WRJ250 Lecture Notes (Week 11)

WRJ250 Post Digital Content Lecture Notes

Week 1: The Post-Digital and its Contradictions

Module Run-Through:

Falwriting

Class structure

Assignment

Lecture Content:

The History of Writing:

Old and Expensive

Any idea what this is?

A Cuneiform Tablet

Any guesses on the age of this piece?

3,100 - 2,900 B.C.

So pretty ancient - this one’s on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in America

Any idea what it details?

It’s administrative!

Specifically cataloguing malt and barley.

Ancient Babylon used these and its considered one of the very first (possibly even the first) systems of writing.

They made use of both the chiselled images as well as depth

It’s a proper system of writing with rules that’s been decoded.

How about this?

Wax Diptych or Wax Tablet - a writing tablet

The OG iPad :P

Any guesses on age?

2nd Century (between 100 & 200 AD)

What’s written on it?

… Homework :P

Specifically it’s a school exercise book detailing the activities students would engage with

It’s on display at the British Library

So...

From the very beginning, writing and technology were friends.

Without technology, we wouldn’t have writing:

Tools to scratch surfaces

Tools to make ink

Clay and wax

Stone masoned for writing on

Etc., etc.,

There’s a new ‘pressure’ for writers to engage with technology in their practice but we’ve never stopped doing that.

There’s just more tech now :P

Lets jump forward again:

What have we here?

Burmese tattooing implements - sort of a tattooing needle

Age?

19th Century (1800 - 1900) so not that old really - also at the British library

Show’s the kind of materials we used for writing

In this case - skin which continues to this day.

It was a very ancient practice and again shows technology and writing coming together.

How about this:

Any ideas?

A printing press, not unlike the one used by Gutenberg to help mass produce the bible.

This was a very elaborate process

Took a lot of time to inlay all the letters in the correct order

But with technology came accessibility

Writing used to be something for the very wealthy and the very educated

It was outside most people’s accessibility

This was done by monks (you might’ve heard that one before)

They acted as scholars/scribes

And books were very expensive

They were made with gold leaf

And used expensive pigments like lapis lazuli

Some of these ancient books are still around!

^ A Gutenberg Bible

A real object of luxury right?

That’s why it took so long, very hard to do ever with the machine

But it helped really revolutionise writing and making it more accessible

Interestingly we have the bible to thank for a mini-revolution in writing and its distribution

Any guesses on the date?

1455!

In China as well:

This is a printed Chinese text (available in the British Library)

Guess the age?

1835 :D

If you have a close look at the ink border and see the tiny holes - that indicates its been within a printing machine and in turn been printed.

Beautifully done through technology - though this is an example of something other than the Gutenberg Press.

Getting there...

So even up till those beautiful Chinese-style pieces this was still (overall) a very controlled media

Controlled by people who...

Had a lot of money

And separated from from ‘everyday’ or ‘lay’ people.

A lot of whom couldn’t read/write

But down the line - technology comes:

And we’re back to the idea of ‘letter by letter’ just like the Gutenberg Press :D

So now it’s easier for something to be mass-produced and the relationship between published material and the creation of the published material shrinks alongside ease of distribution

Now it’s much easier for people to create and disseminate their work

This led to a rise in independent publishers, Alt. (Alternative) publishers and small presses or magazines.

Is this one familiar?

Not quite the Apple Macs you’re used to, huh?

Any idea when this bad-boy was made?

1983!

Pretty massive keyboard and a less than petty green display but this was a personal computer

Designed to be used by the individual - not taking up a whole room like older computers did

With computers we really start to see the ‘shrink’ in the relationship between writing and publishing as computers and the internet made more spaces for people to host written work.

Completely unrecognisable compared to say… 200 years ago.

And the internet allows us to published much faster

But, the internet had some growing to do too...

Back in the day, internet forum and discussion spaces looked a little bit more like this

(Not quite Reddit huh?)

But some of the internet does still look like this…

i.e., Usernames, pictures, metadata on display

So a lot of it continues successfully up till now.

We still use this method of discussion, anyone here write/read on forums?

You all do, or you will all have done by the end of this module.

So the relationship between writing and technology has always always been related.

Without the Gutenberg Press we don’t likely wouldn’t have the internet.

It’s not that the use of technology is being ‘imposed’ more on writers in recent decades

It’s that there’s so much more technology out there that can help you create your works and (perhaps the core of all writing) help you share them

It’s never been easier to get your writing out there for people to see.

Regardless of which technology you use.

Even if you’re a traditional novelist secluded in your wood cabin

You’ll be using a pen

Or a typewriter

Or a computer

And you’d need to use email to contact your publisher :P

So, have a wee refection on that :P

Defining the Post-Digital

Nicholas Negroponte (1998)

“Now that we’re in that future, of course, plastics are no big deal. Is digital destined for the same banality? Certainly. Its literal form, the technology, is already beginning to be taken for granted, and its connotation will become tomorrow’s commercial and cultural compost for new ideas. Like air and drinking water, being digital will be noticed only by its absence, not its presence."

So, when the internet first came around, it seemed like something of a fad

Now, it’s assumed everyone knows how to use it

Perhaps even that you need too use it...

Commercial transactions - credit/debit cards (covid affected this a lot)

Banking - Mobile/Internet Banking

General Communication

Are their friends you wouldn’t have if you didn’t have the internet?

In the western world, certainly, you’re expected to have a strong love of digital literacy.

Negroponte means this - if we lost the internet, how much else would we lose?

Kim Cascone (A definition)

“Post-Digital" because the revolutionary period of the digital information age has surely passed. The tendrils of digital technology have in some way touched everyone. With electronic commerce now a natural part of the business fabric of the Western world and Hollywood cranking out digital fluff by the gigabyte, the medium of digital technology holds less fascination for composers in and of itself.”

(Cascone, K. 2000. The Aesthetics of Failure: Post-Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music, in Computer Music Journal, 24:4, 2000, 12–18)

The ‘revolutionary period’ = the early 2000’s

So the digital is no longer exciting, it’s no longer new for people looking to create ‘new things.

Enter the 2010's

The digital is already something that we took for granted, so:

“The analog media that are newly being embraced are those that are the most tangible and most easily self-makeable.”

(Cramer, Florian. “Post-Digital Writing”, Electronic Book Review, December 12, 2012)

There’s a desire then for the harkening back to a technology that feels ‘new’ because it’s not been used before, it has a resurgence -

My sister bought a polaroid because she felt more of a thrill printing pictures and putting them in scrapbooks rather than having a digital album on her phone.

A lot of people started using cassette tapes as well - it felt rebellious to go back to analogue since it wasn’t the ‘done’ thing - Hollywood used this too (GoTG)

Upon the release of GoTG, Marvel released the ‘AWESOME MIX’ as a cassette tape.

