Very Interesting: The Rise Of Pinterest And The Shift From Search To Discovery | Excerpt via TechCrunch

Photo Credit: fdecomite on Creative Commons
Photo Credit: fdecomite on Creative Commons

The current toast of the web is Pinterest, the visual pinboard for collecting and sharing content online. The “pinning” phenomena is spreading from its modest beginnings to appearing in national media outlets. There are over 2.5m monthly active Pinterest users on Facebook. A co-founder of the site has over 500,000 followers on Pinterest. Ron Conway (an investor in the site) remarked that Pinterest’s user growth rate is what Facebook’s was five years ago. Earlier in 2011, it was valued through venture financing at $40m and, most recently, just a few months later, at around $200m.

What is going on here?

Pinterest is growing for a variety of reasons. It enables users to clip things they like. It emphasize pictures over text, which are more visually appealing and easier to digest. Signing up is easy. Pinterest has crafted a fun, whimsical, artistic image. In particular, it has struck a chord with female users, an attractive demographic. Pinterest has added to the lexicon of “like” or “retweeting” or “reblogging” or “upvoting” with the ability to “pin” content and then “repin” it across the site and other networks. A leading expert on marketing to moms, Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct, remarked that using Pinterest is a “soothing” experience for her.

Cool! Six to Start and BBC Bring Codebreaking Back to Bletchley Park | ARGNet: Alternate Reality Gaming Network

Image courtesy of the BBC

On September 10, 2011, Pete Ryland cracked The Code and took home the coveted prize, a unique bronze and silver mathematical sculpture by Bathsheba Grossman. The lead-up to the tense finale was a collaborative transmedia treasure hunt centred around the three-part BBC2 show The Code, presented by Marcus du Sautoy. The game was designed by Six to Start, working with the BBC from the beginning to integrate clues and puzzles seamlessly within the broadcasts.

Before the first airing of The Code on July 27, about 700 postcards were sent out with an image and a code. Collaborating on Facebook, participants in this first stage soon discovered that each postcard image was a thin horizontal slice of a three-dimensional Platonic solid. Several of these “perfect” shapes then had to be combined and arranged into three concentric spherical shells – revealing the complicated nested sculpture that would be the grand prize.

Now the hunt could begin in earnest. The main stage of the game was intricately connected with the three episodes of the show: Numbers, Shapes, and Prediction. For each episode, participants discovered three clues: one by watching the program, one clue by playing related Flash games on the website, and one clue by solving a puzzle described on the blog. They also had to complete the Prime Number Challenge as a group, which involved uploading photos of all 305 prime numbers from 2 to 2011 to collectively receive the sixth clue for each episode. The six clues were then entered into a codebreaker to reveal three passwords, which granted access to the next stage of the game: The Ultimate Challenge.

excerpt from argon.com original post

Mastering Film » Tyler Weaver on Transmedia, Discipline, and Tone Color

Excerpt:

"Two types of choice make up the storytelling world of today: The first is the creator’s choice: the choices that we as content creators make to build the world of the story we’re telling. The second is the audience’s choice: limitless, and changeable at the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger.

The tools of expression are everywhere. In every device we hold. In every screen we look at. Whereas previously it was enough to look at a big screen, or a small screen, or the light pages of a bunch of pieces of paper bound by staples and glue, today’s world is a different place. We are now faced with something none of us (save novelists) have experienced:

Near limitless potential.

But with limitless potential comes a potential for over-indulgence. The more potential we have, the more disciplined we have to be...."

Social video: Where we're at and where we're going - excerpt via The Next Web

Excerpt from original post:

The difference between ‘social’ and ‘viral’ video

So is there an inherent difference between ‘social’ and ‘viral’ video? “The biggest difference is between video that appears online as an advertising message, viral, and social video which is a bit more engaging, a bit more funny and something that we talk about”, says Wright. “And that’s a big challenge when you talk to clients about it – creating something that makes the audience get up and do something, rather than just sitting back and consuming the video.”

