Twitter fiction: Creating whole worlds in 140 characters or less.

As a writer I am intrigued by twitter fiction as a genre.  I originally didn't think much of it because what I love about writing is the ability to use language to convey details in both landscape and character.  I felt that the confines of twitter were too constrictive to produce works of any level of interest or meaning.  What I found instead were writers who were using these confines to hone and perfect their skills with language.  I was humbled and inspired by the capabilities of these writers to convey so much with so little.  And I am inspired to read more and perhaps even try it myself.

To research this post I mainly used the keywords twitter fiction and twitterature.  I found quite a lot of material this way and didn't really feel the need to expand upon my search beyond this.

I included these elements because they showcased the experimental and innovative uses of the twitter format, not only the constraints of the character limit but also incorporating the social immediacy and crowd-sourcing aspects of twitter into the stories themselves.  I felt that Andrew Fitzgerald's TED did a great job of discussing ways in which writers are experimenting with this format and tried to find other examples of this.

I also was interested in the ways that twitter fiction can not only re-write existing literary texts but can also be adapted and reformatted into these cross-media formats, i.e. books and online publications.  I appreciate the ability to read these stories outside of the noise of twitter itself, where the story is embedded within timelines and is added onto with replies and comments and re-tweets.  While these things can be elements of the experience itself, it is nice to be able to get the story in a more traditional manner as well.  I am really interested in the idea of stories crossing platforms and existing in different forms within these platforms.

I don't know that my post gives a "full picture" of the issue. I did choose to focus on the aspects that I was most interested in.  There are certainly other aspects of twitter fiction that could be explored in an academic essay such as whether re-writing existing texts for twitter can bring new audiences to these texts or prevent the audiences from experiencing the authentic voice of the original author. Using twitter fiction as an educational tool for second language english learners is also an interesting topic that could be explored.

This is a topic that I am definitely interested in exploring further and as I said, I look forward to reading more twitter fiction and thinking about ways in which I can perhaps write my own in the future.

Multi-Modalities = greater story comprehension

Multi-Modalities provide different instructional media opportunities for the benefit of multiple learning styles. Whether the viewer best learns through audio, visual or text does not matter. The same basic story elements are repeated across modalities.

Multimodality - Tie it together

Cross-Media Marketing - Make your Message Shine!

 From ancient cave men to present day, the charm and emotional resonance that storytelling can bring is invaluable. Cross-Media, also referred to as 'Trans-Media' is the process of 'Storytelling' using digital tools to bring your Story to life.

One such tool is Animoto - A plausibly free website on which you can post your photos, video, Text pages and imagery into pre-made templates and make them you own. Approachable, flexible and containing a generous amount of options for the average user, Animoto is a tool that can bring Life and experience to your story.

This is my second effort on Animoto and I can see the engagement that this tool can bring to both business and personal projects - ending in a professional, enjoyable product that creates true talk value. I LOVE IT!

Inanimate Alice in Nepal

Producing 'Alice' - Creating Digital Fiction one Step at a Time

The experience of producing a video/vignette has solidified the close relationship between concept, text, images, and sound. The right combination can result in something truly meaningful and magical. Poorly done? Well...I know understand b-movie production as well.

Our experience of Inanimate Alice is one of a certain genre where even the nature of the font impacts tone and mood.

As I tried to replicate the mood of the Inanimate Alice series, where Alice now travels to Nepal, I realized that the limitations of Animoto would not provide me with a desired outcome, but at least enabled an attempt at the concept and explore the tool.

I would love to upgrade the Animoto account, explore more options to produce the next instalment of Alice in Nepal and beyond.


Inanimate Alice in Nepal

Digital Narrative

I tried to tell a narrative around the pictures.  Slurping pasta was a good example.  I had to use the pictures because you were restricted with the number of characters you could use.  I added video and music that would work with a 14 year old travelling.  Love this medium.




