Colab Transmedia

Transmedia discussions, debates, resources and work at Colab AUT 2015. This Tumblr is wrangled by Anna Jackson.

[colabtransmedia]

Virtual Virtual Reality — Launch Trailer

A game about VR, A.I. and our collective sci-fi fever dreams. Available now on Daydream! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TenderClaws.VVR ht...

http://vvr.tenderclaws.com/

[colabtransmedia]

An Exclusive First Look At The 'Archer' Team's Game-Changing New App

'Archer' has a new scavenger hunt for this season, and it's a technological leap forward that could create a new way to watch TV.

AR is definitely not going anywhere. I’m curious to know how engaging/distracting the AR scavenger hunt experience is though.

[designcomputing]

Things to look for when you evaluate an online source...

The “CRAAP” test: http://nova.campusguides.com/evaluate

How to evaluate website content:  www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-overview/evaluating-websites

Purdue OWL Searching the World Wide Web: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/558/1/ 

Based on Kapoun, Jim. “Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library instruction.” C&RL News (July/August 1998): 522-523: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluating_Web_pages

[colabtransmedia]

This is a useful refresher for Year 2&3 students too.

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Experience an interactive documentary about what connects us.

I was talking to Garian about his project and thought of this interactive documentary. The project has a degree of personalisation, but explores a universal theme.

[colabtransmedia]

Eko Studio

Eko's innovative tool for creating interactive entertainment. Get access to our free and powerful creative tools plus tutorials, grants, and support.

Another tool for creating interactive video. 

[ncyrocks]

The state of the idea board, 2017-03-06

By my count, 10 people’s ideas have made their way onto the idea board in Studio. I thought I’d share some thoughts I had on them.

I apologise in advance for the crappy camera quality - if you want a good look at the stuff on the wall, have a look at it tomorrow.

Franz has some (pretty small) notes about ideas he’d like to explore - Why do we fear? Have you ever wanted something really badly, only to be rejected? What letters might long-distance lovers write? Do you really have a friendship with someone if you haven’t fought with them?

I think there are some interesting ideas here - exploring why we fear could be neat, and the fighting/friendship duality has some potential to make some impact - but right now these statements are very high-concept and very low-what-I’m-gonna-make-from-the-concepts. Not a terrible place to be in at this point, but I don’t think he can stay here too long.

Yu Kong, a third-year whom I don’t know, wants to make an interactive video. He doesn’t seem to have much idea about what, but again, that’s all right at this point. Listing his strengths and weaknesses is a smart move and not one that many people have actually done.

Julia Choi, another third-year I don’t know, wants to make an interactive documentary about issues that arise between cultures - what people think of immigrants from other cultures, vice versa, and cultural conflicts between people of different origins/ages. But, she needs people who can film and edit the video.

…

Anna said she could see some obvious links on the board. I think I see what she means.

I seem to remember someone else who knew some things about filming and editing and wanted to make an interactive video but couldn’t decide what about… hmm….

Kavita and Kelsea have… a whole bunch of ideas.

To be honest, I found this one hard to follow and I can’t read most of the writing on my photo of their piece of paper. I don’t have many thoughts on this one.

I like the idea of changing perspectives to see a broader story, though.

AJ wants to explore physical objects being used to explore stories, or stories interacting with and being expressed by objects. She doesn’t know quite what for yet, but she has ideas such as treasure hunts and maps and things.

Seems like it’s got great potential, and I’d really like to see how this idea pans out, but I don’t really have any idea how it would. That’s half the fun, though, I guess!

Garian wants to make an interactive music video. He’s been throwing some ideas around to do with Coldplay’s interactive music video which I’ll post about later, and it seems like it could be really cool.

He’s also been considering helping me with my project, and while I’d love that, I’d also hate to pry him away from this.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART, YOUNG GARIAN

Finally, Sujay has quite a few already-fairly-developed ideas about games he could make in Unreal Engine 4. I really like all the ideas he’s put forth, but no. 3 stands out. It seems pretty similar to my idea to make a game called A Game of Chance, and I’ll want to talk to him about collaborating tomorrow.

Seeya soon, Sujay.

Also, some idiot put up some kind of document IDK

[colabtransmedia]

Nice reflection and feedback Nathan. I’d love to see more stuff on this board! And I’d love to know how to facilitate more collaboration. Any ideas?

[colabtransmedia]

ONE SHARED HOUSE – an interactive documentary

Thirty years ago, eight women embarked on a radical experiment in urban living: they built a communal house in central Amsterdam in which practically everything — from kitchen utensils to childcare — was shared. With co-living making a comeback, New York-based designer Irene Pereyra returned to her childhood home to learn about the story of this unusual place, and to discover what we are willing to share in our living environment on a day-to-day basis — beyond the safety of our screens.

