Mix Digital 2015 - Bath - digital meets books / storytelling
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This document discusses a case study of creating a digital adaptation of a book called "Nature Mage" that allows for reader participation and collective intertextuality. It describes the story, developing the digital project, conducting audience research, creating concept sketches, building an online community, and challenges around participation including labor, financial rewards, and guidance. The goal is an ever-growing, organic "social book" where the community helps shape the story through their interpretations and contributions.
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Mix Digital 2015 - Bath - digital meets books / storytelling
- 1. Mixing the Potion Reader Participation, Collective Intertextuality and Brand Consistency in digital ‘book’ adaptation Claudio Pires Franco — MixDigital 2015, Bath July 2015
- 3. Nature Mage A case study in the creation of a digital book concept
- 4. About the Story / Books
- 6. The Process
- 11. Audience Insight and Co-design Readers’ Pleasures & Ideas for Digital Book
- 15. Concept Sketches
- 20. WELCOME! CONTENTS & NAVIGATION
- 25. ONLINE COMMUNITY
- 27. CHARACTER: JON
- 28. WEAPONOLOGY
- 29. DEMONOLOGY
- 35. An ever-growing, organic ‘social book’ SOCIAL BOOK, LIVEMARGIN.COM
- 37. Adult fiction - adaptation, genre mixing
- 40. MIX 2 Reader Participation and ‘Collective’ Intertextuality
- 41. Multimodal Transposition A Clash of Cultures?
- 42. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY Words Interpretations INDIVIDUAL Intertextual ‘Repertoires’
- 43. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY Words Interpretations INDIVIDUAL Intertextual ‘Repertoires’
- 44. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY Words Interpretations INDIVIDUAL Intertextual ‘Repertoires’
- 45. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY Words Interpretations INDIVIDUAL Intertextual ‘Repertoires’
- 46. VS.
- 47. VS.
- 48. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY ‘APPROVED’ Words Interpretations Canon
- 50. SOURCE TEXT COMMUNITY ‘APPROVED’ Words Interpretations Canon
- 54. Free Labour and Rewards
- 60. The End
Notas do Editor
- Good afternoon all, it’s a pleasure to be here. What a setting, and what an interesting and timely mix of people and themes across books and digital. There is still resistance in some fields to look at digital as a valuable creative medium, and worthwhile object of study. Conferences and get-togethers like this one bring together people who take a different stance, and pave way for the artistic and academic recognition of digital forms and all the hybrids, mongrels and mutant texts that we see emerging at the confluence of books, digital, art, performance, education, and so on… Bath Spa University and the Writing Platform are carrying the flag of mixing, and for that I can only praise them.
- My presentation is based on ongoing practice-based research on the production of digital books. It draws on my work with a self-published author, on the tracking of industry news and developments within the last 5 years, and on interviews with over 20 practitioners and leading innovators in the field. The overall theme, or my chosen keyword, is mixing… the mixing of media, genres and aesthetics that is taking place with the rise of digital forms; the mixing, or weaving, of intertexts in the adaptation of existing stories into digital; and the mixing of creative forces and intertextual references that takes place when authors, artists, digital producers and readers get involved in collaborative processes of production.
- The Nature Mage book series consists of three self-published titles, by Duncan Pile (2010-2014), print and e-books (Amazon) Tolkienesque fantasy world with hints of Harry Potter and other wizard-in-the-making stories, aimed at young adults and teens It involves a lot of magical training, battles, beasts, weapons and demons… But also a strong ‘human’ side to the story: growing up, relationships, emotional struggles and troubling pasts…
- The Digital Project involves a partnership with Duncan Pile, the author - to create an enhanced digital book based on the series… For the author the goals are to engage, ongoing contact with readers, learn from readers, sell more books, formative experience for readers For me the key goal is to engage practice-based research, raise questions, contribute to empirically-based grounded theory Our plans are to use the existing story, together with expansion elements produced by the author, the researcher, student artists and readers… through an an online community Our contact with readers was complemented by research with readers and users through an online survey and face-to-face group interviews and workshops.
