I can FINALLY share this publicly: Esther Lim and I will be speaking at SXSW as part of their Digital Domain track (3:30 on 3/11)! Our panel is titled, “The Rise of Co-Created Storyworld Communities,” and we’ll be joined by an IP attorney, J. Craig Williams. I’ll discuss what a shared story world is and [...]
Speaking at Digital Asset Management Conference
I’m thrilled to be joining fellow Transmedia L.A. member Kate McCallum at the upcoming Digital Asset Management conference being produced by Createasphere. Details (and a discount!) below. Createasphere’s Digital Asset Management Conference February 22-23, 2012 | The Beverly Hilton | Los Angeles, CA Exploring the management of digital assets, media assets, marketing resources, [...]
Wyrd Con 2: One LARP, Two Panels, Infinite Fun
This is a long overdue post about my adventures at Wyrd Con 2 in 2011. If any of this sounds interesting, be sure to contact Lauren Scime (lauren at witchfactory dot com) about running a LARP, organizing a workshop, or speaking on a panel at Tri Wryd this June! I had the pleasure of slipping [...]
How well does Google know you?
A quick twitter exchange this morning between me and Steve Peters prompted me to take a quick poll to see just how off-base Google is with its attempt to profile online users not logged in to Google. The anecdotal responses of some twitter friends indicated not well at all. Ages were often wrong, as were [...]
“Nightshade” and Participatory Marketing
On August 4, 2010, a post appeared on a new website, http://www.shaydoran.com, with the apt title, “Where it begins.” In the post, the blogger, Shay Doran, describes his arrival at Vail, a small mountain town in Colorado, and shares his hopes that his latest relocation will turn out better than the last few. The next [...]
One LARP, one queen, and lots of steam
or “How I spent my weekend” I spent last weekend producing a LARP experience for the Steampunk Symposium, a steampunk-themed convention held on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. My contribution ended up being a lot of narrative work and experience design, plus a minor role as an NPC (David Bainbridge of Sotheby’s). For details [...]
Fans, Funds, and Value Co-Creation
Note: you should read Andrea Phillips’ post on this topic before reading my response below, and be sure to check out Carrie Young’s expanded thoughts on the topic! Earlier this year at the StoryWorld Conference, Andrea Phillips approached me and proclaimed, “You know, I really, really, really hate the term, ‘value co-creation!’” It was not [...]
UGC Sucks (or, the Winter of My Discontent)
Warning: I’m donning ye olde cranky pants for this post. The culprit for my discontent? An increasing dismissal of audience contributions (i.e., user-generated content) to commercial entertainment as unfit for inclusion in professional entertainment experiences. The most common argument I hear against including UGC in any entertainment property fail is, “UGC is awful,” which reduces [...]
Next up: Designing a Steampunk LARP
Although I signed up for this a while back, I’ve been awful about spreading the word: I’m on a team of designers crafting a LARP experience for the upcoming steampunk-themed Her Royal Majesty’s Steampunk Symposium convention in Long Beach, CA January 13-16, 2012. I’m thrilled to be working with some heavy-hitting LARP veterans like Aaron [...]
‘Shared Story World Design Primer’ (DIY Days L.A.)
After posting several entries at Shared Story Worlds, I had the chance to expand on them at DIY Days L.A. 2011. Although I had about an hour to make the presentation, I barely had time to cover the absolute basics (I hope to go into more detail future posts at SSW). Still, the exercise of [...]