Digital Narrative

Politically Incorrect Twitter Fiction

Twitter fiction uses 140 characters to tell a compelling story. You can bring it to life by adding visual effects to the narrative. Try Animoto software which combines text, photos, video and music for a full sensory experience. However, the free version only allows 30 seconds with a few choice words. This forces you to tell a concise story - which reflects the purpose of Twitter fiction.

But remember, twiterature isn't always classic literature. For example, DadBoner is an ongoing Twitter story of a small man from a small town, just trying to get by. Some fun excerpts from my interpretation of his day are captured below.

Copy of DadBoner

He's a Twitter Poet But Does He Know It?

Richard Ayoade - Twitter Poet

This series of tweets by British comedian Richard Ayoade was in my twitter feed this morning.   Whether intentional or not, I find a lot of comedians I follow tend to tweet in short stories and narratives which hilariously mimic their offline comedy styles.

The Art of Digital Born Fiction

Animoto video

For the Animoto Video Assignment, I decided to discuss the idea of "Inanimate Alice" as a piece of art.  There are many ways to display and discuss a narrative, including through a piece of visual art. I believe digital narratives such as "Inanimate Alice" become art pieces in their own right. By shifting through Alice’s life and her emotions, we are given a visual story, sounds, interactive links, video and even photography. All these art forms link together to create an emotional response of the reader/ viewer.

This was an awesome learning experience! I will certainly use Animoto in the future, as it allows for video and imagery and text to be produced into a simplified frame-by-frame video.

- Samantha 

Wordle - Storytelling Across Platforms

While I understand the rationale for why the words "story," "audience" and "experiences" are the words most predominantly displayed in the Wordle, I am surprised that the word "architect" was not included as a larger "priority-word" in the Wordle automatically created through Wordle.com. As I took notes, I could not help but see the correlation between cross-platform storytelling and architecture; the two are very closely related.

Furthermore, successful storytelling can be measured by audiences' response - as Hoefs notes, it "engages, moves and builds" and "involves, inspires and moves" them. As this is the whole point of storytelling successfully across platforms, I think the Wordle is woefully lacking summarizing the whole point of the article and of storytelling in this manner.

In that regard, it might be more productive creating one's own Wordle, rather than depending on an automatic one such as this...

Animoto - Around the "world" in 21 days.

http://animoto.com/play/Be1jsC0kX1SCzkk3kftnkg

Cross Platform Storytelling Analysis

       Cross Platform Storytelling Analysis




Cross-platform storytelling includes building a cohesive cross-platform audience experience.

Wordle's interpretation focused on the following words: cross-platform, audience, story, building, experience.

My initial reaction to the article's content determined that storytelling in the new media age now requires the expertise of an audience architect. Platforms now need to be intertwined and an story architect contribution will assist with those goals.

My keywords included story architecture, audience architect, and design - all critical to engaging the audience and successful storytelling.

Cross-platform Authors: Architects of audience experience

As a writer, I really connected with the concepts of storytelling, story architecture, audience architecture and story/audience experience.  This word cloud does reflect these ideas but I would like to see more reference to the storyteller/architect.

How to Visually 'Rock' your keywords with Wordle - Cross Digital Storytelling

I felt that the word cloud for this article was accurate and with the exception that I did not identify Weiler and would disagree with not including 'Content Creation' or 'Transmedia'. It is vital to build stories that cause feeling and resonance which will thereby create an experience that last when reading your work.

Wordle Clouds in the Sky

I found that using Wordle to create a story cloud reflected similar points to my own notes. 

Words like story, building, cross-platform, engagement, and experience are all words that I noted as important or key words. The Wordle highlights story and audience as focus words- I think I would have added engagement due to the importance of the audience in transmedia. As the article states, there are two main parts to transmedia and the targeted audience engagement can make or break a work of digital storytelling.  

