2 Media Convergence s Impact on Storytelling, Marketing, and Production The chapter examines the practice of transmedia storytelling for its implementation in higher education. Digital storytelling, which has made its way into higher education, is explored both singularly and collectively as a pedagogical tool that can expand transmedia practice. The chapter also sheds light on the Internet as a source of information, entertainment, and education; it integrates media and content, audience and advertising, and reconsiders the meaning of the brand as behaviors and a source of production. Transmedia storytelling is also viewed from a theoretical perspective. Established media are eroding, and this chapter shows how this is providing opportunities for both media and education. It explains what educational institutions are doing to stay abreast of digital practices. Whether you look at media convergence from a media or an educational perspective, it is clear that convergence is ever-present in the digital space. Converging narratives are self-reflective, intertextual, social, collaborative, user-generated, cross-mediated, educational, informational, promotional, branded and non-branded, and can be told via any combination of approaches or processes. My empirical research The Goddess Within is a prime example of a converging narrative, and it is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. 2.1 Narratives and folk culture Storytelling is the most ancient form of teaching. Humans are capable of communicating abstract concepts in the form of story. Before reading and writing became widespread, oral storytelling was the way humans 18
Media Convergence s Impact on Storytelling 19 passed down their history, knowledge, and wisdom from generation to generation. According to Linda Stender, folk tales are as significant to the study of literature as the number system is essential to the study of mathematics (quoted in Kuyvenhoven 2009: 104). Ancient storytellers often recited tales that the community would reenact in the form of religious rituals. Miller (2008) believes that these ancient reenactments of myth were a form of participatory drama (p. 6). It is possible that interactive narrative was first seen around campfires, as ancient storytellers would adjust the story according to the reactions of the audience, and therefore interaction with the story world is not unique to the digital age. Today s narratives, though, are produced many-to-many for a range of platforms; this is in contrast to polysemic narratives, which were directed to several different audiences via one channel. Thomas Schatz (1993), an expert on American cinema, in particular the Hollywood films and filmmaking in the 1940s, notes the Disney films of the 1970s as examples of polysemic narratives. These were made to appeal to very young preschool-aged children as well as to their adult parents via the inclusion of grown-up references that children could not understand. This is still true of many children s films; however, today multiplatform stories allow people to interact with stories in multiple ways. These new story forms are the modern equivalent of myths, and they come in many shapes and sizes, such as books, film, television, the Internet, religion, themed festivals, and even standup comedy. Mattingly (1991) recommends using the term narrative inquiry for those who do not consider the term storytelling to be formal enough. She singles out Aristotle s use of narrative as the natural framework for representing the world of action. Mattingly also points out that narratives not only give meaningful form to experiences we have already lived through but also provide us a forward glance, helping us to anticipate situations even before we encounter them, allowing us to envision alternative futures (cited in Schön 1991: 237). According to Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2008), any examination of narrative today should consider a broader picture, one which examines not only the internal structure of stories but also the social organization of the storying process as meaning-making activity in its own right (p. 261). The term storytelling warrants a brief explanation. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) defines storytelling as relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture (NCTE 14 August 2008). Most dictionaries define story as a narrative account of a real or imagined event(s). Polkinghorne (1988) and Sarbin (1986) contend that narratives organize episodes and actions, and stress the organizational
20 Transmedia Storytelling and New Era of Media Convergence logic of a story, which is expressed in the plot and theme, and also the product the story, tale, or poem as a unit. Lodge (1990) comments, Narrative is one of the fundamental sensemaking operations of the mind, and would appear to be both peculiar to and universal among human beings (p. 4). A key aspect of storytelling is the use of emotion to draw the audience into the story world. McDrury and Alterio (2003) state that our ability to communicate not just our own experiences but the experiences of others enables us to transcend personal frameworks and take on wider perspectives. This attribute, together with its international, transhistorical, and transcultural usage, makes storytelling a powerful learning tool. It is therefore not surprising that it has endured (p. 7). Parents and teachers tell stories to children all the time. Stories teach lessons, entertain, and engender cultural pride and unity. The way people reflect upon history is influenced by storytellers. Koralek explains: Historians say there are several reasons why storytelling has been a part of so many cultures. They believe storytelling was used to: teach history; settle arguments; make sense of the world; satisfy a need for play and entertainment; honor supernatural forces; communicate experiences to other humans; and record the actions and characteristics of ancestors for future generations. (Reading is Fundamental Organization n.d.) Storytelling has reemerged in this century enhanced, with more technologies delivering these fables across borders. Far more stories are available to humans than ever before, in various forms of converging narratives. Fulford (2001) highlights that the rise of industrialized narrative storytelling that s engineered for mass reproduction and distribution has emerged as the most striking cultural fact of the 20th century and the most far-reaching development in the history of narrative (p. 149). In his keynote address delivered at the Siggraph 97 Conference, entitled Storytelling: The World s Oldest Profession, Ferren talked about the future of the Internet: Every time a technology has been introduced that allows one or more people to do better or more compelling storytelling, like language or writing... or what the computer will be, it has changed the course of our society. It has become a permanent part of our
Media Convergence s Impact on Storytelling 21 lives, and it has had a startling impact in establishing the kind of step functions that are characteristic of how our society runs. The power of the Internet to reach out and connect people as a storytelling conduit or new storytelling media is going to make it the most important technological invention since the printing press. (Ferren 1997) This research provides a global perspective, in terms of the internet; however, the focus is on US-generated media since they are a major force behind the production of transmedia storytelling content, and the United States is where advancements in technology and business surround the World Wide Web. The practice of transmedia storytelling has a significant place on the Internet, where converging narratives and online learning co-exist. 2.2 Transmedia storytelling Transmedia storytelling is also referred to by industry professionals as cross-platform, cross-media, multiplatform, and integrated media. Cross-media storytelling, according to Davidson et al. (2010), refers to integrated experiences across multiple media, including the Internet, video and film, broadcast and Cable TV, mobile devices, DVD, print and radio (p. 7). In addition, the new media aspect of the cross media experience typically involves some high level of audience interactivity (ibid.). In digital media, interactivity most commonly occurs when a user performs an action in one platform that causes an action to occur in another platform, as when a video-game player controls an on-screen character s action. That being said, transmedia storytelling conveys storylines over multiple platforms. For example, on one platform you can follow the main story, on another a minor character, but the overall theme remains the same. According to Giovagnoli (2011), the terms cross media and transmedia identify narratives that develop across multimedia platforms. The difference between the two lies in the way the stories are told. Giovagnoli explains that there are narrative forms that do not change when released on multiple platforms, and there are narrative forms that do change depending on the platform. The second type, he argues, is more effective and is called cross-media in Europe and transmedia by the Hollywood film industry. However, he points out, academic definition such as cross-media tend to be superseded by professional practice, and
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