Big Spaceship | Think Blog - Getting Past Viral

"...when we say we want a viral campaign, we mean that we want marketing that will spread at an exponential rate similar to a virus. But when we insist on describing our work as viral marketing, we make two fatal mistakes: first, we forget that exponential pass-along between consumers is a result, rather than a strategy — the end, rather than the means — and second, we focus on creating better content, rather than better understanding the motives of the people who will choose to share, or not share, that content.

Then, as we begin to plan for 2010, it’s in our best interests to stop thinking about viral marketing, which moves from person to person like a virus, and instead focus on why people choose to share things with each other. We need to understand the spread of media in terms of actively giving gifts, not passively transmitting viruses. And to do that, we need to understand consumer behavior on the consumer’s terms, rather than our own. For now, let’s call this new model “consumer-driven marketing.”

I've been a fan of Big Spaceship's work for a very long time and have posted links to many of their outstanding digital works. The latest post on their Think blog is welcome read with Ivan Askwith's challenge to shift away from viral marketing to thinking about a media ecology propelled by our desire to share or 'gift' better content.

ReBoot: Call for Submissions | DOC Toronto

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 4th! The Documentary Organization of Canada / l'Association des documentaristes du Canada (DOC) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for ReBoot, a week-long web conference incorporating skills-based training, mentorships and panel presentations from leading experts in cross-platform production.DOC aims to assist its members in transitioning to digital documentary and to successfully position documentary filmmakers and producers in the rapidly changing broadcast environment spurred by the Canada Media Fund.

DOC is seeking proposals for cross-platform documentaries that are conceived for two or more media. Preference will be given to projects in the development stage incorporating an interactive, participatory methodology in additional to a linear/broadcast version.Selected projects will receive one-on-one mentorship from industry professionals over a one week period, culminating in an online pitch session during DOC's ReBoot event in February. A jury of media professionals will select one project which will receive further mentorship for a three month period. The continued mentoring will be provided by the award winning team at EyeSteelFilm, as well as a group of industry professionals specializing in various aspects of new media production. Interested creators are invited to send proposals to info@docorg.ca.

Hey all my documentary filmmaking friends! The deadline for proposals has now been extended to Feb. 4...worth considering

FITC // Presentation - Storytelling: Absorbed, Obsessed & Immersed

I will definitely be catching this panel at FITC Toronto 2010 - what a stellar line-up of presenters

"Digital technologies and new forms of interactive storytelling are changing the way that we imagine, design and create experiences in the virtual and built environment. These new spaces of fiction re-imagine content creation, interfaces, interactions and physical environments. This multi-disciplinary panel explores the creative process, design opportunities, and cultural impact of the present and future of immersive design."

Presenter(s)

Tali Krakowsky • Ben Kreukniet • Alex McDowell • Jeremy Thorp

Tale of Tales » Interview with Alex Mayhew

--> -->

This is a June 2007 interview with Alex Mayhew who has a long & stellar history of creating interactive works going way back to Peter Gabriel's Real World cd-rom, Ceremony of Innocence to more recent ARGs, The Hive with Xenophile Media.

I love Mayhew's approach to interactive design & there are lots of gems in here, including:

“Artists like Picasso embraced the notion of rendering images that captured space, time and movement in a way that was closer to the human experience; more realistic in an expressive way.”

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE STYLE INTERACTIVE TRAILER - THE WEATHERED UNDERGROUND -

This interactive trailer launched Oct. 2009 for an upcoming series created by David Donihue. The deets are now that it will be released Mar. 2nd on DVD, iPhone, iPod. The production value is a lot higher than most of the interactive webisodes on youtube, which is great! I'm looking forward to seeing how inventive this series will be.

What I do find particularly interesting is that the most common reference for interactive narratives is still the Choose Your Own Adventure books and how pervasive the comic book/graphic novel aesthetic is becoming in both transmedia extensions & online interactive narratives that stand alone. The debt to Heroes' transmedia extension in its online graphic novel is pretty clear, especially with Brea Grant (Daphne in Heroes) as one of the leads.