As we come to the end of the conversation - its nearly six - its been a fascinating day, and the 3 "case studies" followed on perfectly from the scene setting.
To finish off, what is the impact of this on literary organisations? We shouldn't be doing things that other people are already doing or are specialised at (e.g. publishers.) An important focus is the way we communicate with the audiences that we work with.
Tim asks whether you can ask products e.g. a poetry book more "talismanic" of an event or an experience. By adding new channels to existing work it can excite a wider audience and expand that experience. That's what a reading does... the book becomes a memory of that event. e.g. An Arvon weekend is a rich experience for attendees.
Theres a difficulty in getting fans of niche artists (e.g. a particular poet) to be able to grow their interest further. Naomi Jaffa from the Poetry Trust indicates how difficult it is recompense or pay for clips of stories or poems. By giving something away you grow your audience.
Naomi Alderman talks about the New Yorker short story podcast which chooses a writer and has a reading followed by an interview.
As Chris Meade points out, writers - particularly poets - already operates like the web: it doesn't make money, yet its often not the writing that makes them the money, but ancillary things.
Organisations can provide time and help for writers - finding the right tools for writers.
Tim Wright makes the point that audio podcasts are very powerful way to distribute local or niche content - whereas high quality video production can be very expensive. Providing content that can be made available widely is a real opportunity.
Chris Meade sums up that the arts can have a much wider view of literary culture - richness and depth of particular niches - in other words, we've no real need to just promote one or two writers or books, unlike publishers who are looking for "hits" - its the long tail, but also an understanding that a rich, complex cultural life is a "good result."
Naomi Alderman mentions that some very successful writers write fan fiction to relax! Maybe they are the new folk tales. e.g. Was Odin a version of the Jesus story reversioned elsewhere? Stories are meant to have "legs" and change over time.
Tim's mentioned Richard Sennett's The Craftsman - a great book about how craftsmen learnt there trade and moved elsewhere - e.g. to the next village. Apparently Open Source software works like this!
Goodbye
Adrian
Monday, 24 November 2008
More Questions
Alison's blog isn't yet a book - and she's not sure what she wants to do with it now. It's still open...
She went to O'Reilly Emerging Technologies conference - and felt there was a lot of talk about digitising backlist - and that's not what she's wanted to do. By doing it as part of her course the online novel took over her life - but cost "time" not anything else.
Its an interesting point... for a publisher its the finished product that seems to important - not the process. I'm thinking this goes back to Mil Millington a few years ago who wrote a great funny blog that then got turned into a less great, less funny novel but with a plot rather than anything else.
As for Naomi, Perplex City made money through selling trading cards.
Whats interesting about all these stories is the "audience building" that was involved - and how that audience actually had an effect on the story themselves.
Alison had previously researched "women online" and found out that most readers of chick lit were looking for the books, not the web, so it was a very new way of taking that story out there.
Alison felt that because chick lit readers want escapism there was less ways they wanted to interact - in terms of changing the story - far more interested in "socialising" around the story - again, another theme of today, that there's different ways of interaction - and the author is such a key component of that relationship; as is the kind of audience, the type of genre....
Tim has asked the question about at what point the author "reveals" themselves - Alison felt that her readers wanted the story to be real - but because it was part of her course she'd made it clear that it was a story. For Naomi, during the project she was always "hidden" - the expectation of game players isn't that there's an "author" behind the project. The narrative and game design were both equally as important.
All 3 case studies were about creating a community... what lessons are learnt for bringing opportunities to writers to take on projects such as this?
Some writers are very happy to promote themselves on line, like Meet The Author websites, and blogs, says Alison, but others who are less so. She thinks you should nurture those writers who want to do that - and in this case, its maybe identifying something in the work which can interest a community.
Chris Meade feels that all the projects are more "in the real world" of our everyday life than a reading by an author in a theatre.
Alison feels that what you read online needs ot be more byte sized - more "putdownable". We read online in bursts and its less permanent.
Naomi says that Perplex City ended up being one and a half million words in total - a very long novel!
Lots of people have met in the real world - even 3 marriages! - after playing Perplex City. Maybe the literary community is catching up with cult film and tv. Maybe poetry has a lot of similarity to this kind of world - Steven Waling made this point recently on his blog stevenwaling.blogspot.com that maybe poetry is very similar to a cult TV programme.
Alison says that writers should be more relaxed about giving work out to be used/reused/remixed.
Can these techniques help writers become better and more skilled writers?
Naomi says that people love to give advice on line - and when you admit to having a problem it really brings people in to respond.
Also - what happens when the author/reader relationship is reversed/changed. Tim Wright involved some readers of the Teletroscope blog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telectroscope by getting them to go along to an event as his brother Paul - 3 turned up and everyone went along with the subterfuge.
She went to O'Reilly Emerging Technologies conference - and felt there was a lot of talk about digitising backlist - and that's not what she's wanted to do. By doing it as part of her course the online novel took over her life - but cost "time" not anything else.