Ellis had a stab at differentiating the two concepts. “They’re a different statement of intent”, he says. “With viral videos, it’s a case of just getting a video to ‘go crazy’ and be passed on from person to person. With social video, it’s more a case of creating something more shareable, something you can play with and interact with.”

“My feeling is that social video is an attempt to bring people back to a compelling advertising model that works for brands”, added Cowan. “Are we trying to recapture some lost magic that disappeared with the advent of the Internet?”

I think there's more to this distinction .. thoughts?

Great Post: Brian Clark on Transmedia Business Models (Part Three): Posted on Henry Jenkins' blog

Excerpt:

November 9, 2011

Brian Clark on Transmedia Business Models (Part Three)

This is part three of a five part series by transmedia designer and theorist Brian Clark.


A HANDFUL OF BOTTOM UP MODELS
by Brian Clark

In the prior two installments, we looked at what might drive the next wave of innovation in storytelling and dissected the patronage business model that dominates the transmedia space today. In this installment and the next, I want to dive deeper into ten different alternative business models that we know work from other media movements in the hopes that they provide some inspiration to other entrepreneurial storytellers. The first handful treats funding and sustainability as the primary challenges: if you don't have access to millions of dollars, just how much capital do you really need? Do you need any at all?

No Budget

Some artists and art movements solve the business model problem by assaulting the very need for capital funding. They might treat funding as unnecessary (such as Theater of the Oppressed in the 1950s, the Dogma 95 film movement of the late 1990s or the subsequent Mumblecore movement of the early 2000s that embrace no budget as a choice) or might literally treat capital as the enemy (such as the dÈtournement of the Situationist International movement of the 1950s or modern Anonymousí physical and digital hacktivism). In the context of business models, their solutions look something like:

  1. FUNDING: Is a distraction from making art.
  2. RETURN: With no funders, there is no distraction of returning investment.
  3. SUSTAINABILITY: My project is not about having a sustainable career as a creator.
  4. AUDIENCE: A community to awaken or empower.
  5. PROMOTION: Through provocation, controversy and guerilla tactics.

No budget movements are a healthy part of any artistic form: things get made all the time without having business plan justifications. The Internet and digital creative trends amplifies these kinds of models disproportionately because of the constant increase in tools that decrease the costs of production towards free. Sadly, it isn't decreasing the cost of your food, rent and healthcare towards free and no budget artists typically have more traditional jobs that pay those bills -- which might be, in part, why Lars von Trier doesn't still make films under the Dogma 95 model...."

  1.  

    Brian Clark is the founder and CEO of GMD Studios, a 16-year-old experience design lab based in Winter Park, Florida. He lives in New York City and occasionally tweets as @gmdclark

     

    Read the full post on Henry Jenkins' blog - link below

    Posted by Henry Jenkins at 9:05 AM  

    Comments

Henry Jenkins is the Provost's Professor of Communications, Journalism, and Cinematic Art at the University of Southern California. Until recently, he served as the co-founder of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. More about Henry Jenkins is available here.

 

I'm Looking forward to Sheffield Doc/Fest: Convergence Catalyst! Who will be going??

VENUE MOVED TO BRANGWYN HALL, SWANSEA!

Cliciwch yma i weld y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Crossover Labs and Sheffield Doc/Fest invite creative businesses and freelancers working in digital media across West Wales and the Valleys to apply for a 2-day bespoke conference and unique mentoring opportunity.

We are inviting applications from creative professionals from diverse disciplines, including film and TV production, animation, games, theatre, web design and new media, willing to share an understanding of a rapidly-changing mediascape.

