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.

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.

Module 5: Twitter Fiction

Module 5 Twitter Fiction

Activities/Assignments ●      Add a comment to Module 5’s blog post in which you respond to Carla Raguseo’s statement: “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 such as synthesizing and paraphrasing while fostering structural and semantic awareness in playful experimentation.” ●      Live tweet @JessL THREE initial reactions and responses as you make your way through ONE of the three Twitterature readings

Module 2: Hypertext

Module 2 Hypertext

Activities/Assignments ●      Assignment B – Storify Assignment. Students will begin the assignment in class with the final “copy” due by 11:55 pm June 19th