- Young audiences more used to taking part, to UGC, to voting and rating and sharing content... [Notes for PhD thesis: use stats to evidence diffs across generations in level of UGC, co-creation, etc… Ofcom, PEW?]
- This is a screenshot of the online community…
- Where users can see or upload content… images, video, text…
- They can leave comments, engage in forum discussions, and share content via social media
- Throughout the project, through the use of the community and via direct research with readers, we have uncovered useful insight and ideas for the digital book concept…
- We tried to understand what elements of the story were more unique and memorable… and what kinds of features readers would like to see in a digital book… The friendship ties between characters are very important… And so are the different kinds of magic, the elementals and warriors and weapons From a list of possible features for the digital book, the favourites were: illustrations, followed by glossaries of magic, weapons, demons and so on
- Readers feel that the human / emotional side of the story is important and a distinguishing factor… They connect with the real-life challenges that protagonists face…
- Some readers’ ideas included… Videos of the author reading or explaining the story A tool to create tour own weapon, character or demon A link to real stories of real people dealing with problems similar to those experienced by the protagonists And the possibility of accessing another character’s view on key parts of the story… The author included some ‘breadcrumbs’ in the story, for example the mention of ancient kinds of magic and some kind of Arcane Wars… these seem ideal to be picked up by fans and form part of world expansions… All of these bits of insight are informing the design of the digital book
- Let me show you some sketches…
- The idea is to bring in the story from all the books, possibly first book 1, for free, then other books in the series, potentially paid for… The story would in principle be abridged to appeal to a more visual audience who may already know the books The main goal is to engage readers, but also to encourage creativity and user-content… The launching of a free edition may also attract new readers who may then want to buy the books - or other books in the series
- The chosen platform - because it is free, easy to use , and flexible with a wide range of features - is the iBooks Author tool… iBooks clearly remediates book covers… and even the idea of bookshelves in your ‘library’ section of the app… When you click on a title, you see an animation of it being opened, then the first page is shown… you can opt for portrait or landscape, and different sections are called chapters…
- This is the current digital book cover for the prototype…
- We’re calling it a fan-inspired enhanced digital book (although this may change)
- The book will probably open with a video welcome by the author, in which he’ll explain what it is, what users can do, and what we aim to achieve Since this kind of text is relatively recent it would be wise to add some navigation tips… Throughout the book icons will be used to denote certain kinds of content or actions, for example listening to background music… consult a card for a character, or look at the evolving glossaries of magic, weapons and demons…
- There will also be a map of the story world with blurred areas… First, only the hero’s birthplace is shown, where the story starts… As he travels, new areas of the map are revealed, in an expanding canvas… As the map expands, races, events and character icons are added for a quick geographical reference of important plot events and other story elements
- As the story unfolds, some pages will contain illustrations… Of places, of key characters, of weapons, beasts and artefacts… When they first feature in the story, the reader will be able to click on an icon - character, magic, etc. - to see a card for the kind of magic, which will be added to the growing glossary Together, all the glossaries make up a kind of encyclopaedia of all-things-Nature-Mage… a collection of the mythos of the world…
- It will be possible to click on any image to see alternative versions of the same landscape, weapon or character…
- Many of these will be drawings created by readers and artists, but may also include videos or images using any materials / techniques…
- They can do this via the community, which will be hyperlinked from within the app, and also embedded for easy access…
- Character card icons will indicate a new character card… or an evolution in the card of a previously introduced character…
- The character cards may include an image (again with alternative interpretations sitting behind it); backstory; skills and powers; and other relevant information
- There will also be weapons cards, with images, descriptions and backstory - which we may invite readers to complete…
- And demons and beasts cards…
- The map icon will indicate an expansion to the world map Other icons and added information may include: hidden backstory (added beyond the original stories in the books), extra information on a weapon or event; kinds of magic, weapons, beasts, and so on… the kinds of things fantasy fans love to know more about At a later stage it’d be good to draw on one of the readers’ idea and add a weapon / character / beast creation tool
