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Future of Storytelling: OMDC Digital Dialogues Panel

OMDC Future of Storytelling Panel, Digital Dialogues Conference

Back in January 2017, I was invited to speak at the OMDC’s Digital Dialogue Conference, on a Future of Storytelling Panel. The talks throughout the day were terrific, with my highlights being:

the Morning Keynote by Jeffrey Cole, Director, Center for the Digital Future USC Annenberg School for Communication Trends, Fads, and Transformation, which if you want a primer on why Jeff Bezos & Amazon will be the global dominant player & company, start here.

And the always amazing Evan Jones, CEO of Stitch Media, &  Founder, Threads Audience Development, with a pivotal talk on ‘The Customer is Always Right: Using Big Data to Increase Discoverability and Retain Fans

The OMDC conference archive of talks is here.

And my own panel, with a very lively discussion can be viewed here: Panel: The Future of Storytelling

Moderator: Nigel Newton, Director (Canada), INDE Experience Engineering
Panel: 

  • Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn, Founder, NarrativeNow
  • David Caron, Co-publisher and President, ECW Press
  • Joanne Loton, Co-Founder & Executive Producer, Sesqui
  • David Brady, CEO, Cream Productions

 

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The Space We Hold wins Peabody-Facebook Future of Media Award

The Space We Hold was awarded the Peabody Facebook Future of Media Award, 2017.  I was honoured to be invited to contribute to this project, as the subject of the imprisonment and sexual slavery of the three grandmothers was heartbreaking, challenging, and presciently timely in the release of the documentary and the interactive website, just before the watershed of #metoo .

The Space We Hold is an interactive meditation on and mediation of the NFB documentary, The Apology, directed by Tiffany Hsiung.  The feature documentary and interactive website challenge viewers and visitors with the challenge of listening to the stories of three elderly women who were held by the Japanese as ‘comfort women’ during World War II.

David Oppenheim (NFB Ontario Studio) who co-produced the project with Patricia Lee (Cult Leader), spoke of the challenges of the digital project:

“Tiffany’s feature film followed the incredible personal journeys of these three women, whether they were seeking a formal apology from the Japanese government or summoning the courage to finally share their secret with their families. We wanted to create an interactive documentary experience that engaged people in an act of listening that was unique in online spaces, where the challenges of reconciliation are so visible. And where we can begin to know what it means to listen to testimonies of sexual violence in a digital age.”

You can read more about the project in a Bell Fund case study here.

I am so honoured to have contributed and to be mentioned in the NFB announcement:

“We are so honoured and thrilled to win The #CdnScreenAward for Best Original Interactive Production with our co-producers The National Film Board of Canada.

Congratulations and thank-you to our stellar production team: Spence S& Kirk Clyne at Art & Science Digital Experience Design, Tiffany B, Matt Nish-Lapidus, Evelyne Au-Navioz, Roman Lifshitz, Dafydd Hughes, #StaceyMayFowles, Marjorie Chan, Siobhan O’Flynn, Milena Vujanovic, Priam Givord.”

The Space We Hold was also honoured with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Best Original Interactive Production 2017.

Text from the Peabody-Facebook Award website:

‘The Peabody Media Center at the University of Georgia has named six winners of this year’s Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Awards for outstanding digital storytelling released in 2017. This year’s winners mark innovative strides in VR storytelling, in mobile books, and in data-journalism, as well as an interactive documentary marked by technological innovation in “witnessing.”’

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TMC Resource Kit

I’m showcasing the TMC Resource Kit website, co-created with Anthea Foyer, which we developed to provide How-To design tips and case studies for traditional media producers wanting to jump into digital media, interactive storytelling and transmedia. The site has case studies on groundbreaking & award winning transmedia projects, interviews with leading transmedia and interactive media storytellers, and fantastic production ‘manuals’ shared key producers around the world. This site was a collaborative project with Anthea Foyer, synthesizing & capturing some of our experience and thinking over the past 14 years working in digital media.

Recently, in consulting, I’ve been referring quite a few people who are dipping their toes in the digital waters to TMCResourceKit.com & although it’s a few years old now, the content has absolutely held up. Nice to see our original goal still in play!

 

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The Business of Transmedia | TIFF Industry Conference 2013

SUCH a fun panel with Andy Merkin & Evan Jones!

