Friday, April 30, 2010

Who says that we are Lost?




September 22, 2004. The beginning. The premiere of the Lost First Season in US. An American television series which in its first season achieved an average of 16,1 million viewers per episode on ABC during the first year. A mass phenomenon which spread out around the world through the different media and it becomes a part of the popular culture in US and also in European countries, as Spain.

Lost, a mixture of drama, suspense and science fiction, is about a plane crash of the Oceanic flight 815 from Sidney (Australia) to Los Angeles (US) which crashes in an Island somewhere in the South Pacific (in reality, the Oahu Island, Hawaii). The survivors try to survive in the Island in where begins to happen some strange situations, as a black smoke which kills people, a polar bear in the middle of the jungle, some other people who already lived in the Island (called the Others)… The series goes taking place in the Island, mixed with flashbacks and flashforwards of every character, even both in the same episode.

The plot of the series and all the mysteries generated by it has created a world fans community. A community which has found on Internet its “operation center”: blogs, groups of Facebook, webs, forums about the different theories of the end, a lot of videos uploaded on YouTube… A perfect example of Transmedia Storytelling, understood as the process in which the information has been dispersed across different delivery channels and each media tries to make its own contribution to the unfolding story (according to Henry Jenkins).

Thus, Spain is one of the European countries in which the “Lost phenomenon” has found more fans, through the broadcasting of the series in Fox channel in Spanish, Cuatro channel and through the different websites on Internet in which users share files or in which you can watch and download series (the most famous in Spain is called Seriesyonkis).

Specifically, the Spanish TV channel Cuatro opened April 26, 2009, Lost complete series with a marathon of six episodes each Sunday, thus it wins more Lost “crazy fans”, who can watch all episodes in a row and in Spanish. With the premiere of the last season, Cuatro made a promo of the broadcasting which was praised by US press (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RecTEQ7BNg8&feature=related). New York Magazine said: “Spain knows how to make a Lost Promo”.

Besides millions of followers of this TV series, there are some of them who prefer Internet for showing their fanaticism. Thus, in Spain we can find one of the blogs which is more followed about Lost, so-called Lostzilla which has achieved to interview some of the main characters as Michael Emerson (Ben Linus), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond Hume), Mathew Fox (Jack Shephard), Jorge García (Hugo Reyes) o Yunjin Kim (Sun Kwon). Here we can find a perfect example of the so-called “Produsage”, as the creators of this site, users or consumers at first, have become producers of the information and knowledge about the series. So, the people formerly known as the audience (Jay Rosen) are no longer just the audience, because now we have the control of media and we are using it.

In the same way, surfing the Web we find other blogs about Lost created by fans who just discuss about each episode or character of the series, and, as well, we can find a “Lostpedia, a specialist encyclopedia about the series where Spanish fans can find all kind of curiosity: from every detail about each character since the beginning till forums, interviews, videogames…As we can notice this is a typical example of the so-called Collective Intelligence, thus users are able to contribute to the fans-community knowledge about Lost with some kinds of tools, such as forums, interviews or blogs. Through these communications tools Lost fans can interact, share and collaborate with each other to let all know about some new curiosities about the series or some interesting theories about the end of it. This “wikinomics” (concept created by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams) bring fans together to create a “Lost giant brain”, not only in Spanish, but also in other languages (Deutsch, English, Italian, French…). So this collaboration becomes a mass collaboration of fans distributed over the world in different languages and this collaboration turns the consumer into a producer, so we can call him/her “prod-user” or “prosumer”.

One of the most strange and, at the same time, interesting types of “Lost fanaticism” which has been created in Spain, with unimaginable dimension, is the Groups and Pages in Facebook in which the main topic is the Lost series. Pages and Groups which are winning thousands of fans per day (now, thousands of people who “like” the page) and followers. Pages and Groups totally implausible: from more simples Groups/Pages about some characters or moments of the series till some others which relate fiction with real life (e.g. some Groups relate the volcanic ash of Iceland with the black smoke in the Island, played by John Locke). Some examples of this mass phenomenon are (all in Spanish): I hit my head with a tree and I forget how to speak English, but I can write it down (1.354 people like this); I also think that Iceland went too far with the Lost tribute (45.228 people); the volcanic ash of Iceland is John Locke (6.168 people); I know how Lost will end: with a black screen where is written “Lost” (2.964); I also think that Dharma controls Megavideo pushing the button each 72 minutes (3.259 members); I hate when I move an island and then I don’t know when I’ve put it (35.182 members) and so on.

