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Affordance(s):  a term referring to the specific design & functional characteristics of a given technology, platform, object or environment. Usually also with the sense of defining what we expect an object, technology or platform to do and/or how we expect to be able to interact with it, often based on the perceived design and/or familiarity with similar technologies, platforms or objects.“The properties of an object that inform people how the object could be used. The term ‘perceived affordance’ applies when the object properties are perceived in a way that differs from the real-world, physical properties, especially when the usage of the object depends on perceived rather than real-world properties.”  reference

Alternate Reality Game: A narrative experience designed to be encountered and discovered across multiple platforms. Key characteristics include a focus on game playing, puzzles, cryptic clues, and the engagement of the audience as active players and seekers of content. Key features are: the use of digital and analogue platforms and methods of delivery and distribution (online sites, social media platforms, mobile devices, to fax machines, posters, USB keys, T-shirts, theatre performances, LARPing, UGC,…); the design and pre-scripting of a given cryptic story that is rolled out over a finite period of time, often with new content being unlocked by the solving of puzzles, unravelling of clues, and discovery of hidden content online or in the world, ; the ‘authors,’ now known as Puppet Masters, control the experience as it rolls out, and who monitor and respond to players over time. Shares many defining features of a transmedia property though with a central focus on participation and active game-playing.See: Conspiracy for Good; Why So Serious?; The Truth About Marika

API: Application Programming Interface: “A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as a database management system (DBMS) or communications protocol. APIs are implemented by writing function calls in the program, which provide the linkage to the required subroutine for execution. Thus, an API implies that a driver or program module is available in the computer to perform the operation or that software must be linked into the existing program to perform the tasks.” reference

Augmented Reality: The augmentation of the real world through virtual, digital overlays, often via apps & games designed for mobile devices or webcams on computers. Often designed for use in situ so that specific (urban) environments are viewed with augmented content via the screen camera/video capture of a given mobile or computing device.See: Dickens’ Dark London; Nintendo Augmented Reality 3DS; Junaio; Google Glass; AR Invaders

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Beta Testing: A deliberate early testing of a given design, platform or interaction intended to locate possible glitches in interface and/or interaction design. Beta testing can be done through a variety of media – analogue to digital – and can involve the develop of early prototypes. Physical and/or paper prototypes are a great way to test assumptions about how an interface will work or how an interaction will be executed before designs are finalized and production begins.

Call to Action: The trigger, clue, invitation or prompt that is the catalyst for a User/Player to act. The action can be google-ing a name or number that appears in video/image/audio content, a text message, email request or share prompt, to name a few.

Convergent: Multi-platform projects that provide content on at least two distribution platforms, one of which is television.

Specific definition within the Canadian context defined by the CMF funding guidelines: projects designed to be “available across a minimum of two distribution platforms, including television.” The digital component can be a VOD platform or “additional, value-added digital content on non-TV platforms” Projects may have multiple ‘rich and substantial’ digital media components (website, app, game, etc) reference

Experiential Marketing: “Experiential marketing allows customers to engage and interact with brands, products, and services in sensory ways that provide the icing on the cake of providing information. Personal experiences help people connect to a brand and make intelligent and informed purchasing decisions. The term “Experiential Marketing” refers to actual customer experiences with the brand/product/service that drive sales and increase brand image and awareness. It’s the difference between telling people about features of a product or service and letting them experience the benefits for themselves. When done right, it’s the most powerful tool out there to win brand loyalty.” Erik Hauser reference reference 2  See I’m Here Case Study, see Coca Cola Happiness campaign, Volkswagen Fun Campaign, Campfire Game of Thrones Food Trucks

Immersive Design: “Describes the activity of a new generation of designers who work inclusively across all story-driven media, from film and interactive media to live audience environments. Immersive designers deal simultaneously with virtual and dimensional environments and who and what they contain; and with time-based narrative and story space.” reference

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Geocaching: “A high-tech treasure hunt in which trinkets are stored in a waterproof container (“geocache”) that can be located in the wilderness or in a public venue, typically not in plain view. The GPS coordinates of the cache are published on the geocaching Web site, and the object of the hunt is to locate the cache and enter your name in the log book as well as move objects from one cache to the next. In addition, geocachers may want to share their experiences online. Like a traditional treasure hunt, the contents of one geocache may provide the coordinates to the next one.” reference

Geolocation: “Geolocation is a term used to describe the capability to detect and record where you and other people are located, and to use the information to enhance the desktop using an Internet-connected computer or device. Geolocation information can be obtained in a number of ways including data bout a user’s IP address, MAC address, RFID, Wi-Fi connection location, orGPS coordinates.” reference

Geotagging: “Geotagging a digital photo or other object on a Web site or in a document refers to the attachment of geographical identification data. For example, a geotagged digital image would include precise latitude and longitude coordinates, and may also include altitude and other information. This permits the image or other object to be easily and precisely positioned on a map, putting the geotagged image into context, and making it more easily searchable. A number of popular Web sites permit the upload of geotagged photos, and digital cameras may include geotagging capability, or may be fitted with accessories that automatically geotag photos.” reference

Hub Site: A ‘hub site’ can be created by the producers of a given project or can be generated by fans. Hub sites function as the central archive organizing what is known about a given property. Sometimes these can be wikis or dedicated stand-alone websites; sometimes they can be housed within a network or production site. They will usually archive details to do with characters, plots summaries, unsolved mysteries, sometimes actor info, links to other related sites, videos, fan created content, chat forums, the possibilities are endless. The point of a hub site is to organize and inform fans of everything from the need-to-know to the trivia related to a given project.