So not only are people harkening back to digital things but to the most ‘easily makable’ digital things, e.g., cassettes are easier too make than CDs.

So is an actual film reel (easier to manipulate over say… CGI skills) and both have that layer of physicality, the manual process of ‘doing’.

Enter the Web 2.0

The internet has these huge powers - Google/Facebook/Amazon - they have the range of the world

Apple - Itunes revolutionised podcasting, brought it into the mainstream

Writers didn’t want to make content that just fell into the hands of these ’monolithical’ powers

Hence the surge in the ‘self-made’ content

Which in turn brought us back to the internet

These writers, these creators didn’t ‘shun’ the internet, but the desire to self-make had really taken root.

And, with time, the ability to self-make on the internet cajoled them in and many stayed

e.g, who here has:

Made a gif?

Made a meme?

Made a podcast?

Made a YouTube video?

Made on a blog?

Etc., etc.,

Accessibility is key. - Plus it’s pretty fun learning how to make something :D

So, the writers move into self-publishing

Zines are a great example!

Zines ‘reflect the digital due to its absence’ (Remember Negroponte?)

They are very very VERY non-digital

But, exist because of the digital

They could made through accessible online programmes (Abode/Photoshop/GIMP/Canva/Etc.,)

Then, they were printed and easily distributed in a physical form

Or in some cases uploaded to the internet :P

So, what is the post-digital?

“A contemporary disenchantment with digital information systems and media gadgets, or a period in which our fascination with these systems and gadgets has become historical.” (Cramer, 2015 p:13)

The movement of ‘self-making’ has in turn become mainstream - and now people aren’t enthralled with it as a new method of creation.

Making things digitally is no longer amazing to do because of what it is - it’s not just become out default.

This also happened with the arts and crafts revolution of the 19th Century.

So it’s almost inevitable… a little sad, hmm?

So ‘Post-Digital’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘after digital’ but it’s more like how we use the term ‘Post-Punk’

The digital is not ‘gone’ but rather it’s experiencing a new mutation (much like how post punk was an ongoing mutation from the raw simplicity of traditional punk music)

The state of affairs after the initial upheaval.

“A media aesthetics that rejects digital high-tech and high-fidelity cleanness” (Cramer, 2015 p:16)

We aren’t looking for perfection - but rather practice that shows the cracks of the process, that sits in that ‘in-between’ space.

Contradictions... (Cramer, 2015)

Rejection of digital high-end vs digital as low quality

Quality doesn’t mean much, it’s about the content crafted within the process.

Glitch aesthetics

Embraces form (self-making) and is aware of its flaws

Embrace of form and resistance to it

Disenchantment and skepticism part and also not part of it

You are disenchanted and a little fed up with the internet but also looking to see all the fun things you can still make in it

Uncomfortable with technology, but technology not perceived as disruptive

Technology is not ‘new’ but some still try and avoid it or go out of their way to MAKE it disruptive

Lo-fi imperfections are embraced but rejection of formulaic aesthetics

People want it to look ‘retro’ and ‘messy’ but then act as it they didn’t intend for it to appear that way…

New media approaches to using old media

But it’s still media, they’re still using technology.

The self-run alternative space of the internet versus the corporate, monolithic nature of the internet

BUT the ‘self-run’ still tended to be hosted by the big companies of the internet

Sooooo a final definition

“Messy state of media, art and design after their digitization” (Cramer, 2015 p:19)

Really embracing the ‘learn as you go’

e.g., Podcasts are really easy to make and you can certainly up-skill them as you go and learn more!

Here’s a picture that, for me, helps sum up the Post-Digital

Week 2: Brand Storytelling and the Content Writer’s Job

Lecture Content

Content Writing

Ever heard the phrase ‘Content is King’?

Stories are VERY important and highly valued in a professional context within creative industries

The market itself knows their importance

Knowing how to produce good content that reaches its intended audience is a very powerful skill

So that’s a smart place to think about developing yourself - professionally as a writer.

But, it’s very hard to get started as a writer

Hence there often being small schemes/opportunities to help you out

Like the BBC Writers room

Or FalWriting :D

Schemes like that are there to help support you, help you build your skills

Because industry knows you’ll be needed.

So even now it’s worth persevering.

There are opportunities out there.

Companies across the world recognise the value of great writing skills

This is reflected on job role descriptions

Agencies are hiring creative teams

You’ll often work with graphic designers, illustrators etc.

You might even do that in your 3rd year with the Collaboration module :D

There’s room for bilingual writers

And this can be really exciting

I saw a lot of these in the Games Industry

How else are they going to localise their work?

Strategy, narrative, storytelling are now buzz words in the job market for writers

^Useful for CVs and job interviews never underestimate the power of a buzz word.

Markets in and outside the UK are open for entrepreneurship

Some role examples:

And now more than ever location doesn’t lock you in

It’s never been easier to work remotely.

And they recognise problem solving skills and critical thinking.

So this is why we challenge you with assessed briefs that often involve handling and writing with critical content

Some example roles you might go into:

A lot of writers do more than one of these at once

E.g., they’ll edit work for companies while working on their novel.

I’ve worked as a Brand Storyteller/Content Creator for Gwynedd Counsel when I was studying at Uni.

But there’s LOADS of different ways to use your skills.

And often you can learn a lot on the job - e.g., audio editing

The little I know I learned when doing an assignment for my BA

Content Vs. Copywriting

Brand Storytelling

Brand Storytelling - How we see creative writing at work in the world around us, all the time!

How people become aware of the power of creative writers, see them in action

It’s a powerful space for creative writers.

A lot of brands are trying to come at their audience in a new way now - to be on their level and interact with them through it:

Apple:

^Steve Jobs was a good brand storyteller (not just with himself and his turtlenecks)

Apple - You are a creative genius who needs ‘This’

iPad Air:

It’s very clean, all straight lines and led the way for other devices

E.g., several other tablet brands attempt to emulate Apple’s design

Look at the words

Powerful

Colourful

They’re showing off the colours - again a common thing for apple.

Wonderful

The ‘ful’ is a powerful adjective to describe the product and is indicative of Apple

It’s very short, minimalist, clear - the story in three words

Powerful & Colourful - infers the technical information

Though pay attention to the ‘Call to Action’

Any idea what that term means?

It’s where we try and send people/what action we want them to perform after they’ve engaged with the content - i.e.,

Major call to action - BUY

So the price point is right there, most people already know because they’re such a huge brand.

Pretty successful, very simply - almost Hemingway-esque in their presentation

Minor call to action - ‘Learn More’

Innocent:

Brance for juices & drinks

Boasts the fact that it has no preservatives, all fruits and veggies so they're....