Its an interesting point... for a publisher its the finished product that seems to important - not the process. I'm thinking this goes back to Mil Millington a few years ago who wrote a great funny blog that then got turned into a less great, less funny novel but with a plot rather than anything else.
As for Naomi, Perplex City made money through selling trading cards.
Whats interesting about all these stories is the "audience building" that was involved - and how that audience actually had an effect on the story themselves.
Alison had previously researched "women online" and found out that most readers of chick lit were looking for the books, not the web, so it was a very new way of taking that story out there.
Alison felt that because chick lit readers want escapism there was less ways they wanted to interact - in terms of changing the story - far more interested in "socialising" around the story - again, another theme of today, that there's different ways of interaction - and the author is such a key component of that relationship; as is the kind of audience, the type of genre....
Tim has asked the question about at what point the author "reveals" themselves - Alison felt that her readers wanted the story to be real - but because it was part of her course she'd made it clear that it was a story. For Naomi, during the project she was always "hidden" - the expectation of game players isn't that there's an "author" behind the project. The narrative and game design were both equally as important.
All 3 case studies were about creating a community... what lessons are learnt for bringing opportunities to writers to take on projects such as this?
Some writers are very happy to promote themselves on line, like Meet The Author websites, and blogs, says Alison, but others who are less so. She thinks you should nurture those writers who want to do that - and in this case, its maybe identifying something in the work which can interest a community.
Chris Meade feels that all the projects are more "in the real world" of our everyday life than a reading by an author in a theatre.
Alison feels that what you read online needs ot be more byte sized - more "putdownable". We read online in bursts and its less permanent.
Naomi says that Perplex City ended up being one and a half million words in total - a very long novel!
Lots of people have met in the real world - even 3 marriages! - after playing Perplex City. Maybe the literary community is catching up with cult film and tv. Maybe poetry has a lot of similarity to this kind of world - Steven Waling made this point recently on his blog stevenwaling.blogspot.com that maybe poetry is very similar to a cult TV programme.
Alison says that writers should be more relaxed about giving work out to be used/reused/remixed.
Can these techniques help writers become better and more skilled writers?
Naomi says that people love to give advice on line - and when you admit to having a problem it really brings people in to respond.
Also - what happens when the author/reader relationship is reversed/changed. Tim Wright involved some readers of the Teletroscope blog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telectroscope by getting them to go along to an event as his brother Paul - 3 turned up and everyone went along with the subterfuge.
A bit of Perplexity...
Now we've got Naomi Alderman talking about her project Perplex City. She's showing us the websites from this "world". The people of Perplex city have lost their "cube".
It lasted 2 and a half years - and there was a major prize at the end of the porject.
http://www.perplexcity.com/
It was a massive project, with lots of characters, scenarios, puzzles, and sub-sites. The puzzles in the site were part of the story's narrative.
She's going to tell a few stories about the vast Perplex City project. Like a soap opera, all of the characters had many things happen to them.
Players in the game had many games and activities to do. Players in the game went as far as writing a book together that can be bought on Lulu! Its a way that people can feel connected to the game.
She's tellling us about the character Anna Heath - an academic who begins very sceptically, and helped out alot of players, but ended up being murdered by the conspiracy. People were genuinely upset by the character's death and wanted to show this and did so by bringing paper planes to the game maker's office.
The stories in the game had to change as the responses of people to the stories took place and it wasn't always as expected. One character she created a final blog post for, implying she was going to commit suicide - and the players of the game actually "sent" another character to save the character. As a writer, she found that her story was being impacted by the audience - so that their response meant alot to her.
At the end of Perplex city it had become very real for alot of people - both those developing it and the players of the game. Naomi got a letter at the end of the story saying how the forums had been really important to players of the game - and a boy who'd changed school used it to become friends with others at his new school. Its this kind of example which counteracts the view that games and the internet stop us communicating - that the internet can allow us to be "part of our best selves."
As a reader she'd always wanted to go into imaginary worlds - was always walking into the back of wardrobes - the internet now allows that!
It lasted 2 and a half years - and there was a major prize at the end of the porject.
http://www.perplexcity.com/
It was a massive project, with lots of characters, scenarios, puzzles, and sub-sites. The puzzles in the site were part of the story's narrative.
She's going to tell a few stories about the vast Perplex City project. Like a soap opera, all of the characters had many things happen to them.
Players in the game had many games and activities to do. Players in the game went as far as writing a book together that can be bought on Lulu! Its a way that people can feel connected to the game.
She's tellling us about the character Anna Heath - an academic who begins very sceptically, and helped out alot of players, but ended up being murdered by the conspiracy. People were genuinely upset by the character's death and wanted to show this and did so by bringing paper planes to the game maker's office.
The stories in the game had to change as the responses of people to the stories took place and it wasn't always as expected. One character she created a final blog post for, implying she was going to commit suicide - and the players of the game actually "sent" another character to save the character. As a writer, she found that her story was being impacted by the audience - so that their response meant alot to her.