This application would be a great addition to creating an academic paper or an essay draft when reviewing multiple works. I do find, as an avid note taker myself, I enjoy writing down sentences such as "cohesive audience experience" as the whole sentence allows for more of a direct definition of the important points. I also notes the authors point about being two parts, as transmedia is not only about a creative storyline, but also about a multiple platform experience and how this experience interacts with the audience. 

I also enjoyed the term "audience architect." I believe this term applies to all users and creators of content for social media. Not only is it important to have great content, the content must be applicable to the audience it is being showcased to. 

- Samantha 

Building literacy in the 21st Century.

I did not use story as a keyword because I thought that was self explanatory.  The blog is about writing for the 21st century and what that means.  Rather than traditional writing where the author wrote the story to please themselves, transmedia means you need to be the architect and build your stories to engage the audience. Their voice needs to be heard in the two sided experience.

I have made my keywords bold.

 

Cross Platform Story Telling Analysis Using Wordle

When I read this article, the words that stood out for me in alphabetic order were: audience, cross-platform, experience, story, storytelling, transmedia.  According to Wordle, the key words in order of importance are: story, audience, experiences, building, cross-platform and architecture.  It's interesting that the word transmedia is so unimportant in the Wordle because it stood out prominently for me when I read the article.

Word Cloud on Cross-Digital Storytelling

The words that pop on this cloud align to the article, in my opinion. You build a  story that
shares experiences with the audience. It is like architecture in that you bring so many media elements together in one final construction. 

Cross-Platform Storytellers = Audience Architect + Story Architect

Posted on 06/17/2014 by Lara Hoefs

To create successful cross-platform story experiences, it’s important to understand there are two sides to the transmedia coin. Transmedia only begins at creating story across platforms; the other half is building a cohesive cross-platform audience experience. The two go hand in hand when building engaging, moving story experiences.

Several years ago, understanding that storytelling was evolving in a new media age, the visionary Lance Weiler made a shift in how he identified as a storyteller and he moved away from identifying as a filmmaker to that of a story architect.

“At one point I considered myself a film-maker but those days are long gone. I now consider myself something akin to a story architect, in the sense that the stories I tell encompass design, delivery and technology.” – Lance Weiler, 2009

As we build story experiences in this connected digital age, one side of creating story experiences is building story architecture and the other is building audience architecture. Like Lance Weiler, some storytellers are intuitively wired for 21st century storytelling and are able to simultaneously craft audience architecture within story architecture. Though many storytellers have not been trained to weave in the important element of audience engagement in building out story. That’s why many attempts at creating cross-platform (or transmedia) story experiences are unsuccessful. Creative talents who are amazing with story but have not been trained to build audience engagement into a story experience, would be wise to invite an audience architect to help guide them in building cross-platform audience strategies around their story world.

What does an Audience Architect do?

• Designs and builds a seamless, cohesive audience experience across platforms that intertwines with story
• Gets to know the audience via analysis of data, analytics and social behavioral patterns
• Creates audience strategies that informs the creation of intentional story experiences aimed to involve, inspire and move the audience, thus ultimately building increased story engagement
• Nurtures and grows the audience and story community throughout the life of the story experience
• Becomes the audience advocate that brings the voice of the audience to the table during development of story experiences

21st century storytelling requires new talents to support the creation of successful story experiences that engage, move and build audiences. A key new role that has emerged is the need for an audience architect who can build a cohesive cross-platform audience experience around a story world.

“The audience is telling us what they want, we just need to start listening.” – Lance Weiler, 2009

Assignment C – Animoto Review Video

Assignment

In this course we have covered a variety of topics such as Twitterature, born digital fictions, transmedia narrative and hyptertext. Think of a topic or even a specific work that is of great interest to you. Perhaps you were drawn into the growing pains of Alice in Inanimate Alice or would like to dig deeper into documentary born digital narrative. I would like you to choose your topic and create a (free) 30 second video using Animoto. You will need to include text, images and sound. You can draw from Animoto’s offerings or find copyright free images using the Creative Commons search on Flickr.