As we can see, Lost has become a mass phenomenon, group intelligence, new specific world where the prosumer is collaborating and sharing information with other prosumers, discussing about the series, building the Lost community-knowledge.


“With these new 10 Technologies, we can see how our lives will be changed”


The technology information portal TechRadar.com wanted to go ahead and draw up a list of inventions that will change our lives in the coming years and published in that "10 new technologies will revolutionize your life".

The continuous advances in computer networks lead to a new society more computerized, more comunicative and more collaborative. These three characteristics are typical of what is known as COLLECTIVE INTELIGENCE (Pierre Lévy). This is a shared inteligence among all individuals who contributed to the rise of communication technology, it´s mean Internet. Thanks to the convergence of media, and the increasing participant conscience; the users can interact and collaborate more easily and with more speed.
We can see an example of that with the new technological advances that TechRadar.com shows:

1.3D Games: The games industry is the largest in the entertainment world around us. The Wii console innovated their way of control. The upcoming launch of Project NatalXbox 360 will be a milestone for videogames. But the real revolution will come when we have the screens in the living room of our homes let you see 3D images. In the field of videogames, the player has the opportunity to decide the fate of the game; and often requires the collaboration of various players. This is another phenomenon of Collective Intelligence.

2. Games streaming: the physical disks begin to overrun. The consoles are connected directly to the Internet and downloads are performed from and play online. This allow us to connect with another players via Internet and to develop a mass communication.

3. Six-core processors: currently the most advanced processors have four. Increase the number six would make a qualitative leap in the performance of our PCs and Intel is one step to do so. The ability of new media to store a lot of information through data bases and Internet allows a better distribution of knowledge among users.

4. Electricity without wires, is to make surfaces such as coffee table or desk in a 'table' electromagnetic. By placing any gadget you start loading up himself.

5. All the gadgets in the house connected without wires: it's been several years since the introduction of the 'media centers', but his big problem is the connectivity between gadgets. Work is currently in the development of different technologies that allow, for example, having a central computer and a movie wirelessly, play it on any TV or monitor in the house.

6. OLED screens: this technology is much higher than today. Where is the difference? In OLED screens each pixel emits its own light, so that the colors, the leftovers or the resolution is much better. Phones such as Google and incorporated.

7. Ultrafast Internet: this will come later than early to some places, but the direction is clear: more and more speed. The optical fiber is the most that we have today, but Google is already experiencing with speeds much higher than the 100 'mega'.

8. Augmented reality: Is to exploit mobile sensors, camera, GPS and screen to see what they otherwise could not see. For example, look at the sky through the mobile phone and you see reflected the different constellations.

The proliferation of new media forms like Internet, mobile platforms and video games promotes the growth of what is known as TRANSMEDIA. Jeff Gomez defines it as "the art of conveying messages themes or storylines to mass audiences through the artful and well planned use of multiple media platforms." With this concept, each part of the story is diferent and plays with the characteristics of the medium. The result of that is a new and rich type of narrative that manifests in an array of products and multiple revenue streams. The audience participates in the story through their choice.

9. Remote Control without controls: Birthplace of the aforementioned Microsoft Project is the first gadget to introduce remote control 'tele' no controls, only with gestures.

10. Bits and Bytes faster: there are two growing trends: that of having more and more hard disk space and have higher speed data transmission. The first is with every new laptop that comes onto the market and the second will be with the arrival of USB 3.0.