At the end of Perplex city it had become very real for alot of people - both those developing it and the players of the game. Naomi got a letter at the end of the story saying how the forums had been really important to players of the game - and a boy who'd changed school used it to become friends with others at his new school. Its this kind of example which counteracts the view that games and the internet stop us communicating - that the internet can allow us to be "part of our best selves."
As a reader she'd always wanted to go into imaginary worlds - was always walking into the back of wardrobes - the internet now allows that!
Here's Alison...
Next "on stage" is Alison Norrington - who is going to talk about her writing and new media experiences.
A few people have had to go - but Naomi and Dean from the Poetry Trust have arrived with new copies of the Poetry Paper.
"immersing reader with emerging platforms" is Alison Norrington's presentation. She'd released 3 chick-lit books and wanted to always bring something else to the stories - and has done a course in new media and literature.
She researched her market - women readers and the publishers who were publishing chick lit.
Some publishers were thinking about "added value" but others went "do you mean the internet?
Her 4th novel "Staying single" was partly written and published via a blog. It didnt work to do it as chapters - she had to cut up into shorter chunks - and so she had to rewrite how she was writing it. It had to bring people back the next day - also allowed for subscribers...
The project became too big for one person - she was creating podcast chapters, a sister site called www.sophiedilemma.com - even took videos and created an email address for the character.
She came in for some criticism from people putting videos on the website. She created a bit of a community around the documentary element of the story. She asked people to send in their chat up lines, how they'd been dumped etc. Had around 7000 hits, 600 subscribers. Most popular part of the story was the documentaries on Youtube. This was part of her course - actually promoting the book as she wrote it.
Its amazing the amount of additional work she did - even using Machinima and Second Life as well as keeping forums going - even writing Sophie's "column" for the blog.
Halfway through the story she went on holiday and her character Sophie came on holiday with her - her "editor told her to go". 83 people asked for postcards from Sophie... proving that people liked to have something real.
"Sophie" did receive some rather dodgy emails - as well as some supportive ones. The business cards she put everywhere were really successful in bringing much in.
Shes showing a little video now of "chat up lines" - some are really bad. Might even work... so quite a clever bit of viral marketing, called "Pulling Power".
These were genuine comments that came to the website. Alison also went into the Second Life every Wednesday night to meet people at a particular time.
She was interviewed by a number of newspapers including Daily Mail and Woman's Own - she felt an obligation to keep it going as she developed the audience.
The blog allowed her to write things that were contemporary.
She even created a cover for the magazine that "Sophie" wrote for - and would have liked to write some of the articles if she'd had the time.
Her next project is called "I love NY" - she realises she needs to spend a lot more time in pre-production this time round - in order to cover the bases before launching the project. Has a Facebook page, and is looking at a collaboration maybe pitched to TV.
The new project is likely to include mobile content as well as actual projects - and she wants to bring something into the story that will make it more exciting - by real life interaction/viral marketing.
But all things need to lead back to the novel....
http://www.sophie-stayingsingle.blogspot.com/
A few people have had to go - but Naomi and Dean from the Poetry Trust have arrived with new copies of the Poetry Paper.
"immersing reader with emerging platforms" is Alison Norrington's presentation. She'd released 3 chick-lit books and wanted to always bring something else to the stories - and has done a course in new media and literature.
She researched her market - women readers and the publishers who were publishing chick lit.
Some publishers were thinking about "added value" but others went "do you mean the internet?
Her 4th novel "Staying single" was partly written and published via a blog. It didnt work to do it as chapters - she had to cut up into shorter chunks - and so she had to rewrite how she was writing it. It had to bring people back the next day - also allowed for subscribers...
The project became too big for one person - she was creating podcast chapters, a sister site called www.sophiedilemma.com - even took videos and created an email address for the character.
She came in for some criticism from people putting videos on the website. She created a bit of a community around the documentary element of the story. She asked people to send in their chat up lines, how they'd been dumped etc. Had around 7000 hits, 600 subscribers. Most popular part of the story was the documentaries on Youtube. This was part of her course - actually promoting the book as she wrote it.
Its amazing the amount of additional work she did - even using Machinima and Second Life as well as keeping forums going - even writing Sophie's "column" for the blog.
Halfway through the story she went on holiday and her character Sophie came on holiday with her - her "editor told her to go". 83 people asked for postcards from Sophie... proving that people liked to have something real.
"Sophie" did receive some rather dodgy emails - as well as some supportive ones. The business cards she put everywhere were really successful in bringing much in.
Shes showing a little video now of "chat up lines" - some are really bad. Might even work... so quite a clever bit of viral marketing, called "Pulling Power".
These were genuine comments that came to the website. Alison also went into the Second Life every Wednesday night to meet people at a particular time.
She was interviewed by a number of newspapers including Daily Mail and Woman's Own - she felt an obligation to keep it going as she developed the audience.
