crowdsourcing and some models that work best. We’ll end with a discussion of how crowdsourcing has improved so that the final products are more viable.

n  Yannig Roth, (May 2012). “Crowdsourcing and Co-Creation are Complementary,” Innovation Excellence. http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/05/31/crowdsourcing-and-co-creation-are-complementary/ n  Marjanovic, S., Fry, C., & Chataway, J. (2012). Crowdsourcing based business models: In search of evidence for innovation 2.0. Science & Public Policy (SPP), 39(3), 318-332. doi:10.1093/scipol/scs009 n  Zwass, V. (2010). Co-Creation: Toward a Taxonomy and an Integrated Research Perspective. International Journal Of Electronic Commerce, 15(1), 11-48. doi:10.2753/JEC1086-4415150101 n  Tom Foremski, “Cultivating a Smarter Crowd: Norwest’s Startups Move Byond Crowdsourcing (July 2013). http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2013/07/cultivating_a_smarter.php n  Megan Mayhew Bergman, “A Literary Experiment: Crowdsourcing the Fate of a Girl,” (Sept. 2013). Beyond the Margins. http://beyondthemargins.com/2013/09/a-literary-experiment-crowdsourcing-the-fate-of-a-girl/

Week 10: Technobiophilia Guest Lecture from Professor Sue Thomas

Thank you so much to Professor Sue Thomas for the guest lecture this week. As usual, please respond with any comments, questions and answers to Sue's questions, in the comments' section below.

Technobiophilia: theory and practice
Dr Sue Thomas, www.suethomas.net, @suethomas
New Media Narratives 2014, University of Alberta, 10 March 2014

I’ve decided to present this material as a series of videos and weblinks along with questions for you to choose from and respond to in the comments section. It’s something of an experiment, so I hope it works! I look forward to discussing it with you online this week.

1. Watch the trailer for Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life http://vimeo.com/27874539

Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life (Trailer) from Tamarack Media on Vimeo.

Question:  Have you encountered an example of biophilic design in your own surroundings? If so, please describe it and any beneficial effect you experienced.

2. Watch this advertisement for Meetup.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhpf-CcPy-s

Question: Does the kind of life shown here resemble your own life or that of anyone you know? What are the features of this kind of life?

3. Read this discussion Does Technology destroy our relationship with Nature? http://www.ted.com/conversations/18068/does_technology_destroy_our_re.html

Question: What do you think are the most important points made in the discussion?

4.  In this article I outline my theory of technobiophilia and digital well-being. But the magazine editors gave it a title which is not what I was saying:  We surf the net, stream our films and save stuff in the cloud. Can we get all the nature we need from the digital world? http://aeon.co/magazine/nature-and-cosmos/can-we-get-all-the-nature-we-need-from-the-digital-world/  

Question:  Contrary to the article title, I don’t believe that we can get all the nature we need from the digital world. Do you? Why? Why not?

5. Watch this trailer for Flower, by ThatGameCompany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E#t=34

Question: Do you think playing games like this can provide similar feelings to being out in nature?

6. At Medium I’m creating a collection of suggestions for ways to bring nature in our digital world. https://medium.com/how-to-bring-nature-into-your-digital-world You can also find it on my blog http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/category/how-to-bring-nature-into-your-digital-world/

Question: If you have a Medium account, feel free to write an article and submit it to the collection for consideration. Or maybe you’d just like to add a suggestion to the blog?

Other materials which may be of interest

·      Technobiophilia website including articles, videos and bibliography: http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/technobiophilia/

·      
My blog http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/blog/

Week 9: Transmedia Guest Lecture from Christy Deena

Here is the lecture from Dr. Christy Deena. Please read through and think about what Christy asks you to do. Leave your comments here, as usual, and Christy will respond towards the end of the week.

A Quick Pulse Check on Transmedia

Transmedia storytelling is often understood through a definition put forward by academic Henry Jenkins:

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. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. (source: http://henryjenkins.org/2011/08/defining_transmedia_further_re.html)

Transmedia has kept evolving since the early days of theories around its nature. Let’s have a look at some top-level concepts that encompass key varieties of transmedia and see what we’ve learned over the past ten years:

1.     Medium

Story and experiences created with transmedia are affected by the nature of the media involved. Just as one writes for the affordances of film or television, writing a story that works across film and the web needs skills not just with each medium involved, but across them too. You have to create a storyworld (http://meanjin.com.au/blog/post/meanland-some-things-ive-learned-from-transmedia-worldbuilding/) that works in different media (a concept borrowed from franchise development), and you think about how your audience or players will be moved to continue with the story across media and so on. Two types of medium dispersion have arisen to various degrees however.

1.1  Intermedium

From the very beginning, most researchers and practitioners championed the “multi-platform” nature of transmedia. Indeed, my PhD thesis focused on creative works that are distinguished by their use of distinct media platforms (and environments). These types of projects are an under-recognised form(s) that deserved the spotlight transmedia theories provided. They’re not as pervasive as other mono-medium works though, in no small part due to the diverse and open thinking that transmedia requires. You don’t privilege or see artforms as hierarchies in transmedia. 

