Blogger Profile!

Today, I'm going to profile one of the blogs that I've been reading to learn more about transmedia and how people are studying, creating, and interacting with it.

This particular blog is called "The Future of Storytelling and Transmedia Thesis Blog" and it tracks the progress of a young Masters Candidate for Interactive Design. He doesn't give his name, but it's a lovely look into his life in Los Angeles and Pennsylvania, and how he brought together all of the work he studied in his educational career to come up with a presentation on Interactive Design and Narrative Systems Engineering. Unfortunately, the blog seems to be inactive, with the last post occurring two years ago. But I still feel that this is a good read for those interest in studying transmedia, and how those academia are viewing what can be done with this new narrative form. It's also a nice look into the "amateur" side of transmedia (amateur only in that he was studying to become a professional. Very likely he is one now.)

What's really wonderful about this blog is it takes you behind the scenes of all the different aspects of Transmedia. As a student studying the ways in which transmedia narratives and interactive fiction can be constructed, the blog writer has a lot of insight into many different fields, and many different parts of the process. In this post, he talks about how in his studies he has read

 from digital storytelling to interactive fiction to sceneography, to spectatorship vs. participant theory, to comics and now to storytelling in theater. I’ve read the Hollywood perspective on storytelling, the design perspective (via U practices), the game designer perspective, the NGO perspective…and there are tons more. 

which are all words and concepts that I am now excited to delve into and read more about myself. In the same post he talks about "immersion" and how this is the key to transmedia and interactive fiction, as we saw in my previous post on Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and the young adult series, Cathy's Book. I agree that this is the key to this new form of story telling, and all forms, truly. What really keeps readers interested is feeling entirely a part of the world, whether that be emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically, or all of the above.

I like this blog because it's scholarly, but also accessible. This is clearly the voice of a young, passionate student and storyteller, much like how I view myself. I can connect to his enthusiasm, and I can learn from what he has previously studied. His voice tends to the creative writing side, often talking about his daily life and work and how he is experiencing the study of this medium, which in and of itself is an interesting choice. He defines some things, but most of what he talks about he assumes the reader knows, or will go discover for themselves. He assumes his audience is well versed in the transmedia discussion, whether they too are students or professionals. He provides a reading list though on the side of his blog to aid in this research, which I think is a very nice touch. Sometimes not knowing the in depth details of the essays he talks about can be frustrating, but for myself as reader, it only inspires me to go read these things for myself, which I think was the blog writer's intention.

I think this post in particular sums up why I like this blog. In a paragraph he defines what transmedia is, and why it is important. But even more so, he explains that its importance lies not with the technology, but the immersive experience that it provides, asking the question:

Basing the future of storytelling on the fads of today is a recipe for disaster. It takes a good storyteller, with a great story to tell, to engage people deeply enough such that fumbling from one site to a social media outlet is desired.  No, the future of storytelling rests with the storyteller, and not the technologists. The technology we will be using in 5 or 10 years isn’t the technology of today, so why design something for the future based on technology today that is already on the decline?

The questions he asks, and the passion he has for telling immersive, multimedia stories reminds me precisely of my own drive. His studies are more structured in research, reading, and academic based work, while my own are personally driven, and gleaned from what I can learn in my academic classes that relates back to this subject.  I find it fascinating to know there is a more structured academic side to this exploration of transmedia and other new mediums, but I myself enjoy the freedom of taking bits and pieces from all aspects of my life and stringing them together. I am excited to read the work he has graciously shared on his reading list, and to learn what the academic side is like. I appreciate too, that there is an artistic part to his studies. But for myself, my look into transmedia focuses mostly on the part that I am familiar with, and that is the artistic side. I very much appreciate all aspects of this discussion, and even though its no longer updated, this blog is definitely worth a read for all of you who are similarly intrigued.