The blog allowed her to write things that were contemporary.
She even created a cover for the magazine that "Sophie" wrote for - and would have liked to write some of the articles if she'd had the time.
Her next project is called "I love NY" - she realises she needs to spend a lot more time in pre-production this time round - in order to cover the bases before launching the project. Has a Facebook page, and is looking at a collaboration maybe pitched to TV.
The new project is likely to include mobile content as well as actual projects - and she wants to bring something into the story that will make it more exciting - by real life interaction/viral marketing.
But all things need to lead back to the novel....
http://www.sophie-stayingsingle.blogspot.com/
Teabreak and Oldton
We're just discussing a couple of things before coffee...
... apparently a lot shorter lists next year from publishers because of the recession - at the same time booksellers think that "treats" like "books" are recession proof.
Chris Gribble asks whether the writer as brand can only work for the JK Rowling's and Paul Coelhos - and what application it can have for smaller names or niche forms.
****
Tea Break
****
2:56 - Boy its gone dark. Tim Wright is our next speaker. Tim is a new media writer and consultant who has worked with TrAce and the South Bank; genuinely about writing and new media.
Tim's at the back of the room working the laptop.
The project he's going to talk about is Oldton...
The project began as a posting on an online forum He posted a picture of "Oldton" - as the only evidence of the place he grew up. It was a story about how difficult it was to tell a story of his past - he began to tell a story about his own background based on their material.
Someone responded to the "Oldton" post - even though it didn't actually exist. Someone collaborated - so he replied and sent them an "imaginary dog" as a thank you. He was then sent a hereditary shield with a sheep on it.
"In search of Oldton" started to grow - both as imaginary, and as a connection with things about real life. The story began not knowing what the story was about and then began to grow as other people put material in.
He began to develop the project whilst giving courses in "writing online" - even including responding to "Oldton" postcards that he'd left around.
Details are here: http://www.oldton.com/
He even managed to get a genuine Oldton object off the internet. Very Borgesian, I think!
Apparently you can get a buyers guide on eBay on how and why to buy haunted items! An interesting aside Tim....
There are around 100 items that have been submitted to the site.
He feels that with Digital writing it might not always end up as just writing - imagine poetry written with Excel - if you change the thing you write with then it will change your writing, even with word processors, but especially if you start using other software.
He started growing the town as taken from the pictures and the stories that people had submitted. So the map links to both the object and the story... a photorealistic guide to an imaginary town. We even know how the church bells sound in this imaginary town.
The other half... how to write his own story - about remembering his father who had died.
He then turned the 52 squares of the map into a pack of cards - an online game - which he could then tell the story of his father via the cards. You can shuffle through the pack in different ways - start anywhere, shuffle, go back to the map.
Since then he has made the packs of card real - creating a "physical connection" - that he can then give out to contributors and others.
So Oldton is a collaborative work... a book that's not bound. It was then made into a radio play. Actually spoke to the collaborators, creating a 45 minute Sony-nominated afternoon play. Far more adventurous, I think, than the majority of afternoon plays...
The whole process of "In Search of Oldton" took 18 months - 2 years. Makes it difficult to be "commissioned" as the end result wasn't at all known when the project was started. Its not known what was being aimed at.
Defining a shared landscape... the spaces that you think will last forever disappear - so Oldton was partly about creating something "shared" - not everything is there, there's some kind of choice going on. He was also embracing the non-digital - the merging of the two - interactive work is not about spending more time staring at screens - using screen time to energise the offline. "Broadcasters do not get it" - something I've found when you ever have any conversation with an old media type.
The project was alos a weird mix of being serious and being silly as you're only "one click away from a weird animal video". But don't think that's unique - I once read at a poetry reading a poem about the London bombings - and it followed on from a "humorous" piece about white dog poo.
He feels that a project like this is both "alone" and "connected". Being always on can cause some problems - you need the "alone time".
Theres a huge amount of value in a physical object, highly formatted - not ruling that out. "Game dynamics" very important: inc. playground and parlour games as well as the interactive games.
The impulse for writing online is to "save a version of themselves in digital form" - the urge to preserve. If you can save your whole life on a phone then you can hand it on (unless you're clumsy like me and drop it down the loo).
Its fascinating that hes brought up that "motivation" about the creating stuff online - the best preservers will be writers, storytellers.
He got paid from the Writers of the Future - half to making the project - then some funding from C4 to work in the regions, and both Nesta and Arts Council pitched some money in. The cards were self produced and have just about being self financing. Theres a co-production involved. Everyone featured in the BBC drama got paid.
That's an interesting model... but its mostly people cared about being part of something.
****
QUESTIONS....
At what point was there a critical mass - a knowledge that the project was going to happen?
He felt it was when the "penny dropped" for himself - about the idea - what's the next block/the next phase. e.g. He was given some pens by his daughter and it gave him a chance to use them. He liked the interaction and interruptions. He likes things going wrong... as its more interesting.
