Social media: Twitter, Blackberry role in London riots and Arab Spring | Excerpt from Crikey.com

London riots: the (social) media is to blame, apparently

by Bernard Keane

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

"...But as became apparent very quickly, Twitter had nothing to do with the riots. Instead, the Blackberry Messenger network was being used by rioters (it’s also used in the Middle East). While most of us thought Blackberries were last cool in about 2003, they’re cheaper than many smartphones and BBM provides a free, private internet/3G communications network accessible by swapping PINs (or, now, barcodes) and joining distribution lists. The Guardian reported an Ofcom study finding that Blackberrys are used by 37% of British teens. There’s also the continuing issue that Twitter seems to be used more by older people.

This probably explains why there was minimal warning on Twitter of the riots breaking out, even if social media was used to disseminate photos of what was going on, and even by looters cheerfully posing with their haul for Facebook photos. And it’s now being used to co-ordinate a riot clean-up campaign.

Focusing on the technology and individual applications used by rioters, or revolutionaries, is wood-for-the-trees stuff. Social technologies and platforms facilitate, rather than cause. They facilitate the logistics of organising unrest — whether it’s looting in London or peaceful protests in Cairo, because they enable communication. The platform might be public ones such as Twitter or Facebook, which are easily monitored by authorities, or they might be more private, or coded — BBM, or the dating sites that protesters in Tunisia used to organise the protests that drove out Ben Ali.

Social technologies also facilitate communities — that is, they enable people to connect up who might not otherwise have connected. This has been the important contribution of social media to the Arab Spring — as the best sociologist of social media, Zeynep Tufekci has noted “social media is best at solving a societal-level prisoner’s dilemma in which there is lack of knowledge about the depth and breadth of the dissent due to censorship and repression and a collective-action barrier due to suppression of political organisation”. It also allows the formation of strong social bonds; how strong they are compared to real-life communities remains debated, but in the Middle East they have been strong enough to inspire people to risk their lives together...."

INA Global on Pottermore: Harry Potter's Final Battle Will Be Digital

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Excerpt - very interesting on Rowling's digital options - 'selling chapters,... sell rights for time-limited use' below:

"....Created in association with Sony, Pottermore is a new frame to expose Rowling's stories: for the very first time, the Harry Potter series will be offered in e-book format (both written and audio). The e-books should be available on all existing reading devices: Pottermore's CEO, Rod Henwood, declared that he was in discussions with all the big names in the sector (Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, Kindle) in order to make the e-books "available to as many readers as possible". Up until now, Rowling – who is the one of the very few authors to hold the digital rights to their books – had been strictly against selling the Harry Potter saga online, because of the piracy threat. But the writer seems to have gained full understanding of how much is at stake with this digital opportunity.

With Pottermore, J.K. Rowling adresses a new generation of potential readers, children who weren't yet born when the first book was published. Choosing to go digital is adapting to a possibility of reading that may be predominant in the coming years, and most especially for the youngest readers. Considering how far the classic versions of the Harry Potter books have gone, in terms of readership and profit, it is not unreasonable to consider that paper books have already reached their pinnacle for Harry Potter. It is now time to take a more innovative – and riskier – path.

J.K. Rowling is surely accepting of risk, since her e-books won’t encompass anti-piracy measures like DRM[+]. She simply opted for watermarking, which links the identity of the purchaser to the copy of the e-book. This process doesn't prevent the work – technically speaking – from piracy. It only plays on less concrete mechanisms like dissuasion and reader responsibility. In order to renew reader interest, Rowling has already prepared 18,000 brand new words of complementary text material on Hogwarts, Mudbloods, wizards and other essential elements of the Harry Potter universe. Internet users will be able to participate actively in the construction of parallel stories, share their drawings or play games with other fans.

For this new chapter of her success story, Rowling has decided to be free. In early July 2011, the writer separated from Christopher Little, the agent who has been by her side from the beginning. Little was considered not interested enough in new technologies to continue. Distance has also been taken from the original publishers, Bloomsbury for the United Kingdom and Scholastic for the USA: Rowling is following the new tendency of self-publishing. Despite this choice of independence, Bloomsbury and Scholastic will perceive their due share on e-books, but the author will be free to set prices. She will also be able to sell single chapters if she wants to, or sell rights for time-limited use. For all of this new activity, Harry Potter will be published under the brand Pottermore Publishing. In a contribution to online review Paid Content, journalist Laura Hazard Owen projects that major players in the economy of e-books could be tempted to take inspiration from Rowling's innovative practices in terms of prices. Harry Potter has been a veritable phenomenon for classic publishing – and time will tell whether the sorcerer is defying or defining the e-book.

Great Post from Paul Bourke on New Project 'We Dream of Nothing' & Why Transmedia. Part 1 of n. « poburke.com

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This is an excerpt from a really great post from Paul Bourke:

This is the first time I’m able to share some of the thinking behind my upcoming story project We Dream of Nothing.

Depending where you look or who you speak to, transmedia gets championed, misunderstood, knocked, supported, defined and re-undefined. What I want to add to the conversation though in theses next few posts, is a look at some of the practical and creative things in the pipeline, focussing particularly on what can only be explored because of the interactive, multiplatform nature of this story: A story which flows the Audience through multiple physical and virtual spaces in order to complete it.

Some of the paragraphs are specific to the shape of WDON, some I think are more general things, but unique to transmedia.

Apologies if some bits sound vague, I want to throw some ideas out without spoilers attached. All thoughts welcomed.

First among the upcoming assumptions in this post is that the reader values story first, but is also interested in new/additional/different ways to speak to/with an Audience.

We Dream of Nothing is an original, science fiction fantasy story that connects two characters at opposite ends of the universe. The story is hidden inside the female lead’s dream research website. From there the Audience can explore the story through 28 episodes – combinations of video, comics, audio, collaboration, data swapping, and, well… all sorts of other fun things to see and do....

...Ticket Prices.

I’ve thought about this a lot and have decided that after the first few free episodes, there will be a ticket price on the Story Experience. Here’s why.

1. Some of the services I’m using will cost me money per ‘user’. I don’t have a sponsor and can’t pay out for the inevitable millions who will flock to the site. So everyone must pay their way and I must make sure the experience is worth more than it costs in cash.

2. Charging provides something for me to ‘offer’, namely a discount. The full ticket price will be on the site, but I have laid out ways that early project supporters can get discounted and free access to the story.

3. This really is particular to the design of WDON I think, but with regards to rights, I am producing a lot of the content myself (for season 1) but also contextualising content that stands up in its own right that I have asked others to produce. i.e I am charging for the story. If I do this then it means core creative contributors can benefit in a measurable way – on this in the next post.

Ultimately I think, if original, indie/published, interactive, multiplatform, transmedia stuff is to stick around it just has to have a ticket price. So I will be charging people for my project, trusting to reviews, testimonials and word of mouth to convince good people it is worth the buy. It will cost more than an app, but less than a hardback I think. I’ll let you know how that goes!...'

Great Deets On: Detective Avenue and the French Transmedia Revolution » Excerpt from Social Media Week

August 3rd, 2011 by Sally O'Dowd

"Wooing Brands
I have personally been following the Detective Avenue story, having met Laurent at a transmedia barcamp, an informal, participatory conference, in Marseille a couple months ago. I also caught up with him at a recent event hosted by TechMap Paris (which launched earlier this year during Social Media Week) and Lunch Club after Dark, two networking groups here. “We wanted to show and prove that a model like this is possible, from an entertainment perspective,” Laurent told a crowd of Parisian marketers.

And from a business model perspective? The results are mixed. Orange clearly saw the benefit of supporting an innovative project that was enabled by mobile phones and an Internet connection. But Laurent and his team did not have any luck securing advertisers for Detective Avenue.

“This kind of program needs massive exposure but the experimental nature of it made it a tough sell,” Laurent told me. “Prospective sponsors kept saying, ‘Show me the figures’ but this hadn’t been done before. It’s the price of being a pioneer. And it’s also a question of [a] brand willing to take a risk.”

Indeed, the metrics for Detective Avenue—seen just in French and in France—are a strong indication for the appetite for multimedia storytelling, gaming and creative collaboration. If the project had been in English, it likely would have taken off internationally given Orange’s support and the high level of engagement, Laurent said.

Even if you don’t speak French, I think you will agree that this trailer draws you in.  Suzelle has just died. Gaelle, her distraught sister, is about to start her murder investigation...."

Website Metrics/Five Weeks

Read the full post on socialmediaweek.org

Syfy President Dave Howe Sets Sights on Video Games (Exclusive Q&A) - via The Hollywood Reporter

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"The network is tapping into its gaming audience through new programming and online games.
As president of Syfy, Dave Howe oversees the direction of all aspects of the TV networks’ ventures. Over the past few years, he’s established partnerships with game publishers like THQ and Trion Worlds in an attempt to converge the worlds of video games and traditional Hollywood programming. Syfy premiered its first THQ video game movie, Red Faction: Armageddon, this summer. And the TV network is working with Trion Worlds on Defiance, the world’s first massively multiplayer online (MMO) video game that will connect directly to a scripted, live action television series. Howe talks about the role video games will play for Syfy moving forward in this exclusive interview..."

David McCullough Haunts Brooklyn Bridge, AR in Your Headphones | via The New York Observer

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"Reality is boring. Augmented reality, however, is accompanied by “exclusive audio excerpts from Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough’s acclaimed audiobook, The Great Bridge.” In augmented reality, the usual meditative stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge is a nothing but a failed opportunity to learn more about history.

To eliminate any such waste, a social-media company called Broadcastr (drop the ‘e’ and trademark!), when downloaded, will send little alerts to your phone when you come within feet of the Brooklyn Bridge, which has now been barricaded by futuristic laser electronic radar beams called “geo-fencing.” Breach the formidable laser nets and you will be informed that instead of merely walking across the bridge you can walk across the bridge while simultaneously listening to David McCullough’s account of Boss Tweed."