All these new technologies, which we will reach sooner or later, are another example of the constant change that we are living in terms of new media; and the possibility of the individual (reader, viewer, player ...) to interact with the media. Wikipedia is the best example of Collective Intelligence and Produsage. With it there is not barrier between consumer and producer, because users are able to generate their own content. This process of current colaboration has been called, according to Axel Bruns, PRODUSAGE. In this process not always the participant is aware of its contribution, for example because we surf the Internet, allows Google to track our activities and infer the importance and relevance of websites.

The most important features of this collaborative process called Produsage are: easily accessible by the participants (they can also contribute to the randomly ...), an open participation (no access conditions); unfinished matters, there is the need to continue with the process; and the common property of the result which has been prepared by all contributors(not commercial). There is not doubt that the above ten new technologies will make these requirements more effective.
Elena Pérez Cabrera.

Will it spread?? viral marketing and popular culture.


One of the fields that were changed in the most extreme ways is the one of advertisement. At the beginning, add spots on the internet were sold according to how many people visited the supposed internet-site. Along with the WEB 2.0 revolution, changed the pricing system, and in most cases ads are sold according to "how many clicks" instead of "how many visits".

But sometimes what started as a funny commercial ad, ends up as something completely different. Such that is the story of Blendtec.com (TM). This company is a normal commercial company for benders, mixers etc. but about 3 years ago, Tom Dickson, the Blentec founder, started a new advertisement campaign for the company new product - total blender.

It is hard to know if he was serious about it at all, but the final result is rather funny!

"Will it blend? - that is the question!" this is how every video start. And what started as a blender commercial video soon became a hit YouTube channel.


Tom Dickson blend all sorts of things - food & drinks, but mostly thing that you should NOT put in a blender - marbles, glowsticks, golf balls, action figures (this one is funny - and relate to a whole other transmedia topic - Chuck Norris =) ), and all sorts of commercial products - namely apple product.

You may look at it as a "consumerism critique"' or you can just look at it as a vandalism act, but in any case it is very funny. Some of the most viewed videos are those who are related to apple - an i phone (and later ipone 3g and ipad) was blended, and surprisingly the "iphone dust" was bought in eBay!!

The iphone-ipad "Will it Blend?" was some of the videos that were widely disscussed on blogs, forums, and articles all over the web, what realy shows how much impact those silly videos have!

Tom Dickson managed to step aside from his commercial spot as a blenders-company-manager, and became a YouTube character, one that gets tributes from other users, and also made some advertisement for other businesses based on the "will it blend" platform (like this one and this one).

some of the tributes are funny just because they are trying to imitate the original videos, but some went a few steps forward, and founded other YouTube channels (or just a series of videos) such as "is it OK to microwave this?", "will it toast?", "will it copy?", etc.

The interesting thing in this whole story from the media point of view is how a commercial ad became something completely different. I don’t now how many blenders have been sold due to this campaign, but this is not the question. The power of viral marketing is that it doesn’t matter what are you selling, but how good can you spared your videos. The audience reaction on the iphone video and in this video shows that he got it right! And this is why later on he made some side-advertisement for other companies (friends of "will-it-blend"). The fact that other users create tributes to his "work" is in a way, a "produsage-marketing" – other users that just find his videos funny, contribute to his long term business plan by enlarging his views-counts, and his market share for selling blenders (or other ads)!

The fact that other businesses also ask him to promote their businesses in his videos really demonstrates the power of viral marketing – in a way, it is a step backwards, again, what matters is how many views you get, and not how many clicks, but if someone watches the video, it is because he intended to.

On the same topic, I wanted to show another example of someone who tries to do viral marketing, but it is all in Hebrew (I think there must be an English one as well but couldn’t find one...). Basically what the guy's doing is to take a short video of himself wearing a t-shirt with some company's logo on it and talks about it. It is a nice example also as a Transmedia marketing, as the guy gets money to wear the shirt all day long, so basically the company gets both on line exposure from his site, YouTube, his and his friend blogs, FB, Twitter etc., and real-world advertisement.

So, Will it spread? The answer is YES it will! =)

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Harry Potter and The Never Ending Obsession.

WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

It has been almost three years since J.K.Rowling published the last novel in the Harry Potter series and gave fans around the world the answers and explanations they had been asking for since Dumbledore got a twinkle in his eye in the fourth installment.


Having been given the answers to all the ‘big’ questions (yes, Snape was ultimately a ‘goodie’, no Harry doesn’t die) and having had a few details flushed out by Rowling, from Dumbledore’s sexuality to the names of Harry’s children, it would be fair to assume that the constant flow of online discussion surrounding the novels, from character analysis to clue hunting, would have come to an end by now. One would be forgiven for assuming that a website such as the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' , an online encyclopaedia created by Harry Potter fans collectively (and so extensive and detailed that even J.K. Rowling herself admitted to using the site to check facts when writing the later novels) would be completed and no new information added. The collective projects of HP fans in understanding and predicting what would happen and why  (see this forum for detailed discussions relating to practical questions of magic) should be over, with the excruciating and unnecessary details of Rowling’s epilogue closing down “avenues of speculation”, as Jenkins would put it.

However, such assumptions in the online world of Harry Potter fandom would be wrong.

Whilst Harry Potter was originally just a book series, he has now become a phenomenon spanning a range of media. The films, the video games, the fan fiction, the podcasts, the forums, all contributed to the creation of his magical world whilst the novels were being released, and now are allowing the franchise to live on and in many ways continue to grow.

A look at 'Leaky', one of the leading Harry Potter fan sites, opened my eyes to how there has been no decline in the level of discussion relating to the books, a passion probably kept alive by the upcoming release of the final film instalments. The site has a book club, where users sign up to re-read the books in the series and discuss them in relation to what they know happens later on. They also speculate on what changes will be made in the films, and they are continuing art contributions from users in the galleriesA strange phenomenon when Henry Jenkins has argued that “transmedia texts have...tended to disappoint when they reach their conclusion”. It would appear that so much time has been invested in the transmedia components of Harry Potter by the fans, not just the media companies,  that they don’t want the fun to stop simply because the original series is over.

The continued interest in creating Harry Potter fan fiction is also surprising. If we took Jenkins view the epilogue of the final Harry Potter book would have closed off any speculation about what the characters go on to do in life. However, the diehard fans of Harry have clearly seen the characters mentioned in the epilogue as a source of new speculation and ideas for new magical adventures. Most notably when browsing fan fiction sites I noticed how most of the new stories involve the children of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, whose names were only briefly mentioned in the epilogue. One site sports the slogan ‘the story continues’, some label stories as “next generation” and one site even thanks Rowling “for creating characters and locales which enable our imaginations to run wild”.  Another trend in newer fan fiction are ‘fluff’ stories, filling out the back stories of characters that were only briefly mentioned, but grounded in the canon ‘facts’ that are catalogued by fans all over the internet.

So why are Jenkins aesthetics of transmedia so wrong when it comes to Harry Potter? It could be as simple as Harry Potter fans just being beyond the usual level of fanatical and wanting to continue to enjoy the story through any means possible. I think part of the continued interest is down to the fact that much of the content is created by the fans, rather than the media companies. In an era of collective intelligence much of the enjoyment that fans get from such texts is working together to create them, and nothing emphasises this as much as the Harry Potter Lexicon, which has now taken to listing details from the films and video games, branching out from its original goal and continuing to expand.

Despite the fans keeping the story alive we have to ask what will happen when the movies are all released and their synergised products, because it is only the somewhat obsessive fans that use the sites and write the stories, not the regular Joe’s who just pay for the cinema ticket or read for leisure. It seems that the big media companies behind the Harry Potter franchise are a step ahead here, with the latest Harry Potter product being a video game aimed at 1-4 year olds and with the characters appearing as LEGO. Targeting such a young age group is a very smart move. They won’t have read the books yet but they will no doubt be drawn into Harry’s magical world, and refresh the franchise for a new generation of ‘Potheads’. As a self confessed ‘Harry Potter geek’ I  can only hope so.



by Hannah Wilkes.

