A Few Grim Truths About Media Right Now (and One Happy One)

Paul Deen and TV’s Karaoke Economy Sadden Our Media Guy, but Stephen Colbert Saves the Day

By: Simon Dumenco Bio
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As Ad Age’s “Media Guy,” it’s technically my job to try to make sense of the media world. Sometimes it’s not easy, but of course I stand on the shoulders of giants (including those of a certain Comedy Central host). Other times I wish I could stomp on the kneecaps of the media world’s cretins, but I won’t get into that right now. Anyway, here’s a quick download of what I’ve figured out lately:

Colbert’s antics in South Carolina have shown how ludicrous the political situation is.

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Stephen Colbert is America’s greatest living cultural/media critic
Hands down. Part of the credit, of course, goes to the writing team on “The Colbert Report” (somehow already 6 years old and more essential than ever), but it’s Colbert’s pitch-perfect rendition of the “Stephen Colbert” character that makes his show’s satire work so brilliantly night after night. There is no funnier or smarter (or more heartbreaking or depressing) deconstruction of the American scene — particularly our fatally flawed political process, as signified by Colbert’s Super PAC — to be found anywhere else in the culture right now.

America’s entertainment industry = the new Karaoke Economy
“China’s products are popular, but rarely original,” the journal of the British nonprofit Design Council declared in a 2007 piece titled “The Karaoke Economy.” But if you read The New York Times’ epic investigation last week headlined “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work,” you know why China gets to make so many of the world’s state-of-the-art gadgets even if the ideas for them originated in, say, Cupertino. (Hint: It’s not just about cheap labor; the sophistication of China’s supply chain has left America’s in the dust.)

What does the U.S. still make?

Read Simon Dumenco’s full smart post on AdAge:

http://adage.com/article/the-media-guy/a-grim-truths-media-happy/232377/

RELEASED JUST NOW… Watch Terry Gilliam’s new movie ONLY online… via Distrify

By Chris on January 23, 2012 in Distribution

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Today is a big day for online distribution pioneers Distrify – film legend Terry Gilliam has made a short and he is releasing on their platform. By now, it should be live and selling.

You can rent and watch it right her, right now…

That’s one of the GREAT things about Distrify. You can put the player (aka YOUR shop window) anywhere on the web – blog, homepage, Facebook, fansite. It’s not just your site, but through affiliate marketing, you can attract people who have websites with large audiences. There is a reason why this film is on the Guardian website – they get an automatic cut of every penny generated via the affiliate marketing deal on offer. 

Excerpt: “….Kickstarter-funded Sundance movies included the well-received documentaries “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” and “Me @ the Zoo.” Dramatic films included “Black Rock” as well as “My Best Day,” and “Mosquita y Mari.” More experimental efforts like “Abacus” and “Room 237″ (profiled here) were also Kickstarter projects.

Many of the so-called Kickstarter films were pretty far out there and were no threat for a theatrical release, but “Indie Game: The Movie,” a film about game developers, was optioned by producer Scott Rudin and HBO for development as a series…”

01.27.12 Posted in LARP by Scott

]]> http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/nice-post-scott-walker-on-wyrd-con-2-one-larp-two-panels-infinite-fun/feed/ 0 siobhanoflynn WyrdCon_small http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/henry-jenkins-new-post-on-transmedia-and-education-a-conversation-with-robot-heart-stories-jen-begeal-and-inanimate-alices-laura-fleming-part-two/ http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/henry-jenkins-new-post-on-transmedia-and-education-a-conversation-with-robot-heart-stories-jen-begeal-and-inanimate-alices-laura-fleming-part-two/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:03:42 +0000 siobhanoflynn http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/?p=5479 ]]>

January 27, 2012

On Transmedia and Education: A Conversation With Robot Heart Stories’ Jen Begeal and Inanimate Alice’s Laura Fleming (Part Two)

Some transmedia properties are entirely top-down, deploying fairly conventional models of authorship, despite their deployment across multiple media platforms. Others include strong elements of participatory culture. How central is youth participation in the production and circulation of media to your visions for transmedia education?

Jen: Youth participation is very important In production and circulation as many Transmedia projects are aimed at young people, and the ones aimed at adults require that the adults have some prior knowledge of media which leads us back to teaching media literacy at a young age. Specific youth aimed projects, like Robot Heart Stories, require that the students create their own videos, write collaborative stories and construct and color their own paper robots (called “heart packs”) which were pdf downloads from the website. The theory behind transmedia education is that user generated content (i.e. created by the students themselves) should be at the core of these projects.

Laura: Story-driven user-generated content is a powerful piece of the transmedia experience and in my opinion is an essential consideration for any educational property. Technology tools allow for new forms of participation and learners inevitably seek out those opportunities. Even just the notion of creating transmedia experiences for specific groups or demographics is something we need to consider carefully. Learners themselves should be immersed in the creative process to ensure that they are not mere consumers of the experience.

What are the implications of teaching a generation not only how to read but also how to write across media?

via henryjenkins.org

Read the full post here:

http://henryjenkins.org/2012/01/on_transmedia_and_education_a.html