Published on May 16, 2014

‘Monetization’ is now a dirty word. Transmedia experts will deconstruct the decision-making process behind the successful and the non-successful business models within the transmedia landscape. We will discuss the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind budgets, wire-models, deliverables, releasing schedules, and operating as platform-agnostic.

Siobhan O Flynn
Co-Founder, Canadian Rep, Transmedia Alliance (MODERATOR)

Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn consults on digital/interactive storytelling, is the co-creator of the online resource site, TMCResourceKit.com, & co-founder of Transmedia 101, a community building & education initiative for Canadian storytellers moving into the digital sphere. She has mentored across Canada, in the Digital Development Lab (CBC/BC Film/New Media BC), Melting Silos (NFB/SFU Praxis), and for the Sheffield Doc/Fest Design to Deliver, & with the Crossover Lab/Sheffield Doc/Fest Convergence Catalyst. She has published numerous articles, given keynotes, workshops and masterclasses around the globe on topics ranging from transmedia and crossmedia development and design and interactive/web documentaries. Siobhan has presented at MIT, StoryWorld SF, the NFB French Program, the CBC, the Screen Edge Forum, Auckland New Zealand, & Transmedia SG, Singapore. Siobhan was a Jury Member for the Sheffield Doc/Fest Innovation Award 2012, twice a Juror for the CMF’s Experimental Fund.

Evan Jones
Founder, Stitch Media

Evan is the founder of Stitch Media, an interactive media production services company which tells stories using new technology and timeless techniques. A two-time Emmy Award winner, Evan’s work combines television, radio, web, mobile, games & the real world and were recognized in the ‘Top 10 New Media Groundbreakers’ by the Bell Fund. Stitch Media projects range from interactive documentary to branded entertainment. Evan has guest lectured on the art & business of interactive story internationally at the Canadian Film Centre, the Australian Film, Television & Radio School and the University of Southern California. International clients include Microsoft, Disney, FOX, Discovery, CBC, Bell & The Movie Network.

Andy Merkin
Head of Special Projects and Transmedia, Mirada Studios

Andy Merkin is the Head of Special Projects and Transmedia at Mirada Studios. Overseeing cross-platform and nontraditional storytelling projects, Andy develops narrative for traditional and digital media and production management for the complete pipeline. Since joining Mirada in 2011, his production credits include the interactive music video, Ro.me; the THINK exhibit and mobile apps for IBM’s Centennial, the departmentofhumanmanagement.org site for The Strain trilogy, andMirrorWorld by Cornelia Funke on iOS. A true believer that interesting storytellers (hopefully) have led interesting lives, Andy’s previous work experience includes development and production for Sony Pictures Television, training teachers and entrepreneurs in the Peace Corps in Bangladesh, performing improv, and educating students in zoo keeping for Busch Gardens.

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Gaming the 4th Wall: Pied Piper, HooliXYZ & Silicon Valley’s Viral Genius

I hope you’re onto this as HBO is playing pure genius. Pied Piper, the fictional start-up in Silicon Valley, has been running IRL job ads on their site & on Facebook, billboards, and a very funny company blog (penned by high-anxiety Jared).

The ‘We’re Hiring’ post nails Jared’s insecurity-propelled verbal contortions:

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HBO ran the ad on Facebook…

pied-piper-facebook

Clicking through and reading closely on the company ‘We’re Hiring’ post,  some of the comments seem to be from applicants who appeared on the show… (ditto other blog posts)

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The just-posted Pied Piper Workplace Harassment Policy is a gem, closing with:

Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 7.49.17 PM

Best of all, the icing on the transmedia viral cupcake is that Wired just picked up on the May 3 episode’s mention that Nelson “Big Head” Bighetti was about to be interviewed for a Wired profile. And they ran with it. And it’s hysterical. In-game & totally consistent. Doesn’t get better than this.

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From the Wired feature:

“In person, Bighetti combines the visionary thinking of an upper-level Silicon Valley executive with the look and relatability of an utterly unemployable programmer. But the horizon wasn’t always so limitless. Mired as a cog in the admittedly plush Hooli machine, Bighetti’s talents were being wasted so thoroughly that he began pouring his efforts into NipAlert, an application nurtured at investor Erlich Bachman’s startup incubator that “gives you the location of a woman with erect nipples.” It wasn’t flattering. “I made a perverted, sexist useless thing,” says Bighetti now—an unfortunate squandering of talent by Hooli, at least initially.”