Innocent :D

“I haven’t done anything wrong - I’m innocent” - the staple phrase

Immediately stating their brand promise.

Again look at the choices in the wording and the style

Font:

Rounded edges, soft almost hand-drawn (imperfectly) in the text bubbles

Logo:

Again - hand-drawn, pretty cute and angelic - pure innocent

Language:

We - a company, a group, a team

‘Little drinks’ - again cute

Big Dreams - who doesn’t love a good dream

Money to charity - giving important information on their brand values

Mother Nature - again, natural

Order of information

What they do

What they want to do

And they’re ambitious here - “If not before”

What they’re actually doing

Anything else they could add?

Bear in mind internet consumers are often a little bit savvy - what else is innocent/good for nature?

Are the bottles recyclable? - All the important info.

Especially when discussing nature and being carbon neutral.

This tiny paragraph...

I promise it took the content writers MANY hours

It’s successful, it says enough

Content like this is the sort of thing you might want to make?

If so, maybe consider jumping into flash fiction - do a lot with a little :D

Sea Salt:

These are a Cornish brand, and built a lot of their story around Cornwall despite being available world wide.

But look at how we access the article...

Home - Our Cornwall - Behind the scenes -

They’re taking you away from the product but they’re telling you a story - that can often add value

I.e., you know the journey your product has been through to get to you

You know the way it was created

Also note the layout

A nice flat layout - very screen friendly for laptops/computers /phones/tablets

And the content

They’re showing you the process - the physical elements of Cornwall that went into shaping their clothes - in this case, stones.

From the rock to the fabric, to the colour etc., - it’s like you’re in the designers house.

So when we talk about ‘Brand Storytelling’ it’s not just selling things but many different roles. Like here, they’re creating content that supports a brand - makes them engaging and interesting.

And some of it’s very simple - look at the title - The Constants and Constrasts of Cornish Stone

CCC - don’t underestimate simple writing techniques

Into the Autumn - So this is specific to the season, it’s a dynamic sight that is constantly upating

It almost sounds like you’re about to have a lifestyle lesson - I thought it was interesting :D

Nike:

Very strong in brand storytelling - Anyone tell me Nike’s famous saying?

What other gif were you expecting? :P

Nike Air Jordans

They have a whole page on their website

The writing here is designed to provide value - for a professional context here but it can be the same for your personal content

i.e., your writer’s process

How you promote your book

How you promote yourself

Have you ever seen anything like that from other writers/creators?

Air Jordans

^Up top is the man himself as the logo.

No words needed - the man is enough

Interesting visual brand storytelling

All the headings are important - but we’re focusing on the Social and Community Impact here

REAL TALK EPISODE 2: BLACK WOMEN BUILDING

About the history of black women and their entrepreneurships

And a product of Nike too

Professionally produced

And very contemporary - dipping into the Black Lives Matter Movement

So it’s a brand that found other elements to enhance itself

As a creative writer - always be thinking about that.

E.g., - you’re given the role of writing a press release for a company (big or small)

A common job

But think - how else could you tell the story of this product? Of this brand? And to who?

Maybe a podcast? An ongoing social media story? Etc.,

This is where the role of the Post-Digital, Multimodel Writer comes into play

What’s the best way of getting the story out there with the tools you have available to you.

Interesting because they didn’t need to do this to sell you a pair of shoes

Air Jordans are a well known and respect brand

But they’re using their platform to discuss this subject

Positives and negatives yes, but it’s important to see how content writers can tackle far more than just ‘the product’ in their role.

Definitions:

Bernadette Jiwa

“A brand story is more than a narrative. The story goes beyond the copy on your website, the text in a brochure, or the presentation used to pitch to investors. Your story isn’t just what you tell people. It’s what they believe about you based on the signals your brand sends. The story is a complete picture made up of facts, feelings, and interpretations, which means that part of your story isn’t even told by you.”

(Bernadette Jiwa, 2013)

Pitch to investors - odds are whatever creative industry you end up in you’ll be involved to a higher or lesser degree in a pitch

(This is why we use it as an assessment so often)

The signals your brand sends - incredibly important

Not only the story you tell but how its taken in - sometimes that can be pretty bad...

Be careful who you piss off is the lesson there :P

OR Gerald Ratner

Former CEO of the major British jewellery company Ratners Group

Was giving a speech in 1991 and said...

We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap."

The company’s value plummeted by 500 million and it almost completely collapsed.

Sooooooo choose your words carefully.

The story is a complete picture made up of facts, feelings, and interpretations

So part of the story is not told by you.

It goes into the consumer space

Shreesh Shankar

“Brand storytelling is talking about the values of your company through a narrative that creates an emotion your audience shares.”

(Shreesh Shankar, 2019)

Shares is the keyword here - You’re not telling your readers/audience how to feel, you’re finding a connection between you and them.

A lot of our fiction writing has to do that:

You’re writing about experiences and feelings and making your readers go ’OMG I get it!’

Because they can share in the experience

^A very simple, visual example - that feeling of having an idea when you least expect it :D

Things to consider: (Shankar, 2019)

What makes you unique?

What gap is being filled?

What’s happening here that’s not happening elsewhere?

What is your mission?

What does this brand stand for?

How can you effectively communicate that?

How are you contributing to the benefit of the world?

Very important for brands now

Even coffee shops were reacting to things like the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter

You may not respond to every smaller thing - but large scale events you’ll be expected to by your audience/readership/consumer base

What is the origin myth of the brand?

Straight up creative writing:

Inciting incident

Origin story - you need to know it.

How is the brand or product making a different and to whom?

Even if this is a seemly small contribution it’ll do something

e.g., ‘we make pillows’ - why could that be important?

What is/are the key emotions you want people to experience when they use your product/brand?

Or read your book? Or engage with your project

Apple - they want you to have what you need, feel powerful, creative and satisfied.

Good Brand Storytelling:

Actively involves its audience

Have an ear to the ground - figure out what your audience want

Knows the answers to the main questions about the brand

E.g., - you’re a content writer for Apple, someone asks you ‘what does Apple do?’ You’ll have an immediate answer.

Even if it’s really ‘brandy’ :P

Rethinks the format and makes it part of the message and main claim

Don’t lock yourself into a form - e.g., a brochure may not always be the best way for a university to advertise itself

Maybe a blog post isn’t the best for you

Is a listicle the smartest choice?

Don’t always assume you have to use the default

“Can I do this through a game? Podcast? Video?”

Anticipates questions and provides answers

Pop expected answers to FAQs into the content - university module descriptors need to do this :D

Is always evolving

You don’t stick with one, you keep asking, you add new things, you build and build and build.