An open access to depravity or another step to a real sexual liberty?

The World Wide Web has been created to connect people, but to connect people in any possible ways.  The last years have been marked by the popping emergence of countless networks, which are supposed to emphasize what we call the collective intelligence, such as Facebook, Twitter, Meetic and so on. You want to make friends or even meet your future husband or wife, let’s exchange private information about your life and make them accessible to everyone to target as many people as possible and gather all chances to find the ONE and build your social life. But how about meet a lover to add spice to your lacklustre life as a married person? That’s the brand new idea an American entrepreneur Noel Biderman had lately in launching his own web site called Ashley Madison’s website: http://www.ashleymadison.com. The Time has been deeper in calling this phenomena, “Cheating 2.0”, smart.

 

The principle: no need to precise you are not single or even to lie and cheat on your future cheating partner…but in this case everybody knows about others’ marital situation, and are willing to cheat on their official partner without leaving a trace. The situation is clearly settled: “I do not feel satisfied with my sexual life, I feel alone as my husband/wife is always on working trips, I need someone to have new sex experiences but nothing more serious.” In fact, the persons subscribing on this website often asset that they do love their husband/wife, but need more, as they have been overwhelmed with routine. Most of them, particularly women, prefer stay officially married with as they say, “the father of their kids”.

 

The motto you may have already heard or seen: this couple is married but not to each other…life is short, have an affair.  Have a look at this TV commercial: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc2bmv_ashley-madison-dating-site_lifestyle. Are you getting inspired?

 

The main goal is according to Biederman to emancipate sexual relations, more than to badly influence people. “They are free to lead their own life and are not forced to behave in that manner à Translation: This man is a blessed distributor of sexual freedom! Have a look at his simple explanations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRcgwvMo5YA

 

But why? According to the founder, demand was rising, more than 4 million users at the time, and other existing networks could not provide such services so precisely. Furthermore, and this is the main interest of networks, it seems easier and more direct to approach people through a screen than in the middle of the street where you cannot ask without any premises if you can have sex with.

 

Who are the customers? No clichés here but it is really is your gentle neighbour, or colleague, or member of your family you could never have suspected.

 

And Noel Biederman has really got the point, he knows how to create the buzz, in attending talk shows, just have a look at the way he is treated and how he promotes his genius website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLUYKxGrCg8.

 

The comments of both the interviewer and the Internets users are often very lively. This promotion of perversion is according to them insane and can only be created and used by unsound minds.

 

But this kind of new services may raise some questions:

 

If the adultery is discovered, problems like destruction of the family unit or the non-respect of the wedding vows are raised. Children are the first to suffer from the mistakes their parents have committed voluntarily, which immediately appears less trendy.

 

Let’s have a look at his communication strategy: guess what, the tougher Ashley Madison is interviewed, bigger is the buzz and better is his business. He has in mind only one goal: to spread his name, the name of his website to increase his potential users. In denouncing the website, TV shows show part of the commercial. Moreover, during the talk before or after, Ashley Madison takes advantage of not only the TV audience but also of the audience on and behind the stage in distributing cards. On them you can find his famous motto, plus a tendentious but very relevant picture. Without mentioning the huge billboards in the streets, viewed by any passer-by! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25TjdC7fCco&NR=1, such a clever use of transmedia information.

 

Ironically, he is married to a woman, who supports this idea or may explore it ;-) behind his back…let’s make money for the family!

 

Ashley Madison is the most successful site openly capitalizing on extramarital affairs.

And for that, Biderman offers no apologies. "Humans aren't meant to be monogamous," he says. So would this freethinking CEO mind if his own wife used his site? "I would be devastated," he says. So brave…

 

He has no misgivings but prefer to present himself as a “marketing opportunist”. New international perspectives coming soon: in France for example, according to survey, million of people would ask for that ‘organised infidelity’.