- Other features may include a selection of life-like emotional challenges faced by characters, with an analysis of how they dealt with these… This is linked to the more human side of the story that readers identified with - it is a more challenging area, but one we really want to explore… I will now turn to an analysis of the kinds of mixes taking place in this digital book project…
- Let’s first look at Intertextuality…
- Digital books are shaped by a range of intermediall influences: aesthetics and conventions from print, digital media — and sometimes the affordances and limitations of using off-the-shelf platforms (such as the iBooks Author tool) Here we see the influence of books, with the strong presence of words, and of conventions such as chapters and paragraphs… But we also see the influence of analogue forms such as maps and card games… And of digital forms such as fan communities and online forums…
- The content is influenced by a series of intertexts, from the source hypertext, in my case the NM books, but also a series of other digital ‘books’ that serve as inspiration for the design of the NM digital book… Let me show you some…
- SOCIAL BOOK, LIVEMARGIN.COM Web-based application by the Institute for the future of the Book, lead by Bob Stein, a veteran of digital publishing with a team of developers
- This example is clearly - and explicitly - influenced by online formats and user behaviours, namely blogging Users are invited to comment on a text, thus initiating feedback and debate on the margins of the book Users can reply to each other’s comments in different groups, and also upload videos, which again can receive comments The result is a living, growing text where, according to an interview with Bob Stein, the margins are as important as the original words…
- STEAMPUNK HOLMES Tablet app by Noble Beast, a team experienced in digital media development
- Readers can access extra features can be accessed at any time via a menu… As the plot unfolds, new characters are introduced and added to a sort of glossary of characters… by clicking on a character card, users can learn more about them and see an enlarged version of their drawing There are also colour illustrations, and a map where key/kernel events in the narrative are plotted.
- Lastly, it is possible to access cards for machines that feature in the story, such as Holmes’ super-charged motorbike the WidowMaker… and watch animations that demonstrate how they work… the kind of feature that appeals to a steampunk audience…
- These examples - and other digital book-like texts - are hybrids influenced by both a remediation of print and analogue, and by digital media forms… They present clear examples of remediation… Conventions such as pages and chapters and paragraphs are a clear inheritance from print… as well as a heavy reliance on the mode of written language… Features such as illustrations and audio recordings of book narration are also not new, but packaged and delivered in different ways - allowed by the digital medium as a Auber-medium that can remediate and present the modes of previously separated media.
- But the examples - which are NOT the most innovative you can find out there - also show new ways in which the affordances of digital media are being explored, through elements such as interactive features and reader/user participation - clearly influenced by other digital media formats such as blogs or games…
- Now let’s look at what I have for now called COLLECTIVE INTERTEXTUALITY This involves looking at the processes that take place when a new text is co-created by a team formed by author, artists and researcher… With reader participation and audience insight added to the mix… I will explore 2 KEY AREAS here: MODAL TRANSPOSITION, linked to canon and brand consistency and PARTICIPATION CHALLENGES
- The Nature Mage book (and most if not all other fantasy books) contain descriptive elements about the characters they portray, especially important characters who play important roles in the story… Let us take Hephistole, the grand mage in the story, as an example. The descriptive elements of characters include aspects such as the way characters look, how they dress, their personality, their behaviours, ethics, and so on and so forth Some of these descriptive elements are more direct, factual and more defined than others. For example the way they look or the outfits they wear. Depending on writing style, on whether the text tends towards being more readerly or more writerly, these descriptions leave greater or fewer gaps to be filled - or weaved - by the reader.
- But even more factual, descriptive elements leave a number of gaps, especially in a book like NM where there are no illustrations, no pre-existing visual representation of characters. Some questions thus arise when the intention is to produce a visual representation of Hephistole, the mage: how old does he look like? how tall is he? what’s his face like? The book may provide fewer or greater clues, but readers (including producers looking to make an adaptation) draw on their repertoire of wizards and wizard-like characters to draw a (more or less defined) mental image of Hephistole.
