Best Transmedia Conference Ever!

Futures of Entertainment Conference picI’ve attended many industry conferences that claim to be addressing the theme of ‘cross-media’ and ‘transmedia’. I’ve also assessed the schedules of those I haven’t attended from afar. I have not seen one that really understands what it is, and so they do not select the right speakers or ask the right questions. Well, I’m thrilled to say there has been a conference that does hit the nail on the head. The MIT Comparative Media Studies and the Convergence Culture Consortium presented the Futures of Entertainment Conference, on the 17 and 18th Nov, 2006 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The podcasts of the sessions are now online so you can soak in that transmedia goodness. Of particular interest, to me, is the session on Transmedia Properties (it goes for over 2 hours!) and Henry Jenkins’ Opening Remarks. But there are so many great sessions on fan cultures, virtual worlds and so on. All the podcasts of MIT Comparative Media Studies are here. Enjoy.

Podcast about ‘Channel Fragmentation and Brand’

Sssh: The Venice Project

The web is buzzing (well, parts of it) with gossip about a project that is in beta-test mode. The Venice Project is…um…I can’t really say because they’re not. This is what they do say:

We’re working on a project that combines the best things about television with the social power of the internet – a project that gives viewers, advertisers and content owners more choice, control and creativity than ever before.

Co-creators include Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, and other talented people such as Allan Beaufour Larsen and Ugo Cei . Although they’re rolling out server hubs all over the world, it seems to be based in the Netherlands. So, my fellow NL researchers: got any info?

Source: CC Chapman who is a beta tester of it. Seems to be the thing to do for those nifty people in the know as I’m beta testing Amazon’s Askville.com and another project that is not public yet so I cannot talk about it (you know how it is). hehe