An example from the novelist - cause they have to do this too :P

Luke Kennard The Answer to Everything

Gives you the important info - release date and publisher

And a fun, engaging little side note ‘May not contain answers to anything’

^Brand storytelling, given me the info I need and you made me laugh :D

Creative Brief

We’re starting nice and easy:

Your Theme:

Writers and Hope

Your Forms:

Blog Post

Micro-Review

Listicle

Week 3: Forests and Forests of Evergreen Content

Lecture Content

Quick Reminders:

(Firstly, it’s good to refresh ourselves) but these points have some bearing on Evergreen Content :D

The Post-Digital

“a contemporary disenchantment with digital information systems and media gadgets, or a period in which our fascination with these systems and gadgets has become historical” (Cramer 2015 p:13)

Creative post-digital practice works within these spaces and disenchantment to produce valuable content.

So none of this surprises us

We expected technology to remain important, it’s not a shock

“messy state of media, art and design after their digitization”(Cramer 2015 p:19)

Post-digital age creative writing mixes forms to add value, comfortably engages with digital writing and expands the practice of writing by making content of any kind.

We think about the digital in a different way than we did when it first formed

We need to understand technology is now embedded in our practice

So how can we utilise it creatively?

And - how can we experiment with it?

Brand Storytelling

What is it? And how does it have a bearing on Evergreen content?

“Using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers.” (Marketing Insider, 2020)

Brand storytelling brings together a set of literary devices and rules about their uses to define, design and deploy the way a brand communicates.

Literary Devices - any suggestions?

Characters

Narrative

Environmental Storytelling

Affective Experiences

Empathy

Adjectives

Grammer

And many more!

The voice of a brand will be developed in connection with its values – which are shared by the user/consumer – and from these, all content is made.

Remember, some of this the brand team doesn’t control:

i.e., what do the audience, what do YOU take away from the story?

And this ‘noise’ made can be good or bad - plus you can often try and angle it in such a way as to push your readers/audience towards one conclusion

From last week, can you think about any brands you engage with?

Can you think why you continue to engage with them?

Here’s one for me: Frogwares

Game developer based in Ukraine & Ireland

Enjoyed previous games they’ve released

And read their ongoing journey on kickstarter - working to create content in a warzone.

Content Writers

A content writer creates content to educate or entertain readers. This can take form in a variety of ways including:

Web content

Long and short form pieces

Videos (script)

Social media posts (stories, tweets, posts)

Podcasts

^Notice you’ll likely be engaging in ALL of these over the course of the module; so consider yourselves content writers.

And that reiterates the power and use of the multimodal writer - a content writer who’s locked into one writing form doesn’t appear as attractive to businesses/clients.

Creative writing in the professional space

This content might contribute to sales/views/more users, but that is not its primary purpose.

The focus instead is valuable content over anything else.

Evergreen Content

This is often produced by Content Writers (see the segue now? :P)

Evergreen Content - not only the newest content is the most relevant or successful

This is a very successful way of creating content in the digital world.

Think back…

Remember a long-form piece of digital content which you have read more than once, still think of and might have suggested or shared for others to read.

These could be articles you go back and reread, maybe a blog you continually return to or a YouTube/video creator.

Here’s some examples for me:

Snow Fall The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek by John Branch

^An amazing example of multimodal, long-form, narrative journalism

How to Create a Video Game World by E.M Walsh

RPG Maker MV Beginner Tutorials by SomeRanDev

Twine Cookbook by:

• @videlais (Dan Cox)

• @klembot (Chris Klimas)

• @tmedwards (Thomas Michael Edwards)

• @greyelf (David Tarrant)

• @webbedspace (Leon Arnott)

• @shawngraham (Shawn Graham)

• @Akjosch (Akjosch)

• @ChapelR (Chapel)

• G.C. "Grim" Baccaris

• @evelynmitchell (Evelyn Mitchell)

• @JamesSkemp (James Skemp)

And even a piece of Evergreen content I’ve written:

An Architects Guide To Essay Planning

Here’s a definition:

“Evergreen content is SEO content that is continually relevant and stays fresh for readers.” (Marrs, 2020)

So this is content that not only your readers will return to, but so will you as a creator

Updating & improving it

Ever noticed that some blog pieces have both a publication and an edit date?

Here’s an example

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of optimising digital content so people can find it via search engines like Google. (Gabbert, 2020)

We’ll tackle this a little more in week 7

What are the characteristics?

Remember can be anything from a blog post to a recipe to a video to a review, it’s not form-locked, it can be:

Lists

Top Tips

Instructional “How To” Tutorials

Encyclopedia-esque Entries

Product Reviews

Interviews

Characteristics: (Marrs, 2020)

Sustainable and lasting

Something you can go back and update

Relevant past it’s publication

Written in 2018? - Still relevant now.

Not seasonal

More long standing - not like the Sea Salt brand storytelling

Not concerned with trends

Not a knee-jerk response to a trend, it’s more elaborate, usually lengthier than that

Always interesting*

*For your readers

Re-visitable

Makes them want to come back and read it again - continual traffic and engagement

Editing Workshop

Jump into co-ops for the first 15/20mins

Discuss feedback, establish what you need to do during this time, etc.,

Get those drafts finished, digital and polished

Nominate your top 2 - 3 pieces from the co-op and prepare them for publication.

Week 4: Reading Week

Week 5: Twine Workshop

Here’s your brief:

Twin was released back in 2009 and is still one of the most accessible pieces of interactive writing software available online today. The programme has been used to make in-depth stories, games with visuals and inventories and was a key tool in the development of the interactive Netflix film Bandersnatch. This programme was created and developed within the digital space as an experimental way to tell branching narratives. So, why not pop on your experimental hat and see what stories you can use the programme to tell!

Respond to the theme of Experimentation and the Unexpected

Let’s work through Twine together:

Access:

https://twinery.org/

You can download this for your computer or work in the browser

Both are fine, pick whichever you prefer :D

Once you have twine open, click the NEW button, give your story a name and VIOLA!

For this classes tutorial, I’ll be walking you through how to use the basics of twine

You can also make use of LYLE’S TWINE BASICS to guide you through twine or a multitude of YouTube video sources!

Example Story

^Right click on this bad boy and hit the ‘save link as’ option to download the file to your computer.

From there, you can import the piece into your twine browser and see how its been made

Alternatively, if you just click on the file, it’ll open up in a new tab and play for you.

This way you can see what it looks like from both a creator and a reader point of view.

IMPORTANT: How to save you story

On the menu bar at the top go to ‘Build'

Then select ‘Publish to File’ from the options below

This downloads a HTML file for your twine game to your computer.