Your finished Animoto video must be shared both via Twitter (@JessL and use our class hashtag) AND the class blog, include a link to it in the comments of the Assignment D: Animoto Review Video blog post.

You must also include a comment about another student’s Animoto video. This comment can be separate or included with your video link comment.

Due in class on June 20^th

NOTE: our eclass does not accept links so please paste a link to your assignment blog post into a word document and upload that to moodle.

What is Cross-Media Storytelling - A Storify experiment

*Google Photo - Creative Commons

If you have a computer and you have searched the web, you have unconsciously been reading and experiencing cross-media storytelling for years! Using multiple platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and other social media platforms, digital technology has slowly been changing the way we read, interpret and experience the world.

I undertook to explain to an average person the concept of cross-media storytelling using a multi-modal approach through the use of Storify as a visual pathway to understanding the concept, execution and reasons for the changes in our storytelling world.



Research resources chosen: I attempted to conceptualize/visualize my research using information from both experts and professionals in the media/social media/marketing fields.

Platform resources included: Twitter, Blogs, Infographics, YouTube, TedTalk and resources from our course. My Research tools: Storify medium for searches. 

•  Twitter Hashtag tracking: Used to find interesting conversations and posts about my topic matter: #Digitalstorytelling, #Transmediastorytelling #crossmedia. Although difficult at first due to a sensitive case issue with hashtag searches, I finally found a number of sources that proved fruitful and selected one that would fit the educational and entertaining experiential tone of the piece.
• Google: Used Google search in Storify by searching terms such: Digital Narrative, Cross-Media Storytelling, Trans-media and finally found some great blogs and videos that would be appropriate to the flow and information set I wanted while being visually compelling where possible. Pictures - I used Google to search for creative commons pictures.
•  Links - I also attached Hyperlinks where I wished to provide an outsource to the information and finally provide a link to my Twitter site for following with a call to action to conclude.

Storify Experience- The platform has been purchased and therefor has changed a great deal in the last few months and has taken away some of the customization options previously offered. I certainly found it a lot more cumbersome to work with than previous projects. I certainly think that the topic could easily expand into a paper and the possible inclusions are endless.

No Twitter No Chatter.

I thought initially that it would be easy to find the information that I was looking for.  I struggled with my narrow search, however Jess's help with remembering to use keywords got me on the right track. Marketing, social media, twitter, and strategy were the keywords for finding the relevant information.  I tried to use as many different apps and URL links that I could so that if I had questions I could get help before leaving for the day.  I added a lot of blog posts, tweets, videos etc. with the idea of discarding them, a bit like shopping for a dress.  Because my issue was getting non-profits to use Twitter I could not find much on Facebook or Pinterest that enhanced my story.  I did add in that Twitter could provide links to your other social media sites.

The elements that I left used a variety of visuals for Storify.  I incorporated links to blogs, photos, videos, and tweets.  I arranged them to have a beginning, middle, and end for easy reading and to make my argument for non-profits to use Twitter have a clear and easy to follow message.

I think my posts give a well rounded picture of my issue but each post could lead to a whole new story on its own.  My posts would convince someone to incorporate Twitter but I think they would need to learn more.

I definitely think I could use this to write a longer academic essay.  Each of my posts could be developed and added to.  I could create more of my own text, add my experiences, and some analytics for reinforcement.   I believe that with more time and better knowledge of the medium I could turn this into a great essay.

Fact or Fiction: The Rise of Twitter Fiction—Analysis

A virtual Lollapalooza of twitterfiction content is under construction with exceptional work from authors such as Adam Popescu, Sarah Farizan, and Maisey Yates — to name a few.

I (Google) researched relevant content pertaining to twitterature, Twitter fiction, hashtags and Twitter accounts. Within this rapidly expanding field, I discovered a variety of organizations that are exploring the use of Twitter fiction in various ways ranging from ESL instruction and discussion forums, to open invitation competitions and festival creation.