[colabtransmedia]

This is a really useful presentation to watch for anyone working on the online learning resources brief for CTEC704 (Transmedia Narratives). More generally though, this talk helps to explain the usefulness of Linked Open Data in contexts such as cultural heritage institutions.

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I’m not much of a gamer, and I’m not a big fan of guns, but I’m still a little tempted to take up one of Father.io’s  earlybird offers on Indiegogo. This is a massive multiplayer multiplatform game taken to a whole new level. Think Lasertag x Ingress, with AR, VR-controlled drones and even smartwatch integration. 

Watching the trailer for Father.io (below), I’m really curious to know what the social interaction between players will be like when they meet in public spaces. What is the social etiquette for interacting with a stranger you’ve just shot I wonder?

[colabtransmedia]

The Participatory Museum is “a practical guide to working with community members and visitors to make cultural institutions more dynamic, relevant, essential places”.

You can read it online for free!

I particularly recommend reading Chapter 4, ‘Social Objects’ to help you think about ways to approach your Museum briefs.

[colabtransmedia]

Helping to make New Zealand digital content easy to find, share, and use

Cultural Heritage or GLAM organisations (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) have wonderful collections full of all sorts of interesting and valuable treasures. However, as we saw during our basement tour at Auckland Museum, only a fraction of these collections can ever be accessible to the the public (at least in a physical space). DigitalNZ’s job is to help other organisations to make New Zealand content and data more accessible, findable, shareable and useable.

[colabtransmedia]

Thanks to the Google Cultural Institute you can visit some of the world’s greatest museums, art galleries and world heritage sites from the comfort of your own screen.

+

Find out what’s in development at the Cultural Heritage Lab https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/thelab/#intro

[colabtransmedia]

What could be the role of virtual reality experiences within heritage institutions and museums?

This article is a thought-provoking read for anyone who is interested in the possibilities of VR in the museum environment.

During my recent research trip I visited David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef Dive VR experience at the Natural History Museum in London. I found it slightly strange to be ushered into a room with a group of people and then be instructed on how to put on the headset in the right way, at the right time in order to have an individual experience. Is this the ultimate expression of Sherry Turkle’s critique of our 21st Century relationship with media technologies, ‘Alone Together’? Or is there little difference between VR and cinema except patrons are spared the annoyance of mobiles glowing in the dark or the sounds of snacking and chatting?

While I found the collective yet very isolated experience of VR a little jarring, I do think VR has a place in a museum or cultural heritage context. While VR equipment is fast becoming cheaper and more accessible, not everyone will afford (or even want) to have their own headset, so offering VR experiences in this context allows greater access and understanding of this technology. And though the VR experience has not yet been perfected and can be uncomfortable and variable in quality, immersion gives the audience an ability to focus on a subject with great intensity and uniquely simulates the sensation of first-hand experience. Both of these characteristics can greatly enhance the learning experience and can add richness and depth to a wider narrative or experience.

[mamalazzer]

The modern adventures of Ben Kylo (feat. Rey) 

Kylo meets Rey at a fairground and tries to teach her his fairground skills.

(Spoiler: She really doesn’t need his help.)

The rest of the series is here

[colabtransmedia]

A great example of spreadability, worldbuilding, extractability... and awesomeness.

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To begin your adventure, tap on on the central image below. Then tap the tags to choose your path.

For our first project this semester students were tasked with using Prezi (a fairly linear presentation tool) to create an interactive documentary. This was a pretty big challenge! So I was very interested to discover that Land Rover has recently done something similar, launching a campaign using Instagram as an interactive storytelling platform.

Just like our Colab students had to ‘hack’ Prezi features to try to create interactivity, Land Rover uses Instagram features such as user tagging to create narrative pathways (and they’ve created multiple Instagram accounts to support this). It’s clever, but is it an engaging experience for the user?

What do you think?

[colabtransmedia]

The first New Zealand/Canada transmedia project has just launched. Pick a team and join the battle of nations!

This is the first project jointly funded by NZ On Air and the Canada Media Fund, with more to follow.

The audience is invited to pick a side and take part in challenges. When players score points, so does their country of choice. 

[colabtransmedia]

Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling - 2nd Edition

This is the second edition of Robert Pratten's massively popular Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling. It's a practical guide to developing cross-platfor…

A new edition of a must-read for all transmedia storytellers, available on Slideshare FOR FREE!