Jason Ohler is an enthusiastic proponent of Digital Storytelling and Literacy. In 2005 Jason spent some time in Cork as part of a program called “Stories of Culture and Place” in association with the University of Alasks’s Geography Program. He helped pupils create stories with original artwork and then edit them into a production using a green screen (Chroma screen) environment. You can read about the process here on Jason’s own website.
Recently I read a quote from Jason about “Transmedia Storytelling”. He said and I quote ““Transmedia Storytelling is absolutely huge everywhere except education, for some reason!” While digital literacy has always been of great interest to me, Transmedia Storytelling was a totally new concept.
Apparently the concept was developed by Henry Jenkins, an MIT professor, in 2003. He defined it as “a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.” 
TStoryteller suggests that there should be several strands to future use of Transmedia Storytelling.
1: Pervasive – the story is available on multiple devices, anytime and anywhere. Reality and Fiction are blurred.
2: Persistent – the story evolves even if the author isn’t engaged with it. Audience activity and real world factors shape the story development.
3: Participation – the audience is able to interact with story characters, locations and each other.
4: Personalised – the audience can personalise their experience with the characters and environment.
5: Connected – a seamless, integrated experience is available to the audience.
6: Inclusive – the experience is available across a range of devices and engagement styles so that it is not just confined to expensive smartphones or tablets.
7: Cloud based – the experience is managed from the cloud to permit the other 6 stands to function in real time.
So is 2015 the year when Transmedia Storytelling makes its presence felt in the education market and if so is there a platform that could make this happen?
Step forward “Conducttr”! Conducttr is an entertainment platform that brings three products to a cloud based service – a content management system, an audience relationship manager and a story telling and gaming engine. The platform’s features are extremely impressive and make for some exhaustive reading; sadly, as is the case with lots good ICT’s, it doesn’t come cheap! The featured pricing is £500 per annum; however I note that educational establishments should make enquiries for educational sector prices. There is also a 14 day, fully featured, free trial available.
Having previously worked with Transition Year (TY) students to create Documentaries, I can see a future for Transmedia Storytelling as a TY module.
See for yourself the promo video for Conducttr:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/yCj_3_M8fAQ[/youtube]
I think that transmedia, by its immersive characteristics and interactivity between user and mediums but also between users and others users and managers, is a huge and totally useful 21th century media and it’s obvious for me that these systems are going to occupy a evergrowing space in every social domain in the upcoming years. The right point from now is to emerge from theory to come up to the cretaion of tangible exemples to use of this tool.