 

There was a free market in the branch of adultery; he has just contented himself with exploring it, using new ways of technologies, with some tools, in hiring a team of experts, first they were 8, now 80 employees and now has to manage with his growing turnover. Thinks about international expansion, meets investors, visit buildings to set his offices, in few words; he’s running his fructuous business, tens of millions of Dollars in annual profit, charging members $49 for a package of credits they can use to contact up to 20 members. Members don't pay to receive messages, just to initiate contact; so many women end up using the site for free…

 

Where is the moral part here, except that with a non-explored idea and strong willingness, you can reach such a thriving success: there is none. People just look for some free and quick fun, they can all have access to, thanks to new ways of communication and technologies. Such networks do not reveal any hidden personalities but only make people behave a way they would never have done in real life. Unfortunately they lose any distinction between virtual meeting and real sex relations that can affect their honest life. Why do nowadays people get so fast bored with their personal existence and need to use the Internet to have access to new experiences or big adventures?

 

 

Welcome to Gotham City


Welcome to Gotham City – the Joker awaits you


The Alternate Reality Game “Why so serious” as an example for transmedia storytelling and collective intelligence

By Ilka Marhenke

New technologies and media open the door for a new way of entertainment. People no longer want to consume media, but to experience and participate. All this is provided by a new idea of games: Alternate Reality Games (ARG). ARGs connect the real with the digital world and therefore allow stories to live off the screen. To let this happen, the creators of these games, the so-called puppet masters, use all kinds of different media for their narrative: the internet, mobile phone service, live streaming videos and large scale projections as well as real world events, casual online games and actual print let the game become alive and players become participants.


The most extravagant and expensive ARG so far was “Why so serious”, a part of the marketing strategy to promote the batman movie “The Dark Knight” which was released in 2008. 15 months before the release, the company 42 Entertainment started the game, which later on would assume greater proportions than anyone could possibly imagine. It all began with a website where players could find the first message from the Joker. From there on, the puppet masters spread clues via all kinds of media and made this game an experience of transmedia storytelling how it is described by Henry Jenkins: every used medium contributes to the narrative and makes it a unique entertainment experience.





Every website, phone number or newspaper which was used, formed the story as well as the participants who followed the puppet masters’ lead. From simple websites or posters in the streets to mobile phones hidden in cakes or GPS data which brought the players to places where planes had written a phone number into the sky, the designers used every imaginable way of hiding clues. Those clues helped players to unlock special features of the movie like trailers or short movie scenes. More than 10,000,000 individual players from about 75 countries considered themselves as citizens of Gotham City and slipped into different movie roles during the process of the game. From the Joker’s henchman to a supporter of Gotham City Mayor “Harvey Dent”, the participants experienced the world of Batman in real life. An online message of the Joker made hundreds of people running through the streets as Joker look-a-likes and even a real election campaign for Harvey Dent took place when Dent asked via phone calls for help to save Gotham City. 33 Dentmobiles visited cities all over America to meet the participants and make them register to vote for Dent in the final election held in June 2007.

In Jenkins's words are "transmedia stories [...] based not on individual characters or specific plots but rather complex fictional worlds which can sustain multiple interrelated characters and their stories". This description applies exactly to "Why so serious", which is no longer just about Batman or the Joker, but about a whole world created around them.

The makers of the game wanted to promote the new batman movie by showing the story between the movies “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” and by drawing attention to the world of Batman. With this kind of transmedia storytelling, they could reach a large number of people and show them that “The Dark Knight” is more than just a comic book movie.


The Homepage of "Why so serious"


One of the clues: A Gotham City newspaper

The participants of “Why so serious” didn’t play the game on their own. They met online in forums or chats to discuss the latest news and clues about Gotham City. A wiki was used to collect all information about websites, codes and so on, used by the creators. By sharing information about the game online, a collective intelligence was formed and helped every single player to move forward in the narrative of the game.

With “Why so serious”, 42 Entertainment used turn a movie into an event, which lasted for almost one and a half years. This way of promoting a movie is unique and creates a whole new way of fan fiction, which allows the fans to help form the narrative. This marketing strategy made “The Dark Knight” the most successful movie in 2008 and 42 Entertainment the winner of the 2009 Web Award in the category “Games”.