Convergence Catalyst will train digital media professionals in creating long term sustainable careers in the Creative Media Industries, able to create their own opportunities and engage directly with consumers, rather than waiting for traditional commissions, and so reaping longer-term and larger profits

Programme:

The conference will include seminars and discussions led by internationally-respected experts on:

- Commissioning and Producing for Convergence
- The Future of Distribution
- What does convergence mean for the Welsh creative industries?
- Cross-media idea development
- New media business models
- Transmedia Storytelling.
- Working with Higher Education
- How to Plan a Cross-Platform Production
- Making the most of what is around you: Games and the ARG
- Exporting Creativity
- Your fans, family and friends are your funders

The conference will also include networking time with experts and alumni from Crossover Labs and Doc/Fest’s MeetMarket.

Colbert talks on Rove (or is it compliments?) | Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow | ColbertSuperPac.com

Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow

November 6, 2011

Shawn Woodhead Werth
Secretary and Clerk
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20463

Re: Comment on American Crossroads Advisory Opinion Request

Dear Secretary Werth:

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow submits this letter as a formal comment on the Advisory Opinion Request submitted to the Federal Election Commission on October 12, 2011, and again in a revised version on October 28, 2011 by American Crossroads, an organization led by Republican political consultant and "Mr. November" in the 2012 "Hunks of the Bush Administration" calendar, Karl Rove.

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has much in common with American Crossroads. Both are registered "independent-expenditure-only" PACs (a.k.a. "Super PACs") that may accept unlimited contributions from corporations, unions, individuals, and doomsday cults we one day hope to found. Both groups are separately affiliated with prominent 501©(4) organizations, Colbert Super PAC SHH and Crossroads GPS, and are strongly committed to doing what is legally possible in America. Both have top strategic thinkers at their core: American Crossroads has Karl Rove, and Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has a ham loaf wearing wire rimmed glasses.

Because of this shared bond and heritage, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has an interest in the Request by American Crossroads.

As we understand the American Crossroads Advisory opinion Request, the organization has plans to sponsor advertisements featuring Members of Congress up for re-election. As they wrote in their original Request,

"The purpose of these advertisements, while focused on current legislative and policy issues, would be to improve the public's perception of the featured Member of Congress in advance of the 2012 campaign season."

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow could not concur more concurrently. These ads would simply improve public perception of candidates in advance of the campaign. The message is not, "Vote for this great guy," it's merely, "Hey voters! Look at this great guy!"

Clearly, these ads featuring candidates on behalf of candidates would not be candidate ads. As American Crossroads put it, in their original Request,

"While these advertisements would be fully coordinated with incumbent Members of Congress facing re-election in 2012, they would presumably not qualify as 'coordinated communications,'."

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow agrees that "fully coordinated" ads shouldn't be counted as "coordinated communications." The candidate would merely be appearing as a paid spokesperson, who, coincidentally, is closely aligned with the candidate that he or she also is.

For example, an ad in which the Kool Aid man decries our nation-wide childhood thirst problem would not necessarily be an ad for Kool Aid brand juice drink. That being said, would a tall glass of Kool-Aid solve that thirst problem? To quote one expert: "Oh, yeaaahhhh!"

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow wholly endorses American Crossroads' Request. We hope the Commission is able to begin with the Supreme Court's definition of Non-Coordinated as "expenditures … made totally independently of the candidate and his campaign" in Buckley v. Valeo, and end up with a ruling that allows outside groups to produce ads with the candidate's cooperation, themes, and message. That will prove to our nation's critics that America is a country that still makes something: strained rationalizations.

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow believes that Super PACs can and should coordinate with candidates in every sense of that word—except in the legal or biblical sense. In fact, pending the outcome of American Crossroads' Request, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow plans to coordinate a non-"coordinated" ad with presidential novelty candidate Buddy Roemer. A rough example of which can be found here: www.colbertsuperpac.com/undaunted-non-coordination.

It should be clear that there was no collusion with Governor Roemer, as he vehemently opposes and passionately questions the legality of the ad that he agreed to appear in.

If the Commission sees fit to grant these reasonable requests, Americans for a Better Tomorrow will continue to fulfill our promise to never give you up, or let you down, as detailed in our mission statement here:

Accordingly, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow respectfully requests the Commission's timely consideration of American Crossroads' Advisory Opinion Request.