If you upload this to the weekly forum, your classmates can download it, double-click it and have it open to read on their computers too!

Week 6: The Alt.Lit Movement

Lecture - Alt. Lit

We’ve started working with briefs, prompts and forms to help prep with portfolio

Designed to get you thinking for your end of study block portfolio

Show you the breadth of ideas out there

How you can do an awful lot with an awful little

And that it's okay to not be sure or push yourself out of your comfort mode/genre

Now, we're jumping to alt.lit movement

Alt.Lit - Alternative Literature

Inspired by the possibilities of the internet

Remediates a lot of experiments with language & format that's come before

Internet Poetry

Wanting to test what the internet & creative writing can do together.

Alt.Lit Definition

In a post in the NY Times back in 2014 Kenneth Kasmith defines the old scene movement this way:

"An online writing community that emerged in 2011 and harnesses the casual affect and jagged stylistics of social media as the basis of their work- poems, stories, novels, tweets and status updates." (Goldsmith, 2014)

The form itself changes from just the forms we know as 'literature'

We start to see the creative potential in tweets & status updates, e.g. using social media

Characteristics of Alt.Lit

Direct Speech

Often sounds as though someone's talking to you

Addresses you directly & makes a more personal connection

Expressions of aching desire

Some of the examples on the LS show this, e.g. one poet reaching out to heaven and expressing his emotions.

Wide-eyed Sincerity

We talked earlier about leaving irony behind to use sincerity as a marketing/content tool

Think back to Wk.3 & even Wk.5

Providing honest, sincere and often boundary pushing content

Bringing everything to the table but in a polished & more 'socially acceptable' way

Alt.Lit is brutally sincere to the point where it can generate some negative reactions in an audience

But they don't care about that

That'll put that sincerity wherever they eant

Usually written in Internet vernacular

Very often exclusively in lower case, not always but often.

Punctuation is inverted, if it's used at all

Can expect to see typos and accept them as part of the work

Embraces the 'fast writing' of the internet

The aesthetic of internet speech

Ever been typing something so quickly you misspell a word?

Or just used 'K' or 'X' to signify an enter complex meaning?

Emo-Heavy, Homespun Language

This slots in well with that 'aching desire' mentioned above

Emo-Heavy

Not the fashion trend

More emotionally heavy language, as if the writer's bearing a very personal aspect of themselves

Again, can often make some listeners/readers uncomfortable but the alt.lit group don't care

Homespun language - Any ideas what that might mean?

Things like Urban Dictionary acronyms

Things we say in speech that haven't necessarily entered into written vocab

Deffo not been used in literature

Self-Published Online

Makes the most of that

Really digs into making that little part of the internet for itself

Remember all the way back to Wk.1?

The Post-Digital is full of contradictions

It embraces the power of the 'corporate' internet but also seeks out it's own alt. space

Some distinguishing elements

It leads with the speed of the internet

It's urgent

No sentiment is too small

No motion is too small

All should be expressed

But there is a sense of humour behind it

Again the duality of writing that comes from the post-digital

So emotionally intense

But able to make it funny as well

Predecessors of Alt.Lit

This has all been happening before in literature

As 2nd years you probably know

A lot of the things we're doing now, have been done before

We're repurposing, expanding or linking back to them in our own work

Everything is connected in the fabric of texts

Dadaists

A creative group who were doing a lot of the same things the Alt.Lit group are doing now

Looking at Art as Anti-Art

The Theatre of the Absurd Play

People just say sounds as part of their monologue & their speech

Object to be destroyed by Man Ray (not the Spongebob Villain)

Also see it with the surrealists

Experimenting with form and alt.movement

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

Even as early as William Blake

That earnest and deeply showcased emotion

Acknowledging the time you're in and reacting to it

James Joyce

Ulysses

A lot of playing with language is seen in this piece

Alt.Lit doesn't endeavour to be this kind of 'high brow' award winning literature

But playing with language isn't exclusive to alt.lit it's been happening at least since the times of Joyce and likely before that

Concrete Poets

Like Attracts Like by Emmett Williams

These poets use forms and shapes, against poetry and for it

It's unclear how consciously alt.lit writers reference their 'high brow' predecessors

But Goldsmith (2014) talks about this 'punk inspired' alt. energy, almost rebellious energy to what they're doing

And that echoes across the work regardless

Even if the writers weren't intending to carry on these previous schools, they're still doing it through their energy of rebellion

Alt. Lit Now

Steve Roggenbuck (American poet)

"This is the dream for poets, to be a poet when the internet exists. Man! We got an opportunity!"

I want you to think about this in your practice

What can you do to make the most out of what's available to you already because the internet exists?

Because the post-digital has happened

We're in this strange place where we're very 'meta' about the digital but still lean into it and use for its intended purpose

One more contradiction characteristic to the post digital

Being in this place, a decade after the alt.lit started using the internet's vernacular for their creative visions

What would you want to do about that as a creator?

What impact do you want going forward?

How as a collaboration do you come together and add something to the eternal flowing river of the internet?

So, let's carry on the punk spirit!

What do you want to make with this moment? With this opportunity?

You don't have to do an alt.lit movement collab of course

But by all means acknowledge the time and place where you are and the tools you have

Make the most of the opportunity

Get people to look at this in 10yrs time and go 'wow, that's a cool way to use the internet'

Editing Workshop

Like last time, into your co-ops to discuss and workshop your pieces

Culminating in sending your chosen top 2-3 over to me for FalWriting

Week 7: Being a Hero in the Post-Digital

Hero Content

"Major Band Activity Designed to make a big splash and appeal to a mass audience with the objective that as many people as possible are exposed to it and therefor the brand." (Neon, 2018)

In Context:

Lemme ask you a question first:

Can you think of a time in a yearly calendar where a brand might choose to invest in a piece of hero content?

Have a think, and here are some examples:

Christmas!

John Lewis Christmas Advert

Christmas is a time where you'll see a lot of hero content because, people are more invested in buying things

People are also more invested in brand values

e.g. imagine a non-vegan buying something for a vegan friend and wanting to be sure the product matches their values

So they'll be more certain to ensure the brand aligns itself with what they're looking for

Also, a point of social discussion, specifically in the UK

Christmas is a global phenomenon but Christmas adverts (specifically ones like the John Lewis one) are bespoke to UK culture.

So for UK brands, Christmas is an obvious time to make that big splash and try to go viral

Super Bowl

Hopping over the pond to something distinctly American but also watched by a huge portion of the world

It's internationally known and makes a huge show

Massive sports event

Huge concert

But also the ads are where hero content comes through

One reason, it's so expensive.