- The author does the same when writing, when weaving the text from his own cultural and textual repertoire. But his mental image is not equivalent to the words he uses to describe the wizard. They are, at best, an attempt This ‘image’ or ‘idea’ of Hephistole - or any other character - draws on several intertexts within the fantasy genre, across media, across the times, and based on our exposure to different materials My image of Hephistole is defined mostly by Gandalf, the great wizard from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and most strongly by its filmic adaptation in the first film This image of great mage, or great wizard, exists outside the books and any texts in my ‘media universe’, I add it to my very own repertoire of wizards…
- Now, every reader of the book will have a different image of great wizard… When asked to contribute with their own interpretations of characters they weave their own image based on the intertextual repertoire they have in their mind.
- When several interpretations - or sketches - exist, there are then two options… 1. Typically media industries select one version (which may change through time, and in rare cases mutate even within the same text) 2. Instead of one, there could be 100 originals - all as valid as each other… It’s a strange notion for those of us used to the power of canon and originals… But perhaps acceptable for typically younger generations that are growing within a mixing, mashing culture…
- Another option we considered was linking the choice of image to user rating or voting… This would be a more democratic option, and would allow the book to evolve as new images were added and chosen as the bets interpretations of a character or setting…
- For the author, quality and brand consistency were important… He would rather have one version than multiple versions. And he’d like to keep a good level of consistency across images…
- Therefore the decision was to have one selected version of each image shown on the digital book, and alternative versions uploaded by readers as a hidden second layer.
- When the first image of Jonn, the character portrayed in this slide, was uploaded to the online community, a reader asked… ‘Is that what Jonn looks like?’ The author replied: ‘I think it is an appropriate representation of Jonn… he looks like a strong, scarred man who has gone through a lot!’ The author established a visual ‘canon’ for the character Jonn…
- In another example the author did not simply place his stamp of approval, but tried to bring the drawing closer to his own mental image of a demon beast, a Warg… The author’s comments were that the first version looked too much like an animal with little intelligence… It didn’t match his vision, and the description in the book…
- An excerpt is relevant here… ‘The Warg reached the plinth and spun around, its baleful eyes filled not only with the same driving hatred as the other Wargs, but with an undeniable intelligence…’ The author then placed his stamp of approval on version 2… Let’s now turn to some issues around participation…
- It seems irrefutable that our media and culture in general are increasingly visual and multimodal… And that younger generations are growing up immersed in digital media… They are curating their own content online in spaces like Instagram and Facebook They are mixing and mashing content, and are increasingly producing and uploading content… However, participation and user-generated content also raises many issues…
- One of the biggest criticisms of the more optimistical positions - such as that of Henry Jenkins - is that participation and UGC can be seen as free labour controlled mostly by large media corporations… In the NM project we tried to contravene this by rewarding users who add content to the community We thought of two kinds of rewards: in kind and through recognition; and also financial rewards…
- The initial ideas for financial rewards evolved around offering users whose creative works were used in the digital book a kind of stake in any profits made… However, it became apparent that this can be quite challenging to structure and to organise… how do you decide how much to give back to users? Should it depend on how many of her stories and drawings end up in the digital book? And what would happen if the digital book only sold a few copies? These are challenges we are trying to tackle…
- Other kinds of rewards seemed more straightforward, and were explained in the online community; they included: Free copies of the digital book… A mention in the book… A day with the author for the best story contribution… And the chance to have a character named after them - or a name of their choice - in the next ebook in the series…
- Another issue with participation has to do with actual access to creative tools, and having the knowledge and the skills to use them… Not all users - even younger users - know how to draw, or use image editing tools or video tools… Our plan for the next version of the community is to add links to free tools and to video tutorials that teach how to use them…
- The third issue want to cover has to do with structure, or guidance… The NM online community asked for contributions in a very general way… You can upload anything you like, such as drawings, images, videos, story… inspired by the story Our lan for the text iteration of the community is to still keep this, but also add a more structured approach, where we will give users a number of more precise requests for contributions that they can pick from… for example:
- We need a drawing of weapon X Can anyone write a backstory for Voltan, the warrior mage? And so on… we’ll probably call it MISSIONS CORNER Examples of user involvement such as Star Wars Uncut seem to suggest that structured approaches facilitate participation… we will need to try and test it and do further research with users… AND THIS IS WHERE I FINISH…