Someone said "I remember the Oldton airport" and he had to redraw the map - which he did - and other additions came out of there, even though it was a disruption.
Difficulties with the project included getting people involved (and funders as well) - some interactive projects don't take hold/take off - but others, like this one do. He doesn't mind getting things wrong.
Everything on Google that talks about "Oldton" now relates to this project. So it gave him some control. So the use of a unique word helped "manage" the project.
He doesn't do a lot of work promoting the project elsewhere - would prefer people want to find it; want to come to it - rather than aiming for massive amount of hits.
The workshops he was involved with had an "agenda" around "digital literacy" - whilst the project had its own artistic agenda - and bringing these 2 things together was important.
Because TrACe online writing centre and Writers for the Future at Trent University had an audience it helped bring people to Oldton.
He did try and include everything that was sent into the site - he was keen not to exclude - he didn't re-edit stuff - this was helped by the linkage between the different elements of the project: the blog was linked to from the map rather than integrated into it. The community itself became quite productive - but it was also a personal story, about his father's death.
Everyone joined in the story in a very honest way - "playing with their truth." Previous projects the distinction between what it truth and fiction was blurred, and he wanted something that was more playful.
... apparently a lot shorter lists next year from publishers because of the recession - at the same time booksellers think that "treats" like "books" are recession proof.
Chris Gribble asks whether the writer as brand can only work for the JK Rowling's and Paul Coelhos - and what application it can have for smaller names or niche forms.
****
Tea Break
****
2:56 - Boy its gone dark. Tim Wright is our next speaker. Tim is a new media writer and consultant who has worked with TrAce and the South Bank; genuinely about writing and new media.
Tim's at the back of the room working the laptop.
The project he's going to talk about is Oldton...
The project began as a posting on an online forum He posted a picture of "Oldton" - as the only evidence of the place he grew up. It was a story about how difficult it was to tell a story of his past - he began to tell a story about his own background based on their material.
Someone responded to the "Oldton" post - even though it didn't actually exist. Someone collaborated - so he replied and sent them an "imaginary dog" as a thank you. He was then sent a hereditary shield with a sheep on it.
"In search of Oldton" started to grow - both as imaginary, and as a connection with things about real life. The story began not knowing what the story was about and then began to grow as other people put material in.
He began to develop the project whilst giving courses in "writing online" - even including responding to "Oldton" postcards that he'd left around.
Details are here: http://www.oldton.com/
He even managed to get a genuine Oldton object off the internet. Very Borgesian, I think!
Apparently you can get a buyers guide on eBay on how and why to buy haunted items! An interesting aside Tim....
There are around 100 items that have been submitted to the site.
He feels that with Digital writing it might not always end up as just writing - imagine poetry written with Excel - if you change the thing you write with then it will change your writing, even with word processors, but especially if you start using other software.
He started growing the town as taken from the pictures and the stories that people had submitted. So the map links to both the object and the story... a photorealistic guide to an imaginary town. We even know how the church bells sound in this imaginary town.
The other half... how to write his own story - about remembering his father who had died.
He then turned the 52 squares of the map into a pack of cards - an online game - which he could then tell the story of his father via the cards. You can shuffle through the pack in different ways - start anywhere, shuffle, go back to the map.
Since then he has made the packs of card real - creating a "physical connection" - that he can then give out to contributors and others.
So Oldton is a collaborative work... a book that's not bound. It was then made into a radio play. Actually spoke to the collaborators, creating a 45 minute Sony-nominated afternoon play. Far more adventurous, I think, than the majority of afternoon plays...
The whole process of "In Search of Oldton" took 18 months - 2 years. Makes it difficult to be "commissioned" as the end result wasn't at all known when the project was started. Its not known what was being aimed at.
Defining a shared landscape... the spaces that you think will last forever disappear - so Oldton was partly about creating something "shared" - not everything is there, there's some kind of choice going on. He was also embracing the non-digital - the merging of the two - interactive work is not about spending more time staring at screens - using screen time to energise the offline. "Broadcasters do not get it" - something I've found when you ever have any conversation with an old media type.
The project was alos a weird mix of being serious and being silly as you're only "one click away from a weird animal video". But don't think that's unique - I once read at a poetry reading a poem about the London bombings - and it followed on from a "humorous" piece about white dog poo.
He feels that a project like this is both "alone" and "connected". Being always on can cause some problems - you need the "alone time".
Theres a huge amount of value in a physical object, highly formatted - not ruling that out. "Game dynamics" very important: inc. playground and parlour games as well as the interactive games.
The impulse for writing online is to "save a version of themselves in digital form" - the urge to preserve. If you can save your whole life on a phone then you can hand it on (unless you're clumsy like me and drop it down the loo).
Its fascinating that hes brought up that "motivation" about the creating stuff online - the best preservers will be writers, storytellers.
