Hello everyone! Today we’ll delve into segmentation techniques. By segmentation I refer to the various ways unique content can be continued across different media platforms. This doesn’t mean cutting up content created for a single session (a feature film for instance) and then delivering it in parts (although you can do that!). But here I’m referring specifically writing or designing the production with a certain episodic structure in mind. While the notion of episodics is fairly understood, what isn’t is the variety of episodic techniques available and how these can be utilized in a cross-platform project. So, in this post I’ll outline ways a production can be designed for multi-platform segmentation.
transmedia
Cross-Media Technologies (Crafty Toys)
Hello everybody!
Firstly, a quick thanks for the new subscribers to this blog. Some of you have joined up here because of my ‘Cross-Media’ presentation for DIYDays.com, but most of you because of my prompt at my old site www.Cross-MediaEntertainment.com. As you know, I’m closing that feed off and will be staying with this one. Welcome everyone! 🙂
So, onto business!
Today we’ll look at technologies used to manage cross/trans/multi-platform/media projects. I’m not talking about cross-media measurement, but about the tools you can use to deliver and manage your content across media platforms. I’ve selected a range of technologies used in alternate reality games, pervasive games, location-based games and interactive TV:
Anti-Hoaxing Strategies and the TINAG Fallacy
A few days ago I published a post highlighting one possible reason why alternate reality games are perceived as hoaxes by some, and posited one strategy to circumvent the problem. The point seemed to caused a little confusion, as some thought I was saying that all the content and marketing should be targeted to the ARG community only. [Steve was right, this would be quicker over a beer at a conference.] To be clear, that is not how I see a launch operates in any scenario. Launches require putting lots of content out into different communities of interest. My point was that a work that looks indistinguishable from real content would benefit from having a community that identifies it as fiction early in the launch process. That is: to target the ARG community in the first wave. Whether other communities are targeted at the same time or slightly after is a design approach relative to the creator — but the point is to include an ARG community early.
But, since focusing on one strategy in isolation is evidently not the most effective approach, I will step back and look at the bigger picture. One of the issues with ARGs is that they are often referred to as hoaxes, and sometimes (rarely) experienced as hoaxes. So my questions have been:
1) Are ARGs hoaxes?
2) Why are ARGs referred to hoaxes?
3) Why are some ARGs experienced as a hoax?
4) Why is it most ARGs not experienced as hoaxes?
And here are the answers: