interactivedrama

Digital Consultant links for July 12th through July 14th

These are my links for July 12th through July 14th:

What makes the perfect Transmedia Producer? – In-depth discussion on the types of skills and approaches which are working in transmedia. It's heavily led to the Alternative Reality Game (ARG) producers rather than wider producer of entertainment media for new platforms.
Social media monitoring: time to say ’sod it’? – Thought piece on why moderating – and interrupting – Joe Public's conversations in social media may not be a great idea. I think it depends on what you do – people often Tweet about brands because they want help/ response, and certainly being responsive on your own profiles is critical. Joining in wider conversations (e.g. forums or general discussion) will depend on how useful a contribution you can make to the discussion. This may favour technology/product suppliers more than consumer goods and services.
UK online video stats: Youngsters favour C4 and ITV over BBC – Blimey: how online video has grown. 2010 sees 5.5 Billion online vdieo viewed each month in the UK, with BBC, ITV and BlinkX as fastest growing properties. Interestingly, the desirable youn 'uns (16-24 year olds) are preferring ITV and Channel to BBC properities.
Concept Feedback | Free Concept Reviews for Marketers, Designers and Developers – Here's an interesting 'concept' – this website is a community of designers which lets you upload your concepts for design, websites and print and get feedback from other community members. Offer enough feedback and it's free, or pay a small fee. A great way to get feedback within a community wider than your own organisation, but in a closed setting.
Cultivated Play: Farmville – Intelligent article by A. J Patrick Liszkiewicz on why Farmville defines many of the rules of being a good game, but creates social capital through effectively a peer pressure to be kind to your friends (& Farmville neighbours). I'm wondering in anyone in the gaming/digital industry actually like Farmville – no evidence yet, but no denying simple, formulaic social gaming is a major global phenomena. (hat tip: Pete Ashton).

Digital Consultant links for April 8th through April 11th

These are my links for April 8th through April 11th:

The Collapse of Complex Business Models – Author and academic, and writer of "Here Comes Everybody" Clay Shirky write a good piece on simplifying bureaucracies and business models, using the example of user generated video and 'In The Motherhood', a small hit online drama that failed as a conventional TV series.
Forecast: TV, Internet Will Lead Advertising Back Up As Print Wanes – Predicted stats for advertising from 2008-2012 globally, showing that TV (after a fall) is set for growth to return to 2008 levels this year, and internet advertising will continue strong growth, whilst print, cinema and advertising are set for a slight decline in spend. Of digital, the strongest growth will be in paid search followed by display advertising.
Digital Economy Bill: Quick Guide To All 45 Measures – Great summary of the Digital Economy Bill, due to be passed as law this Monday, showing all 45 measures, and which have been withdrawn. Interesting to see that Channel 4 now have a remit of distributing film and supporting 'innovative content' and children's programmes as part of their public service remit.
What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012 – Insightful article by Freddie Laker on how social media will grow to become an intrinsic part of the digital experience by 2012, as the semantic web and user recommendation seemlessly interweaves with search, ecommerce and other web experiences. I like the idea of seeing aggregated realtime updates of users before you put in a phone call, and ratings as a core part of the e-commerce experience.
Bebo’s friends desert it – Business Analysis & Features, Business – Yet another social networking giant looks set to bite the dust.. as MySpace hangs in there, Bebo looks set to have its doors shut by owners AOL. Failure to invest and understand the needs of its youth demographic, particularly in failing to support social gaming, have led to the downfall of the fun site. Big shame as Bebo were once investors of online TV programming such as Kate Modern, and this gap, coupled with Endemol's recent annoucement of scaling down their digital team due to limited online tv investment, heralds the death-too-soon of pureplay web television.

Digital Consultant links for March 29th through March 30th

These are my links for March 29th through March 30th:

BBC – Research and Development: The Mythology Engine – representing stories on the web – A very interesting article on a new BBC R&D experiment into the 'mythology engine', basically an online way of following the story universe of long-running drama. I could have done with this lately when I was trying to work out how to catch up on many gaps years of Eastenders storylines (answer: you can't. Wikipedia non-linear character profiles next best bet). I had no idea BBC was researching these kind of transmedia storytelling concepts – very much look forward to an eventual roll out.
Crossing the digital threshold – DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES – This is an article I wrote for Arts Professional magazine for their 'digital opportunities' edition. It's about a current client, Threshold Studios (a media training organisation) and how they are meeting challenges of entering the digital space for both comms, marketing and training their beneficiaries. Some other good articles in the magazine too including an experiment with Twitter as a social tool by Pilot Theatre. This content is usually behind a paywall so have a look at it quickly…
Google wins AdWords trademark case – There seems to be quite a bit of wrangling going on with copyright holders trying (rightfully) to protect use of their trademark whilst (wrongly) restrict others to use their trademark name. This ruling ensure that all words – trademarked or otherwise – are fair game in the online advertising space.

Digital Consultant links for February 9th through February 11th

These are my links for February 9th through February 11th:

New BBC Director Mandates Journalists Use Social Media – Look like BBC, along with other news rooms, are insisting that journalists 'get with da programme' and get connected with Twitter, RSS etc as a news gathering and feedback reponse. Hoorah.
Cross platform storytelling links – Some links I will soon be checking out to interactive storytelling projects from an Indie Training Fund event I recently attended.
Big brands see mixed results on Twitter – US stats showing many big brands are achieving more success on Facebook than Twitter, where even Apple don't have a presence (is this REALLY true?). Article suggests Twitter is waning in popularity, but actually for me it's maybe taking up on more specific niches which attract special interest group and a more connected community (and big brands, that probably doesn't include you).

Digital Consultant links for February 5th through February 7th

These are my links for February 5th through February 7th:

Charlie Brooker | iPad therefore iWant? Probably. Why? iDunno – Probably the only post to read on the storm-in-an-iT-Cup that is the launch of the iPad, yet another shiny-shiny gadget from Apple which has made the elusive marketing leap from a gizmo to a life-changing-experience. As someone who just doesn't do Apple at all – and prefer proleterate and less expensive devices like the PC and Nokia, this speak to me. "It's an iPhone for people who can't be arsed holding an iPhone up to their face. A slightly-further-away iPhone that keeps your lap warm."
BBC – Media Literacy – I came across this BBC microsite whilst watching the BBC's new 'soap bubble' online drama E20 (a spinoff from Eastenders). The site gives a few video based resources for younger people to undertand the idea of media literacy – including clips from Screenwipe an a interview with teen digital ambassador 'JellieEllie' (I met her years ago, not really sure what to make of what she does now). E20, the BBC are hyping as a 'game changer' as being a significant budget online drama. I disagree – it's a great piece of drama, but as the Controllers interviewed say, the rules of storytelling are the same on the web as TV. I'd like to see the BBC invest in a REALLY innovative interactive drama that does make use of the online medium – E20 is just telly on the web, designed to be packaged back to be telly on the telly. The videos aren't event commentable and embeddable. Channel 4 do some more interesting content for teens in this space like Smokescreen.
Tories challenge BT and BBC as part of ‘100MB broadband’ pledge – Zip. Pains me to type this, but here's another very good electioneering policy from the boys in blue: they want to speed up broadband to 100Mb by 2017 by breaking up BT monopoly, which puts crippling prices onto accessing broadband at super high speeds. As far as I'm concerned, this couldn't happen sooner.

Digital Consultant links for July 12th through July 14th

Digital Consultant links for March 29th through March 30th

Digital Consultant links for February 5th through February 7th

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