Super Sincerely Yours,

Stephen Colbert
President & Maître D'
Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Inc.

Ham Rove
Chief Strategist & Lunchmeat
Americans for A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Inc.

PS – If the commission does not see fit to grant this request fully, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow would like to offer a compromise. To avoid the appearance of collusion, the F.E.C. could rule that candidates can appear in Super PAC ads only against their will. They'd have to be kidnapped, blindfolded, and thrown in a van before being forced to read a statement supporting their goals and then returned to their fundraisers in time for dessert.

Unlocking Transmedia Narratives With Tech, Cults, And A Little Paranoia | Fast Company

Excerpt:

"...I see kindred spirits in author Michael Grant and Alex LeMay, a TV and film producer who runs a Chicago-based company that creates multimedia for books. Grant may be the biggest-selling author you never heard of. Author (and co-author with his wife) of 150 books that have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, Grant pens paranoid thrillers set in dystopian worlds, characterized by mass delirium, conspiracies, cults, phobias, plagues, shadowy guerrilla groups, and war--kind of like high school. Which may account for his audience: mostly teenagers.


Half a dozen years ago Grant, now 57, was feeling hemmed in by the limitations of print when he, too, had a vision. Physical books’ days were numbered, he realized, and when digital came it would completely upend publishing. Not just the business--which would be decimated by big-name authors bypassing traditional publishers in favor of doing it themselves and keeping the lion’s share of revenue for themselves--but the art form. Merely porting text on a page to a screen wouldn’t make full use of the media. Instead, he saw it as a way to unlock narrative from the constraints of a text-only canvas, and this offered glorious possibilities. Rather than dickering over the rights to a song to include in a book, why not offer the actual song as an audio clip, and layer in video and photos? While he was at it, he could create separate platforms with teeming communities built around a story and create a universe where readers become characters. Suddenly the book becomes a living, breathing, mutable endeavor where each audience member chooses his or her own path through multiple narratives...."

Great Summary Post on StoryWorld Conference | Creative Flux | Grazie! SiriusPress

StoryWorld Conference

StoryWorld Conference Web Site  |  On Twitter: @StoryWorldConf  |  Or follow the hashtag #SWC11

StoryWorld Tweets

Portland-based developer and writer Jason LaPier has pulled together @Porter_Anderson‘s tweet-storm from the conference, organized by session.

Follow the hashtag #SWC11 for all conference tweets.

Want a glimpse into the StoryWorldConference experience? Check out:

  1. Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011, by Dan Levy
  2. OCCUPY TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING NOW! by OccupyTMStory
  3. Storyworld Wrap up from the Writer’s Perspective, Transmedia and Disney’s weenie, by Bob Mayer
  4. StoryWorld 2011 in San Francisco: Day 3 – Story Architecture – Crafting Transmedia Design, by Siobhan O’Flynn, Karine Halpern with Scott Walker
  5. Transmedia in Action, by Frank Marquardt
  6. Writing on the Ether: Conference Gemütlichkeit by Porter Anderson
  7. Storify stream, by @endurablegoods
  8. StoryWorld 2011 in San Francisco: Day 1, by Christine Weitbrecht
  9. StoryWorld 2011 in San Francisco: Day 2, by Christine Weitbrecht
  10. StoryWorld 2011 in San Francisco: Day 3, by Christine Weitbrecht
  11. #SWC11-Story World Conference, Games-Pitching-Storyworld-Tech-Money, by Hervé Cailloux @RvCailloux

Want to share your StoryWorldConference experience, but have no place to post? You are welcome to:

  1. Submit photos or short videos (or send me a link to your posted files)
  2. Your real name
  3. Your Twitter handle
  4. A title or short description

Email the information to:
info (at) siriuspress (dot) com I will attempt to post them as timely as possible. Or leave a comment below.