A 30 second time slot during the Super Bowl is likely to be one of, if not the, most expensive time slot for an advert you can purchase

So it better be a damn good advert

A good example from this year - the first trailer for Deadpool 3 (in itself a piece of hero content :P)

Another, the competition

There will be lots of adverts on during this time, likely shorter ones

You're going up against several other brands but also some of the most talented creative co-ops working

So you have to work incredibly hard to stand out, they have to be memorable

Finally, award winning

Usually the Super Bowl adverts are the kind of hero content that ends in awards.*

*In the advertising community

Easter & Valentines

Hero Content might look for seasonality to make their big splash

Valentines and Easter aren't usually too far apart (about a month, month and a half)

Both involve chocolate and gifts being given to loved ones

Soooooo

They're willing to invest in a piece of hero content to hammer both areas of the season in one go

This is another reason you'll often see retail move from one holiday to another so early

More time for the hero content of the upcoming holiday to be viewed

Did you think of any others? Any specific pieces of hero content?

In Practice

Does it always have to be a video/advert?

No. A great deal of hero content is in fact written

Have a look at some of the optional resources available this week

E.g. the NY Times articles

Women in Prisons

One commissioned (the article makes a point of this) to look at the of women in prisons

This piece was then discussed in series 2 of Netflix's Orange is the New Black

Bringing together NY times readers and Netflix watchers

Snowfall

Bringing together infographics, in-depth journalism, hyperlinks and primary sources to report on the tragic avalanche at Tunnel Creek

Showed the degree to which long-form journalism can engage with the specificities of computer media

Our own staff members have been through this process:

In 2016 Dr. Sherezade García Rangel (a former Falmouth staff member) was commissioned to write a piece of hero content looking at anticoagulation therapy

The goal: to raise awareness of self-care in anticoagulation therapy

Her methodology:

Collate expert opinions

Key Opinion Leaders

NHS

Charities

Patients, etc.

Review the latest literature

Contextualise self-care

This was at the forefront since the company (LumiraDx Care Solutions) were soon to release an app on self-care.

The app wasn't mentioned in the paper, but the self-care techniques Sherie helped discuss were used in the app

So it was an indirect way to discuss both topics and then launch the app

Shows the flexibility of writers

E.g., Sherezade as another example:

Podcaster

Short story writer

Novel writer

Academic article

Hero content writer

The anticoagulation piece went out to nearly 100,000 people on its first day

That's one heck of a thing to have written on your CV

Weekly Brief:

Producing your own Hero Content

Week 8: Post-Digital Content Strategies

A note:

So far we've practiced at the forms and strategies of working in the post-digial

Now we're going to look at how the post-digital forms content stratgies for content teams

This includes writers at the centre.

These content strategies aren't working against one another, they're just different approaches you can take.

Both the 3H Pyramid & Content Clusters are there to help you decide how to organise your content that you're producing

They work best together rather than considering each in isolation

Topic Clusters look at the architecture of a website, the 3H Pyramid focuses more on the content you're producing and where it fits within the reach of the website.

Just different ways of approaching the structure of the content and the approach you take

Not too different from Co-ops! :D

The 3 H Strategy

One of the more stable marketing strategies out there but some think it's outdated

It has a function and it does work

A lot of Evergreen content sits within this strategy

3H's

Hygiene

Found through Search Engines

Going to have the key words in place that'll hopefully boost you up on google's radar

Likely to be one of the first times a person (reader/audience/etc.) interacts with your brand so need to get those values across

Sometimes not even exactly what a person is searching for but just looks interesting

Produced to pull in that traffic

Makes use of several easily sharable forms such as:

Blogs

Blogs are still one of the strongest forms of short hygiene content.

They can be produced quickly and shared through several platforms, not just their own, and appear polished and legible

Social Media

Adverts you see when scrolling through facebook, twitter, tumblr, pinterest, instagram, etc.

Designed to get you to stop, turn your head, engage and remain engaged enough to step into the brand

The majority of your content

You're always going to be looking to pull in more foot-traffic

Whether you're working as a content writer for a larger company or trying to promote your own content, you should never stop building and strengthening that frame to first pull people in

Hub

We've actually tackled a lot of hub content (and hygiene content) before, think back to Wk.3 for this one!

The all powerful evergreen content

Evergreen, showcases brand values

The kind of content people will keep coming back to:

FAQ's, Manifestos, 'How to' guides, tutorials, etc.

This is where you'll get consistent foot traffic and a reliable audience/readership

So use it to showcase the brand's values, remember if you're employed in that role you've got to keep both the readership and the brand values at the forefront of your writing

Produced regularly

Remember, hygiene is the frame, it draws people to you, but a steady stream of hub content is what keeps them around

Continual production keeps people returning to see updates, expansions, new additions or even completely new Evergreen content.

Plus as a reader seeing steady, tireless production is very encouraging to continue engaging.

Addresses issues the cares about

You've got them, now endeavour to keep them

Hone in on their concerns, the brand values, i.e. a company specialising in ethically sourced produce may produce an evergreen blog post about companies/charities focusing on that

People will read it since by visiting the sight they've shown care for that issue.

Keeps them engaged

The main focus of that Evergreen content, keeping people coming back, not just single time

Hero

A.K.A What you tackled last week :P

Major Event and/or Campaign

Something that's worked towards for a long time, that really boost the brand or, at least, has the potential to

Often produced in the hopes of going viral

Produced rarely

It's expensive and lengthy

Aims to reach a wider audience

It's a major event

Attendance to a trade show

Production of a book

Something major

Entry point to the business/brand

If reaching a wide, new audience then people may be interacting with it for the first time

It's bold, daring, innovative, inventive, imaginative

Maybe even a little bit weird

Topic Clusters

The way you structure and produce your content for search engines to read it better and position you higher up in the search pages

This has been used for a few years but several companies/content writers are still struggling with it

It always on companies/brands to highlight the topics they want their audience to see and elevate them to a position of authority so readers will find them more easily

It lets you make the most of what you have

Gets the connection between you, the producer of the content, and the reader/viewer of the content to become stronger since you're increasing the value of the content you provide

The ‘value’ in this case being the value your potential reader gives to your work.

i.e., - do you think the entry you find on the first page of your google search is more valuable then one you find on the 5th page?

So how does it function?

Like this!

You have a core topic ^ Cakes and Bakes and several subtopics that are linked to in that page

Those subtopics also link back and contain the long-form content on those topics

The Pillar Page may grow with time as you add more topics to it

A new recommendation (based on recent research)

There should be links between the subtopics too, as many as applicable

This makes the connection stronger in the eyes of the search engine

Let’s have a look at Falmouth’s Website…

What is a Content Cluster?

A group of thematically linked subtopics written in long form usually

Links of the pillar page will lead here

E.g., Falmouth’s main website doesn’t tell you much - but then you click on ‘Apply’ and get that long form information.