I also found a variety of dead/no longer in use Twitter accounts that seemingly were once part of a wider contribution for well known twitterature for Harry Potter @NotoriousHP, but is referenced in Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Tweets by A. Aciman, E. Rensin.

Keywords, hashtags, Twitter handles, references and authors: twitterature, twitter fiction, #twitterfictionfestival, #twitterfiction, @NortoriousHP, @NYerfiction, @bradmeltzer, @meganabbott, @adampopescu, Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Tweets, The Guardian, Craig Taylor and the exquisite artwork as seen in the work of Dugaldo Estrada.

I asked the following questions as part of the element selection process: Did the choice contribute to, enhance or detract from the overall Storify premise? Did a Tweet, blog post or video explain or elaborate on the central theme of the presentation? These same selection principles were also applied to choices for images and Tweets.Was the totality of the content balanced? Was there representation from a variety of sources?

This is certainly not the full range of available content of the Twitter fiction theme, but this representation does provide a brief account of this emerging art form.

The content of this Storify representation could be a starting point for a longer academic essay. Aside from the main themes already identified herein under education for students and twitter fiction festival for artists and authors, it would be of value to further explore the expanding uses for this language arts format, its potential for use in a cross-cultural exchange of fiction development (global application), and track growth and evolution in identified arenas.

Using Twitter - Alternative Medicine

Using Twitter to Market an Alternative Medicine Practice - Storify Elements

1. I used a few different approaches to find the Storify elements.  I searched Twitter, YouTube, Flickr specifically on Storify.  I also used google searches and copied the urls to the hyperlink drop down box in Storify.
Through trial and error, I searched keywords, hashtags and simply visited some websites I had previously viewed. Keywords: marketing, alternative medicine, social media tools, holistic, analytics

2.  To determine which elements to use, I intentionally showed a variety of social media platforms to illustrate a tool that perhaps the reader was familiar with.  I also wanted to show how the platforms can all be supported with Twitter use.

3.  This post doesn't give the full picture but provides some basics on the use of Twitter.  It's intention is to show Alternative Medicine Practitioners how they may make use of the tool.  The links and samples are applicable to their industry and provide some real samples.

4.  The Storify would be a starting point for a longer academic essay.  It provides an outline in which additional text could be added to further illustrate and explain concepts.  This topic relies on other posts and activities which already exist on the web therefore it lends itself to using Storify.  
If the "story" relied on information that I was organically creating myself, I would not use Storify.  

Comments on Assignment B - Storify "Twitter Fiction"

Storify allows you to tell a story using your own words along with curated items from various social media platforms. I wanted to explore the topic of Twitter fiction, so I searched for the words/hashtags twitter fiction, twitter stories and microfiction.

Since my Storify article was meant to be a basic introduction to Twitter fiction as a creative writing genre, I chose social media elements that would best exemplify this concept. I added simple photos from Google and Pinterest, YouTube videos of authors discussing their Twitter fiction creative process, a tweet linking to examples of Twitter fiction, and a slide deck of Twaiku posters. I also searched for user discussions about their Twitter fiction experiences, but I couldn't find any relevant Facebook posts since its a relatively new art form.

Twitter fiction, like any literature genre, is a broad topic and difficult to encapsulate in a few sentences or examples. While my Storify captures the pithy nature of this particular fiction format, I doesn't tackle how this story writing format could impact our societal view of what defines worthwhile literature. 

Good writing requires practice and exposure to good literature. But today's students are from a generation that grazes for snippets of ideas on line and trades cryptic text messages with friends. Why read a book, when you can wait for the movie to come out? 

But ironically, as Carla Raguseo point out, “Twitter fiction can provide learners with a rich language experience in easily digestible fragments. It challenges them both as readers and as writers to attempt and explore multiple meanings and to develop academic skills.” 