He got paid from the Writers of the Future - half to making the project - then some funding from C4 to work in the regions, and both Nesta and Arts Council pitched some money in. The cards were self produced and have just about being self financing. Theres a co-production involved. Everyone featured in the BBC drama got paid.
That's an interesting model... but its mostly people cared about being part of something.
****
QUESTIONS....
At what point was there a critical mass - a knowledge that the project was going to happen?
He felt it was when the "penny dropped" for himself - about the idea - what's the next block/the next phase. e.g. He was given some pens by his daughter and it gave him a chance to use them. He liked the interaction and interruptions. He likes things going wrong... as its more interesting.
Someone said "I remember the Oldton airport" and he had to redraw the map - which he did - and other additions came out of there, even though it was a disruption.
Difficulties with the project included getting people involved (and funders as well) - some interactive projects don't take hold/take off - but others, like this one do. He doesn't mind getting things wrong.
Everything on Google that talks about "Oldton" now relates to this project. So it gave him some control. So the use of a unique word helped "manage" the project.
He doesn't do a lot of work promoting the project elsewhere - would prefer people want to find it; want to come to it - rather than aiming for massive amount of hits.
The workshops he was involved with had an "agenda" around "digital literacy" - whilst the project had its own artistic agenda - and bringing these 2 things together was important.
Because TrACe online writing centre and Writers for the Future at Trent University had an audience it helped bring people to Oldton.
He did try and include everything that was sent into the site - he was keen not to exclude - he didn't re-edit stuff - this was helped by the linkage between the different elements of the project: the blog was linked to from the map rather than integrated into it. The community itself became quite productive - but it was also a personal story, about his father's death.
Everyone joined in the story in a very honest way - "playing with their truth." Previous projects the distinction between what it truth and fiction was blurred, and he wanted something that was more playful.
Rage of the Crowd
Hannah Rudman continues - about the impact of digital...
...if we don't engage with audience the audience will rage at us - because its what they want.
The importance of the experience economy is still there. The virtual version and the real life version both have value. "Status stories" will be more important than "status symbols" - an experiential story-led culture.
The creative sector is very good at creating content, creating experiences. A quirky example is now up: a website called "requiem for you" commissions for your own requiem. A few gloomy faces round the table - in between the laughs! You get to hear it before er... its "premiere".
Another site.... Personalised stories through sites like "flatten me" - unique pieces of art can be afforded by many more people. I'm going to get Salman to write me a novel, just so I get the chance to reject it for being a bit baggy and verbose!
Videos online at festivals - allow people to "look in" - but they're not doing it via TV - but via the internet.
Edinburgh Jazz festival had an idea for co-curation with their audience - which reminds me that today there was talk about the Poet Laureate being partially chosen by the public. Pam Ayres come on down.
She gives a mention to Swarmtribes - a way for fans of bands to organise their own network - and also Hide & Seek festival, "social games and playful experiences."
So much was cocurated - and much was only done on the day of the event etc. - with the audience from the festival becoming their own community. Just like when I did jury service last year...it just shows that all you need is to create a real "social space" and how the internet can help making it easier to maintain those connections after you've first met.
Ooo, Social Website are officially more popular than Porn - who counts these things? Google I presume.
Good Reads - allows authors and readers to share "good reads".
Changing business models are important - adverts on mobile phones in return for free content. Medici TV is a live classical concert shown online.
Paul Coelho made his novel The Alchemist available online for free and it sold more copies in Russia where it had been pirated than before. In other words, giving it away has increased sales rather than decreased it.
"Obscurity is a far greater threat than piracy" in the digital world. We've had a quick look at the Poetry Trust's forthcoming Poetry Channel which will provide podcasts from the Aldeburgh Poetry festival.
If we're not selling copies of content we need to sell something that cannot be copied - "valuable intangibles" according to Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired. Therefore "the end of control" sees a real problem to control the "content" you own the rights to - but you can still own ane xploit the context, meaning, relevance, experience, embodiment and timing...
Finally - making the point about the "rise of the Amatuer" - relationship building with audiences is more and more important. "Sharing is caring..."
So when the end of control is nigh... organisations have to change.
...if we don't engage with audience the audience will rage at us - because its what they want.
The importance of the experience economy is still there. The virtual version and the real life version both have value. "Status stories" will be more important than "status symbols" - an experiential story-led culture.
The creative sector is very good at creating content, creating experiences. A quirky example is now up: a website called "requiem for you" commissions for your own requiem. A few gloomy faces round the table - in between the laughs! You get to hear it before er... its "premiere".
Another site.... Personalised stories through sites like "flatten me" - unique pieces of art can be afforded by many more people. I'm going to get Salman to write me a novel, just so I get the chance to reject it for being a bit baggy and verbose!
Videos online at festivals - allow people to "look in" - but they're not doing it via TV - but via the internet.
Edinburgh Jazz festival had an idea for co-curation with their audience - which reminds me that today there was talk about the Poet Laureate being partially chosen by the public. Pam Ayres come on down.