And each page in cluster links back to the pillar

(And other related sections )

A website isn’t too dissimilar to a twine game in that regard, huh? :P

All these inter-links will help google and any other search engine, come to realise there is a semantic narrative connection between all this content

So you're placed as the person who knows about 'Cakes and Bakes'

Because of all these content clusters focusing on the same key topic, bringing people to your webpage

Once it gets going it’s like a snowball rolling down a hill

This puts you on the top of the search engine and you're more easily found

That's the economy of search - it saves time by sending you to the most influential site it thinks will answer your question

Sphere of influence

If you're recognised as a trusted authority on a topic, Google with organically send people to you, without you needing to pay

This is good cause I like not spending money…

Or, if you do choose to pay, the results will be a great deal improved

So, important to do regardless of you having the budget for it

You, the creator, get your content seen and the reader/audience get the content they want

Comes back again to making the most of what you have

In a highly specific niche, you may be the top 5 in a search engine result thanks to those interlinks boosting your influence

It’s not a million miles off getting your book on the display in the book shop, or on the front page of Amazon’s online bookstore

Since not only does your pillar page get bumped, but ALL the interlinked pages do

So, every part of your website/blog improves when one does

This is great if someone asks you to write some content for their business/blog since you can help them on their way to improvement

And for you as independent authors wanting more and more people to find your content.

Overall it's better from a design point of view and a better experience for the reader/audience which will remain your main focus.

Sooooooo everybody wins!

Wrap up

So, if you're a writer with a website think about how you can create a cluster, help bring in page views, more chance for monitisation

And as a content writer you're more able to bring successful content to the people who may hire you

Editing Workshop

Hop into co-ops to workshop those more polished drafts

Individual time to workshop your own pieces/help others with theirs.

Week 9: Collabs & Prompt Frames

Easter Break

Week 10: The Immersive and Playable Story

VR Experiences

Brief History of VR

Soooooo how far back do you think VR academics have looked when studying this kind of story?

The eighteenth century (1700’s)!

With the creation of the Panorama by Robert Barker

Barker was an Irish painter - lived in Edinburgh

And used the city as the subject of the first ‘full circle’ panorama.

But what is a Panorama?

Any ideas? - And don’t say the BBC show :P

Here’s an academic definition:

A panorama picture of the scene is created as a means to capture most of the 3D redundancy of a scene. To this end multiple views are fused in a single panorama picture characterised by a larger viewing angle embracing all the available multiple views. (Farid, Lucenteforte & Grangetto, 2015 Pg.1)

And a non-academic one:

An unbroken view of the whole region surrounding an observer.

E.g.,

We can take these kinds of images with smartphones these days… But they can still mess up-

Barker’s panorama of Edinburgh was different though, in that it was curved

You can get a sense of the curvature here, as well as the size. It was estimated to be about 137 square meters.

From end to end it looked more like this:

^So imagine that, but several meter’s high and curving around you.

And it caused a lot of interest at the time, one paper had this to say:

“The judicious observe that Mr. Barker’s improvement in painting, which is his exhibition of Edinburgh in the Haymarket explains, must prove particularly interesting to their Majesties, the Heir Apparent, and several of the Royal Family, who rarely go abroad. To them views of distant countries will be brought not like descriptions from the pen of the traveller, geographer, or poet, which, while they inform, leave an anxious wish, a natural desire to behold the scene ungratified.”

“This artist brings the wished for scene before them, one entire uninterrupted circle, placing them in the centre, where they can see the same as those who travel; they can perfectly understand and be gratified with a thorough knowledge of the local situation of whatever country they desire, and having seen it personally, they can retain it perfectly in idea, the same as nature could impress…”

(Times, (London), 1789)

But how does this link to VR?

Well, two things:

No:1 There’s always been a hyper around VR as being ‘akin to lived experiences’

i.e., “The same that nature could impress”

No:2 It’s always been something of a niche market/industry that only been available to a rich/wealthy ‘elite'

i.e., “Their Majesties, the Heir Apparent, and several of the Royal Family”

So, has anything changed?

VR is still pretty niche and expensive but we’ve come a long way since the 18th Century

A century later Charles Wheatstone invented the Stereoscope

This was a device that allowed for two images to viewed at the same time as one full 3D picture:

^We also have a monosoape that was designed a little like a spyglass to view one 2D image

Mono & Stereo - like the audio experiences

Mono - sound from a single audio source

Stereo - sound from multiple sources (i.e., left & right)

Pygmalion’s Spectacles

In 1935 now hits the public mindset with a short fiction piece called Pygmalion’s Spectacles

Written Stanley Grauman Weinbaum it’s a short piece in which a professor creates a film so vivid, so real, that it can only be viewed properly through a specially crafted pair of spectacles.

And in this story the professor laments…

“I bring it here to sell to Westmans, the camera people, and what do they say? It isn’t clear. Only one person cause it at a time. It’s too expensive. Fools! Fools!“ (Weinbaum, 1935)

^Tl;Dr - A viewer falls desperately in love with the heroine in the movie and is heartbroken when he realises she wasn’t real… but he gets a semi happy ending - turns out she was based on the professor’s niece :P

But why bring this up?

Up until 2014 the main discussions around VR were for its uses in two industries; one of them was video games and gaming, any idea what the other might be?

Pornography.

So several companies who invested in VR tried to put a new public & media spin into VR for ‘social good’ or Virtuous VR

But it’s interesting to think the first piece of VR fiction wasn’t about that desire to explore, see and learn about space… but about dating a virtual girl.

The Sensorama

Made by Morton Heilig in the 50’s - this was designed to let the user experience 3D colour images and audio.

Heilig also designed the first head-mounted display a few years later

^This is what we tend to associate with VR more today.

Flight Simulator

1966 we get the first flight simulator used for military practice

The military have been HUGE in the advancement of VR in using it for their training exercises

Unlike humanities researchers, the military have a LOT of money

This is still ongoing with Palmer Lucky (the inventor of Oculus, one of the more famous VR gaming headsets) left the company to explore the use of VR for military training.

The Sword of Damocles

Developed by computer-graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland and his student Bob Sproull at the University of Utah in 1968

It was given it’s name since a great deal of the machine was positioned over the user’s head :D

The Walkaround

This came about in the 70’s and was a sort of… precursor to google maps in a way.

MIT made a map of Aspen people could ‘walk around’ and experience themselves.

80s/90s

We start getting headsets with gloves attached to create ‘gesture recognition’

NASA used this technology to help with training potential astronauts.

2000's

Google makes street maps

And Palner Lucky founded Oculus and paved the way for more ‘commercially viable’ VR

Their kickstarter was HUGELY successful and showed there was a great deal of interest in VR experiences.