1.2  Intramedium

In practice though, what has emerged is a leaning towards intramedium works. These sorts of works, where the experience is dispersed across “sites” such as websites a kind of distributed narrative (http://jilltxt.net/txt/distributednarratives.html), have become more accessible and welcoming to practitioners and audiences alike. The creatives still need to work with the key creative challenge of transmedia: that of creating a wholeness out of dispersed works. But they’re not dealing with the added complication of medial boundaries. Lizzie Bennet Diaries (http://www.lizziebennet.com/) is a recognised recent exemplar of this type of transmedia, one that I have spoken about the significance of before (http://www.yousuckattransmedia.com/you-suck-at-seeing-transmedia-change/).

2.     Production Timing

It is part of the community-defining rhetoric of digital media to distinguish between “digital native” and “non-digital-native” works. This language emerges because there is a natural tendency towards remediation (http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Remediation.html?id=kwZZdKiXG8wC&redir_esc=y) . Indeed, anyone who works with “newcomers” finds that digital media is often viewed first as a delivery channel (for example streaming TV rather than making webisodes) and a place to adapt stories or games from another medium. It isn’t viewed as an artistic medium in itself. The same happens with transmedia. Works can be designed to be transmedia from the beginning, or made transmedia retrospectively.

2.1  Proactive

Proactive transmedia encompasses those works that are transmedia-native. They are designed to be transmedia from the beginning. Intramedium transmedia are always proactive transmedia.

2.2  Retroactive

Retroactive transmedia explains works that become transmedia because of the relationships added to an existing project. In most cases the scenario operates as follows: a mono-medium project is created (eg: a film or TV show or book or digital or analogue game); then either after it is released or after it has at least been thoroughly developed, the world is expanded in another medium. So the first work is designed to be experienced in a single medium, and the next work then tries to change that nature. This can be the harder route to take because the first work is conclusive, there isn’t much else to explore. The lack of success in this type of approach accounts in part for the lack of popularity with intermedium transmedia in some circles.

3.     Reality aesthetics

A related phenomenon is “alternate reality aesthetics”. The concept emerged with the rise of “alternate reality games” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game), and is observable in many transmedia projects outside of ARGs. It involves a relationship with the world of the player in some way. So rather than seeing a medium as a conduit or window to another world one is transported to, the actual present-time world is integrated in some way. This can be to various degrees ranging from being completely set in the here and now observing all the constraints of “reality” to involving fantastical elements too. A great majority of proactive intramedium transmedia works have the world of the audience or player recognised in some way.

4.     Participatory

Likewise, another trait of transmedia is implemented to varying degrees: that of the participatory nature. This involvement of the audience or players can be participatory design (during the development and production of the work), or participatory in the work. Like all of the approaches described above, this affects the nature of the work and requires a whole different skillset. It is perhaps the least pervasive approach though, due in part to the difficulties the creative process entails rather than lack of audience interest.

What types of transmedia have you come across? Are there ones you prefer? If so, why? Your answer might give an insight into the evolution of transmedia – why it has developed in the direction it has, and where it might be going…

Week 9: Transmedia

Week 9: Transmedia	Required and Recommended Readings
Guest Lecture by Christy Deena	n  O'Flynn, S. (2012). Documentary's metamorphic form: Webdoc, interactive, transmedia, participatory and beyond. Studies In Documentary Film, 6(2), 141-157.

A bit about Christy Deena, our fantabulous guest-lecturer for this week.

Christy Dena is a writer-designer-director who has worked on award-winning pervasive games, film, digital and theatre projects. Clients include Nokia, Cisco/No Mimes Media, ABC, Wieden+Kennedy, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Noah Falstein, Ken Eklund & Agency of Coney, and many more.
Christy was granted Australia’s first Digital Writing Residency at The Cube for her project “Robot University,” funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and QUT. In 2012, she was the “Digital Writing Ambassador” for the Emerging Writers Festival; and a prototype of her project “AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS” was Finalist for “Best Writing in a Game” Award at the Freeplay Independent Gaming Festival. Christy co-wrote “The Writers Guide to Making a Digital Living” for the Australian Literature Board.
She has given keynotes and presentations at film, tech, writing, and gaming festivals worldwide, including Power to the Pixel (London), DIYDays (LA), TEDxTransmedia (Switzerland). She has mentored industry professionals around the world, including The Pixel Lab and Crossover; has written numerous articles on writing and design, and been published in numerous industry books. Christy was commissioned to run Transmedia Victoria, a key transmedia event in Melbourne bringing professionals from TV, film, performance, art, and gaming together.
She is Professor Adjunct at Creative Industries, QUT; Game Design Lecturer at SAE Brisbane; a Member of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys); and a Board Member of the Entertainment Technology Press (ETC).
Christy has been a juror for the International Digital Emmy Awards, IPF Web Drama Series, and many other programs including the Australia Council for the Arts. She wrote the first PhD on Transmedia Practice, and wrote the definition of ‘transmedial fictions’ for the forthcoming The Johns Hopkins Encyclopedia of Digital Textuality. Christy has released her award-nominated web audio adventure for the iPad called AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS (with the crowdfunding campaign being the biggest successful campaign for a game on Pozible to date).  Her digital installation “Robot University” was launched at The Cube, QUT; and her playful story for the phone, “Guardians of Hidden Universes” was released at the first outdoor pervasive gaming festival: Popup Playground’s Fresh Air Festival.