She gives a mention to Swarmtribes - a way for fans of bands to organise their own network - and also Hide & Seek festival, "social games and playful experiences."
So much was cocurated - and much was only done on the day of the event etc. - with the audience from the festival becoming their own community. Just like when I did jury service last year...it just shows that all you need is to create a real "social space" and how the internet can help making it easier to maintain those connections after you've first met.
Ooo, Social Website are officially more popular than Porn - who counts these things? Google I presume.
Good Reads - allows authors and readers to share "good reads".
Changing business models are important - adverts on mobile phones in return for free content. Medici TV is a live classical concert shown online.
Paul Coelho made his novel The Alchemist available online for free and it sold more copies in Russia where it had been pirated than before. In other words, giving it away has increased sales rather than decreased it.
"Obscurity is a far greater threat than piracy" in the digital world. We've had a quick look at the Poetry Trust's forthcoming Poetry Channel which will provide podcasts from the Aldeburgh Poetry festival.
If we're not selling copies of content we need to sell something that cannot be copied - "valuable intangibles" according to Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired. Therefore "the end of control" sees a real problem to control the "content" you own the rights to - but you can still own ane xploit the context, meaning, relevance, experience, embodiment and timing...
Finally - making the point about the "rise of the Amatuer" - relationship building with audiences is more and more important. "Sharing is caring..."
So when the end of control is nigh... organisations have to change.
The end of controil?
Hannah Rudman's presentation is called "The end of control? Writing Re:Connected"
She's talking about the wider connections between the arts and digital.
Key themes around Web 2.0, the move to mobile, better broadband - mobile devices containing massive terrabytes of information in the future. Too many noughts for me!
She talks about "cultural behaviour" - what you can do with these devices. Quotes Eric Schmidt of Google, "you could only watch tv on a tv" - in other words the consumer is king, and will choose what they want to do.
Quoting Charles Leadbetter's "We-Think" (wwww.wethinkthebook.net) - as proof that the audience has already evolved - is already creating and distributing content. His book was co-written online, but the "ideas" have real traction - an example of a true knowledge economy - the value is in the ideas. Surely an important lesson for the creative sector?
Screenshots inc. an art gallery in Second Life, Grand Theft Auto 4 being increasingly being played online "together", CBS Social Viewing Room, chatting about television, and an online soap opera in the US called "The Hill" where you can chat back at the tv. Strange, I just wrote a story about a future soap opera which is user generated.
Now on to Faintheart - Vito Rocco's Brit comedy - script ideas and casting came through Myspace. Not sure if that was a West Midlands dig! (You had to be here.) I never remember any battle reenactors when I lived in the Midlands, people were too busy going to car boot sales.
She's talking about the wider connections between the arts and digital.
Key themes around Web 2.0, the move to mobile, better broadband - mobile devices containing massive terrabytes of information in the future. Too many noughts for me!
She talks about "cultural behaviour" - what you can do with these devices. Quotes Eric Schmidt of Google, "you could only watch tv on a tv" - in other words the consumer is king, and will choose what they want to do.
Quoting Charles Leadbetter's "We-Think" (wwww.wethinkthebook.net) - as proof that the audience has already evolved - is already creating and distributing content. His book was co-written online, but the "ideas" have real traction - an example of a true knowledge economy - the value is in the ideas. Surely an important lesson for the creative sector?
Screenshots inc. an art gallery in Second Life, Grand Theft Auto 4 being increasingly being played online "together", CBS Social Viewing Room, chatting about television, and an online soap opera in the US called "The Hill" where you can chat back at the tv. Strange, I just wrote a story about a future soap opera which is user generated.
Now on to Faintheart - Vito Rocco's Brit comedy - script ideas and casting came through Myspace. Not sure if that was a West Midlands dig! (You had to be here.) I never remember any battle reenactors when I lived in the Midlands, people were too busy going to car boot sales.
Offline and Online
Chris Meade continues...
...has the Hay-on-Wye festival now become a broadcaster with the festival as only an excuse to film?
There's a blurring between activities - different interactions between writers and readers that can be taken online.
Chris comes from literature - and when writing the read:write report he felt there was a tension between the writing world and the digital world. That the "reader development" function is now done by the web - so who needs literary development?
However, there was a non-awareness of each sides view of things.
For literary organisations they have to be skilled as curators to enable public engagement with literature - and to take the risks that publishers won't - even more important given the credit crunch. "We must seize the time or be swept away".
Digital offers access for writers, readers and literary organisations. Kit and money were less important - so much is "free" - but mapping out what's there, and building a community that lets people in is very important. Not technical training but "imagination and vision"
He hands over to Hannah Rudman.
...has the Hay-on-Wye festival now become a broadcaster with the festival as only an excuse to film?
There's a blurring between activities - different interactions between writers and readers that can be taken online.
Chris comes from literature - and when writing the read:write report he felt there was a tension between the writing world and the digital world. That the "reader development" function is now done by the web - so who needs literary development?
