Month: November 2005

Adrian Hon, THE designer of ARGs blogged an extended abstract he has written for a paper to be delivered to a gaming conference sometime soon. He puts forward that:

[A]ll types of entertainment have been unconsciously converging on an ARG-like destination.

I’ve spoken about ARGs many times on this blog and in papers and industry talks. You’ve all heard me banter on about them. There is a reason for it. ARGs are the, as yet, purest form of cross-media storytelling there is. Hon continues to explain the phenomenon:

ARGs are characterised by their development of a rich, involving universe and story spread across varied media. ARGs also take place in real time and are played collectively by thousands or millions – they are made to scale. Similarly, writers and designers are seeing the benefit in creating rich and involving universes for their stories, whether they be for books (Harry Potter), movies (The Matrix), TV (24 and Lost) or games (Final Fantasy) – partly because they engage the audience, but also because they provide the necessary depth that allows the story to be told in other media.

On a basic level, the extent of the ‘Harry Potter universe’ allows for the creation of entertaining movies and games based on the books. The Matrix universe goes one step further, in that its spinoffs (multiple games, comics, DVDs) do not merely rehash the existing storyline but in fact enrich it by filling in backstory and looking at other characters. Any self-respecting TV show or movie is now compelled to add ‘in-story’ websites and minigames to provide more depth to their viewers (Lost, Doctor Who, The Island).

This trend of ‘story universes’ spreading across different media is not simply a case of inconsequential bolt-ons to the ‘main story’. Instead, it is accelerating, perhaps due to the demands of audiences who are used to multitasking across different media. Alternate Reality Games demonstrate the culmination of that trend, where the internet serves as the glue that holds the different media together in real time, but in the near future, the term ARG will not even be used any more – it will merely be assumed to be the case for every type of entertainment or game.

I agree with everything Hon is saying (I call them storyworlds and narrative universes though), except for one thing: ARGs type entertainment will be the only entertainment. What I’ve discovered with my research into cross-media storytelling (whatever you want to call, insert your own term here) is that there is no one type. Yes, ARGs are on the EXTREME right of my cross-media continuum, because of the narrative dependencies between content across media channels, but the point of cross-media (to me) is that there is a huge range. That is why I see them not just a new work, but as systems, and not just a system, but polysystems. Cross-media storytelling is on top, in addition to, what is already offered, not replacing it. Books still exist, so does TV, film and radio, heck, even phonographs are around. Yes, people are changing, the way we engage with media, with entertainment, with each other and life is changing, but we’re layering, adding extra dimensions, not subsuming others. Hope I don’t sound negative about Hon’s remarks. I think his points are fantastic and need to get out there. I’ve added them to my fading quote slider on my project page.

On November 7th, America’s No. 1 ranked evening news show, NBC Nightly News, will be available online, in entirety, for free, after broadcast every night, making it the first and only newscast to do so. MSNBC claims to:

consistently attracts more consumers than competitors like CNN.com and, in fact, attracts nearly one-third of all online news consumers. The site averages more than 23 million unique users per month, more than triple that of ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com and FOXNews.com.

They also claim that:

NBC News is the leading network news division in cross-platform distribution of its content, with its programming available on the NBC television network, on NBC’s 24-hour cable news channel, MSNBC, on the Internet at www.MSNBC.com, via cell phone on NBC Mobile, on NBC News Radio and via podcast.

There is a nice quote by Deborah Reif, president of NBC Universal Digital Media:

Viewers will now be able to access their favorite evening news program when they want it. NBC News’ leadership decision today reinforces NBC Universal’s broader commitment to delivering our content to consumers on whatever platform they choose.

So, their policies are: provide on-demand & multi-platform content, so audiences can engage with their product when they want to in the platform they choose. Good. I have a few questions though. Is all content available all of the time and every platform? Or are there editorial decisions about what content is multi-purposed? If some are available in all platforms and some are not, what defines the choice the platform? Dr Stephen Quinn, in his book, Convergent Journalism, outlines how an effective newsroom operates as follows:

Convergent Journalism argues that converged news coverage should be driven by the significance of the event. That is, the importance of the story dictates the level of coverage, and influences the size of the team involved and the depth and breadth of the reporting. In a converged newsroom, multimedia assignment editors decide on the most appropriate media for telling the story. A major city fire may require a team of still photographers, video-journalists, online specialists, and reporters. A routine press conference may need only one reporter.

Exactly. It is one thing to realise that consumers want on-demand content and over mutliple media channels, but another to then orchestrate it effectively. What alot of producers are doing is realigning their businesses to the audience needs. Good. The next step though, is to then develop skilled creations that utilise these systems as tools, not ends.

Varing content
Prefiguring the online broadcast is Brian Williams’ blog, Daily Nightly. Brian is “the first and only network evening news anchor who blogs regularly”. It began on the 31st May this year, with a post describing the function of the blog:

We hope this will be a useful supplement to viewers of Nightly News, as both a narrative and as a window into our editorial process. […] Just as we hope Nightly News is a part of your evening viewing, we hope you’ll stop here first each day to find out how the broadcast is taking shape.

So, we have a few key points here:
1) supplement: which means the blog is thematically (content) related but is intended to be secondary to the TV channel;
2) window into our editorial process: this aspect I have spoken about many times over the year on this blog. A trope of interactive media is public production processes. This is a popular habit for many reasons, two of which are the fact that blogging or regular commenting is a publication of thoughts-in-formation most of the time. Announcing your views everyday will inevitably lead to insights into what you’ve been doing, seeing, thinking. It is not possible to isolate your blog from your activities. The second reason for the popularity of public production is the benefits it gives audiences. Fans and newcomers are both acknowledged in this form of content sharing. Fans collect information about their show and personalities, accuring knowledge and therefore social leverage. Newcomers witness aspects of a show that are usually privvy to fans. It allows them a sample of ‘deep’ understanding and therefore simulates a fan status.
3) stop here first: Here the blog acts as a precurser to the night show, an on-demand primer or teaser. This priming is on two levels. One, the post prepares the audience member for the content, providing a narrative window or framing of the show. Which means the audience member will be more likely to watch the show, now that questions are sparked. The second priming is basically organisational: the show is on tonight, at this time and on this topic. This is not relevant to appointment viewers, but to newcomers, it is training in appointment viewing.

The use of the blog, indeed all of the web content, is a canny act. In a paper I just read on the relationship between use of television websites and viewer loyalty attraction, usage can be used to predict watching of shows, maintaining cable connections or subscribing to them (Ha and Chan-Olmsted, 2004). In other words: use of TV websites increases your TV audience.

References:

Nightly News announcement

Ha, L. and S.M. Chan-Olmsted (2004) ‘Cross-Media Use in Electronic Media: The Role of Cable Television Web Sites in Cable Television Network Branding and Viewership’ in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Vol. 49, 4, pp:620-645

Quinn, S. (2005) Convergence Journalism: The fundamentals of multi-platform publishing, Peter Lang, New York.

Quinn, S. (2005) Convergent Journalism, Peter Lang, New York.

Quinn, S. (2005) Conversations on Convergence, Peter Lang, New York.

This blog has now gone cross-media: it is now available on your mobile phone. This type of cross-media storytelling is on the EXTREME left of my continuum: repurposing. When you just HAVE TO READ this blog and cannot get to your PC, checkout my mobile blog at winksite id #11389. The button for the emulator is at the end of my side-bar. I should also tip my hat to the winksite folk, they’re great.