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.

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Tea Break

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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.

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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.