Facebook then buy oculus

PlayStation get involved with the PSVR

Samsung have the Samsung VR Gear that uses your phone to create VR experiences

Now head-mounted displays are the most common form we see.

Now?

Well, for the last 5+ years, every year has been dubbed ‘the year of VR’ with promises to make it common place and bring us into that ‘future space’ where it makes everything better… and has yet to happen.

There have been some amazing advancements but it’s important to be critical of them

You can now buy 360 degree view cameras to make your own VR experiences

Price-wise these can range from about £30 to many thousands.

And you don’t need expensive or complex rigging set-ups to craft these experiences either.

Traditional editing software can now be used to enhance VR

If you have the coding skills for it

Valve (a gaming company) released the first full VR AAA game in 2020

AAA meaning a large, powerhouse game company

And there’s an increase in platforms that host the content.

But, the content varies hugely - some amazingly detailed, others sickness inducing for poor quality and movement

There’s no specialised ‘grammar’ around the content like film, TV and (to a lesser extent) gaming have

Plus, as a creator, there’s a much more limited audience who’ll be able to access your work

Since the platforms VR can go onto still aren’t that many and are often behind expensive paywalls

And that’s not even counting them having to purchase the software to watch the experience in the first place.

So, it’s not going to be replacing TV/Film anytime soon, but it’s certainly an evolving platform that, even now, is all about giving us experiences we’d be unable to have otherwise.

Creative Brief

VR is, at this point, thought to have FIVE major strengths as a form.

So, you’ll be using one of these five to help you decide what impact you want your experience to have

The five are:

1: Visiting a location otherwise unlikely.

2: Emotional engagement to character through VR.

3: Making complex data with a spatial component easy to understand.

4: Uses the agency inherent to VR to tell an interactive story

5: Gets people to engage with a subject they might not normally.

On the LS there are 5 VR outline examples, one for each strength, that you can look at to help you get comfortable with what’s expected for this brief.

Remember, justification is an important aspect of this task - you’ve not just explaining your idea to us, but make clear why this VR strength really helps elevate its impact.

Week 11: Bias & Responsible Creation

The Other

Originally posed in Edward Said’s 1978 Orientalism, using the Western culture’s perspective and treatment of Eastern cultures as a case study.

Said examined cultural attitudes and assumptions about “the Other”: that which is perceived to be not like us

Leads to the Humanities research theories & fields on race, gender, sexuality, and cultural representation.

Kearney brings the concept full circle, defining the other as a contrast or incongruity with the self (or that which is represented as the self)

Strangers, gods, and monsters "remind us that we have a choice: (a) to try to understand and accommodate our experience of strangeness, or (b) to repudiate it by projecting it exclusively onto outsiders" (Kearney 2003, 4).

Science fiction, fantasy - often addresses questions of otherness in a less charged manner.

Aliens stand in for other races (e.g., Star Trek)

Monsters stand in for aspects of our selves we have rejected (Frankenstein)

Sexuality

Often represented in supernatural figures of desire (devils, vampires, succubi, etc.)

Can be represented in taboo desires: incest, homosexuality (at one time), supernumerary love (more than two lovers), sado-masochism

Representation in Narrative

Unconscious bias toward representing self as “default”.

Gender

From https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/

Race

Film: “Just 28.3 percent of characters with dialogue were from non-white racial/ethnic groups, though such groups are nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population.”

“Just 3.4 percent of film directors were female, and only 7 percent of films had a cast whose balance of race and ethnicity reflected the country's diversity. In broadcast TV, 17 percent of directors were female and 19 percent of programs were ethnically balanced.”

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/22/467665890/hollywood-has-a-major-diversity-problem-usc-study-finds

Sexuality

“Only 23 of the 125 films counted by the New York-based media advocacy group featured an LGBTQ character last year [2016], accounting for less than 20 percent of films produced…”

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/glaad-major-film-studios-lgbt-characters-1202443842/

“Canon”

Those in power choose the texts that are most “culturally relevant” to be taught in schools. In Western culture, this = white males.

For roles where gender, race, or sexuality is not crucial to plot (e.g., “shopkeeper”), the default is to create/cast them as reflections of the authorial self.

Self-fulfilling cycle: inherently biased toward those who are most “like us” (evolutionary advantage in tribalism). Favor stories with characters “like us”, and hire people to create them who are “like us”.

Default in prose writing is to describe only those traits that are different from “normal”: thus, describing only non-white skin colors.

Most Western media is dominated by white males.

British publishing industry: 90% white, 85% female

Americal publishing industry: 79% white, 78% female

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/06/uk-publishing-industry-remains-90-white-survey-finds

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/69653-why-publishing-is-so-white.html

Film studio heads: 94% white, 100% male

Film studio management: 92% white, 83% male

Film studio unit heads: 96% white, 71% male

TV network & studio heads: 96% white, 71% male

TV senior management: 93% white, 73% male

TV unit heads: 86% white, 55% male

Game developers: 76% white, 75% male

British journalism: 94% white, 55% male

https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2016/mar/24/british-journalism-diversity-white-female-male-survey

How to address as Creators?

Seek out texts from other perspectives.

Pay attention to and accept the experiences of those with alternate perspectives.

Be aware of your own inherent tendencies to reflect your (limited) perspectives in your characters.

Are your characters representative of the real world, or just you?

Have you unconsciously defaulted to a biased cultural “norm”?

Have you engaged harmful stereotypes or cultural appropriation in your characterizations?

Work to develop your characters! None of us are defined solely by any one trait, including gender, race, or sexuality.

Avoid tropes of defining your characters’ arcs solely by their experience of cultural “otherness”.

E.g., POC stories only being about racial issues.

Female characters “making it in a man’s world”.

LGBTQ characters coming out or struggling with identity.

Having these characters serving as fodder for main characters who are “default”. E.g., “white saviour”.

Don’t avoid representing other cultures out of fear of “appropriation”: treat them realistically and respectfully, particularly if you are of the group in “power”.

Colonialism/Imperialism vs. Diverse Representation

Treating “others” as exotic entertainment, children to be taught, riches to be mined, or savages to be civilized.

Treating all characters as representations of humans - do your research, and imbue your characters and creations with an understanding as complex as each individual deserves.

Accept that these issues are still ongoing - it is not an ideal world.

In an ideal world, we are all equal, and we can be “colourblind”. But we’re not in an ideal world yet, so it’s part of our job as authors and creators to both show how the world currently is and to help the world become ideal.

Module Evaluations

Editing Workshop

Hop into your co-ops and work on those VR Film pitche!

Please remember to send over the top two from each group by the end.