However, there was a non-awareness of each sides view of things.
For literary organisations they have to be skilled as curators to enable public engagement with literature - and to take the risks that publishers won't - even more important given the credit crunch. "We must seize the time or be swept away".
Digital offers access for writers, readers and literary organisations. Kit and money were less important - so much is "free" - but mapping out what's there, and building a community that lets people in is very important. Not technical training but "imagination and vision"
He hands over to Hannah Rudman.
Chris Meade's presentation
What is the impact of technology on writing?
Readers can seek each other out - you can see what people are reading - and writers can publish and promote online. Sites like Youwriteon.com and Authonomy are the news "slush piles" - but are accessible to both writers and readers.
Chris has got a Sony Reader in his hand. Might have to steal a look later!
For live literature its also really important as a way to get users involved - responding to events - promoting events.
New kinds of writing such as Fan Fiction happens without permission - and virtual reality games are also happening. Does the literary sector even realise this is happening? Hopefully we will discuss these things later.
The successful writer can now go direct to their reader. Deleted scenes from a novel being made available online - and you could even sell advertising alongside the work. Half joking...but imagine, travel to Afghanistan with the Kite Runner!
Readers can seek each other out - you can see what people are reading - and writers can publish and promote online. Sites like Youwriteon.com and Authonomy are the news "slush piles" - but are accessible to both writers and readers.
Chris has got a Sony Reader in his hand. Might have to steal a look later!
For live literature its also really important as a way to get users involved - responding to events - promoting events.
New kinds of writing such as Fan Fiction happens without permission - and virtual reality games are also happening. Does the literary sector even realise this is happening? Hopefully we will discuss these things later.
The successful writer can now go direct to their reader. Deleted scenes from a novel being made available online - and you could even sell advertising alongside the work. Half joking...but imagine, travel to Afghanistan with the Kite Runner!
Ready to Start
We're about ready to start the event - after a nice lunch. The techys at EPIC have plugged in wires but not actually activated things - so its just me blogging on my 3G card.
Chris Gribble, director of NWP is kicking things of, introducing us to the home of Tricia and Sale of the Century!
Today's event is focussed on getting non-venue based literary organisations together to talk about the challenges around building their audiences - and how digital can help. Its all about building communities both of writers and readers.
The difficulty of predicting the future in an artform sense - i.e. "new forms of writing" - means that we should try and talk about the connections between art and technology, rather than one or the other.
Chris Meade, director of If:Book (sister org. to Institute of the Book) is giving the first presentation, about their Read:Write report - about the digital opps for literature.
Chris Gribble, director of NWP is kicking things of, introducing us to the home of Tricia and Sale of the Century!
Today's event is focussed on getting non-venue based literary organisations together to talk about the challenges around building their audiences - and how digital can help. Its all about building communities both of writers and readers.
The difficulty of predicting the future in an artform sense - i.e. "new forms of writing" - means that we should try and talk about the connections between art and technology, rather than one or the other.
Chris Meade, director of If:Book (sister org. to Institute of the Book) is giving the first presentation, about their Read:Write report - about the digital opps for literature.
Getting There
Well we're all getting ready at EPIC, and finding enough powerpoints and making sure that we can connect to the wi-fi is making it a very quiet room at the moment! However, it should be okay - although a Biblical style rainstorm has just come down - so let's hope that it doesn't put too many people off.
Overhearing people talking about "The Golden Notebook" reading project. I'm expecting a bit of literary eavesdropping during today!
Overhearing people talking about "The Golden Notebook" reading project. I'm expecting a bit of literary eavesdropping during today!
Welcome to Digital Literature Reconnected
Digital Literature ReConnected is a live event taking place in Norwich on 24th November 2008, with attendees from the literature community across the country.
As a coda to New Writing Season 2008 programme of conferences and workshops, The New Writing Partnership, in collaboration with Amb:IT:ion, funded by Arts Council England, is organising a half-day ‘thinkshop’ about Writing Re:connected -- you are invited to take part. Our focus for will be: 'What could we, as literary organisations, be looking to offer or cultivate in light of current digital media trends?' and ‘What impact will the developments in digital media have on what we, as organisations in the literature sector, offer the writers, readers and other partners with whom we work we with.
The event takes placed this afternoon at EPIC and all being well some live blogging will take place here.
As a coda to New Writing Season 2008 programme of conferences and workshops, The New Writing Partnership, in collaboration with Amb:IT:ion, funded by Arts Council England, is organising a half-day ‘thinkshop’ about Writing Re:connected -- you are invited to take part. Our focus for will be: 'What could we, as literary organisations, be looking to offer or cultivate in light of current digital media trends?' and ‘What impact will the developments in digital media have on what we, as organisations in the literature sector, offer the writers, readers and other partners with whom we work we with.
The event takes placed this afternoon at EPIC and all being well some live blogging will take place here.
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