Twitter fiction has the potential to incite students to write in a coherent, creative and grammatically correct manner. Some people argue that it might even be a gateway to exploring more traditional literature. However, this would be the topic for a longer academic essay.

Digital Storytelling to Tell a Tourism Story

I approached finding the elements of my Storify through search the various outlets provided - focusing on Google, Instagram, YouTube and SoundCloud. On YouTube I searched Travel Alberta and Alberta Stories. I made use of my own instagram account, a friends account and also searched the hashtag #explorealberta. I further utilized a link from our module work and own class tweets. On soundcloud I tried searching Alberta Music, Alberta and some local musicians that I know and know that are on SoundCloud - that did not yield much success. I then chose to search Brett Kissel, as I knew he is a better known Alberta musician, and having participated in some tourism events I have helped organize, thought he was a good fit for this story. For google I search tourism in Alberta - not intending to select a Travel Alberta page - it just ended up being the best fit for what I was trying to say. I wanted to use video, photos and music - as those elements really help to tell a story, especially a tourism story - and are also essential elements to what I consider a quality Digital story.

In determinig my 'criteria' I stuck with the Alberta side, because it is what I know. I did search for some other articles or information on Digital Storytelling and Tourism, but wasn't satisfied with the results that were yielded. I wanted the images and videos to be impactful and the National Film Board's Out My Window site is spot on to what I envision as a good way to tell a tourism story - providing sneak peeks into different experiences and attractions in different regions rather than different apartments in different parts of the world. I can't say for sure if my post provides a full picture of the idea I was hoping to relay.

To my eye, it clearly communicates what I envision, to an outsider, it may not be as clear. that said, I think it does provide a rather good overview into my thought process - although I'm sure if more time and effort were placed on this, I could round it out a little further. Without sound on these computers, it is hard to say if the other videos I found truly align with what I am trying to say, so again, I stuck with what I knew. I do think I could use this Storify as a starting point to relay my concepts within my work environment. It is possible I could turn this into a longer academic essay as well. However,

I think I would need to do much more research and gain a better understanding of the concept and functionality of digital fiction before I can say for sure if it was a viable idea for tourism storytelling and worth diving deeper into and writing and essay about it.

Storify Stardom

1. How did I approach finding the different elements of my Storify Post?

For my Storify on infographics, I chose to include several “successful” and several “unsuccessful” infographics to illustrate and highlight the sheer volume of infographics that are online today and the pros and cons of using these as a form of marketing. In searching through Google, 12,600,000 hits came up for infographics alone. Due to this amount of infographics and articles regarding infographics, it made it easy to search for specific terms / issues relating to infographics. I was overwhelmed with the amount of information available for this topic, but in a way, I was not surprised. Infographics are a mainstream graphic design element that are seen everywhere (Boston Pizza even has one). I did narrow down my search by looking at the visuals as well as types of infographics- successful vs unsuccessful. Some keywords I used where municipal infographics, successful infographics, bad infographics, marketing and infographics. 

2. Why did I include the elements I did?  

As a visual learner, I included many visual pieces in this Storify to illustrate the sheer volume of infographics that are available. I think this Storify could have been much longer in length and maybe delved in deeper to the meaning or importance of this form of marketing. I did find the broken nature of Storify breaks down the flow of the overall narrative, and I found I was trying to control this application a bit too much.

3. Do you think this post gives the whole picture? 

In terms of using Storify to give a full picture of your issue- I think yes and no. I think the ability of Storify to combine images and text is a great resource, but it does give a very broken appearance and overall disjointed “essay.” The links, images, and text may not all showcase the points that one is trying to make.

4. Do you think you can use Storify as a starting point for an academic essay? 

I think Storify would be a great application to start an academic paper on- it is very easy to use as well as allows for easy “tagging” of relevant articles across many types of websites. I think this also allows for an easy way to link, and document your sources (always a struggle in Web 3.0 citing)