Web Doc Manifesto

The Web Documentary Manifesto was released last April through Zeega which, inspired from Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov's early writings, called for "a revolution" in storytelling:

• One, time to bring storytelling and storytellers to the web.
• Two, it is time to turn the web into an interactive audiovisual medium made by everyone
• Three, it is time, fellow comrades, for a revolution!"

Zeega allows the user to use any media in the cloud to transform the entire screen into your playground, and share your interactive creations with the world.  The Zeega blog says:  Created by a global community, Zeegas are a new form of interactive media. Some Zeegas are funny. Others are sad. A Zeega can be anything you imagine.   We’re living in a unique moment. More media than ever is recorded and shared. But the web today is dominated by a few platforms - all stories start to feel the same, trapped in rigid boxes and long lists. Zeega is ushering in an era when the web becomes an interactive, audiovisual medium made by everyone.

Check out:  

A Plea for a A

Life is Beautiful 

March on Washington 

For a deeper transmedia experience check out:  Waterlife 

PechaKucha Turnaround

Aubrey Williams
in Louisville

Aubrey Williams grew up in poverty. When he was 14 he began selling cocaine to make money. He was later caught and jailed, but continued his ways when he got out. It took a gunshot to turn his life around. From that point on he got his GED, got two college degrees with honors, and has now become a motivational prescence within his community, working to improve the lives of those who are now where he was.  "Presentation of the Day" on November 11, 2013.

Community of Unity 13 Questions of Life and Journey of Song

How to be Wise: Ted X Rome

Simon Cohen at Ted X Rome: Transmedia

Simon Cohen challenges conventional views on wisdom and discusses what it means to leave a legacy of hope, love and ideas. He shares his story of chasing wisdom according to traditional methods and what he learned in the process.  Wisdom is not knowledge, the avoidance of pain or gained through world travel. Cohen did not gain wisdom through his university studies, a corporate career, or travelling around the globe to places like India to learn from wise leaders like the Dalai Llama. He asserts that wise people are willing to admit when they do not know something. They also are willing to be vulnerable and understand that pain is an inevitable part of life. Wise people take their time and go slow. Contrary to typical images of bearded professors, he finds the most wisdom in babies and children.

You find out more about Simon on his website:  Mr. Simon Cohen

Jeff Gomez: The 3 Rules of Transmedia

Gomez: There are rules.

1) Your story needs to have some kind of aspirational quality. It needs to be meaningful. If your story is violent and really a downer, it's not going to be enough of a draw for people to follow it across multiple platforms. There's an upbeat quality to most successful transmedia stories. It's got to be a story world you want to spend time in. 

2) You have to understand the media platforms that you will have at hand. If you're an independent creator with a little budget, you still have access to social media, the web, independent digital publishing. You need to understand the language of each of those platforms. If you don't want to, find someone who can help you understand the strengths and weakness of each of those platforms. You need to be able to design your story to play to those strengths and avoid those weaknesses. You're already developing a design sensibility for the media platforms you have at hand which will help you develop the story and ultimately, produce it.

3) You need to think about and ultimate build an architecture for dialogue around your transmedia implementation. This, in essence, gives your audience the ability to provide your audience with feedback. You can make it fancy and have that become a part of the narrative if you want where your characters can literally communicate with the audience, but that's not a requirement and it's tricky to do that. We now have the ability as storytellers to look into the eyes of our audience and to validate their participation -- by which I mean the audience has a need to express themselves - from their opinions about what it is they're experiencing with your story to creative content and story-driven user-generated content. They're doing more and more of this in social media. It is my belief that if you ignore them, they'll go away.