Impressions: ‘A single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.’ reference

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LARP \ Live Action Role Playing: Think of this as Dungeon and Dragons taken to the streets and into the ‘real ‘/flesh world. If Dungeons and Dragons remains a touchstone for many transmedia designers as the immensely popular table-top role-playing game, LARPs involve pre-scripted ‘performances’ situated in public space, usually integrating hired actors who perform or intervene in a pre-determined site. Players usually have some understanding of the narrative frame of engagement and engage with the actors with some sense of narrative stakes, genre, conflict and possible outcomes in an urban environment. Think Commedia del’Arte for the 21st Century.

Multiplatform [sometimes Crossplatform]: Multiplatform – when used as a contrast to transmedia, it commonly refers to the same content being distributed through multiple channels (ie. a broadcast tv show on your mobile); OR brand properties that use multiple channels for distributing content without extending the story or story world across channels or distribution platforms. Example: A TV show with a webpage with character bios, episode summaries, chat rooms, does not extend or contribute to the story/story world.

Participatory Culture: {def. 1} “Participatory Culture is a culture in which private persons (the public) do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers (prosumers). The term is most often applied to the production or creation of some type of published media. Some key components to participatory media: relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement; strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others; some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices; members believe that their contributions matter; members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created).” reference

{def. 2} The phenomena of networked, immediate, and sometimes activist behaviours enabled by Web 2.0 technologies. The term Participatory Culture also flags the expectation in today’s digitally connected global communities of the capacities for immediate response on a mass scale via viral and/or spreadable content. Participatory culture is also sometimes actively at odds with the legal & proprietory mechanisms of consumer culture, particularly in terms of fan culture & participatory practices which often ignore IP.

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Participatory Storytelling: A mode of engaging with narrative content that allows audiences to interact and participate in the unfolding narrative. Audiences can, to varying degrees, engage with characters, narrators, create and share content within the official production/content and with each other. Usually, participatory storytelling infers more engagement and interaction with fans being invited to interact with the content and/or each other in some way. This mode of engagement is arguably a response to the upswing in active and activist participatory culture.

Pervasive Gaming:  ‘A pervasive game is a game that takes place in the physical world, concurrently with the normal activities of players’ everyday lives.’ Pervasive gaming blurs any distinction between ‘game’ and ‘world’ as distinct realms – game elements come to you through any available platform from theatre to digital code and the game plays out in the world, potentially at any time. David Fincher’s 1997 film, The Game, starring Michael Douglas, tells the story of a man who finds himself in an ‘unexpected live-action game’ As Jordan Weisman of 42 Entertainment said, ‘If we could make your toaster print something we would.” reference

Pervasive Media: Digital media that are embedded in the environment, responsive, networked. Digital and electronic media that are no longer contained within a desktop computing system but which can use sensors, RFID, GPS, mobile & wireless networks to interact with users in real-time in any location.

Prototype & Rapid Prototype: “A prototype is the initial example of a product or program, which acts as a basis for following designs. Prototypes are often made from inexpensive materials and are usually made at a lower level of detail than a final product. In software design, prototypes can be made that focus on the visual design or the functionality of a program.Rapid Prototyping refers to the development of a project in an iterative, rather than linear progression. Instead of taking a waterfall method which includes linear decisions and no forward progression until a prior step is completed, rapid prototyping focuses on quickly and holistically preparing a prototype with testing throughout the development process. This process is repeated until the final version is completed. Rapid prototyping is similar to “guess and check” mathematics in that one makes a prototype and checks to see how it is received by users.” reference

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Rabbit Hole: The initial site, page, or clue that brings someone into an alternate reality game. A reference to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and her entry into Wonderland following the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.

Rich Media: Usually digital, sometimes interactive. Many many variant definitions:

• “Rich media refers to media on the web that offers an enhanced, interactive experience. VRML for 3 D, Macromedia Flash and Shockwave would be good examples of languages for rich media. The Rich Media SIG is a good resource for emerging technologies.” reference

• a generic term for interactive media mixing text, audio, video, etc. referenceScenario/ User Scenario: “A story which has the key elements of a realistic situation when the user would interact with the system being designed or evaluated. The scenario includes consideration of the user’s goals, tasks and interaction. Scenarios can be created for user groups, workflows or tasks to explore, understand and test the different types of needs and goals.” reference

Spreadable Media / “Spreadability”: “Dispersing content widely through both formal and informal networks, some approved, many unauthorized.” Jenkins 2012

Storyworld: Mike Jones has phrased it: “the Story-World represents the Rules; the governing principles and parameters by which occupants of the Story-World (characters and events) will adhere.” referenceUsually infers a mapping of story or world rules (physics to social interdynamics), story architecture, story world in terms of environment, creation of a storybible.

See Lance Weiler

Tentpole: “A term used to describe one big media experience that supports a lot of other related media experiences. A great example of this is the original Star Wars movie. That movie was the tentpole that supported all the other games, movies, toys, websites, cartoons, books, comics that followed. Tentpoles can work in two ways. There can be the one big experience (often a movie or television show) or there can be several smaller tentpoles that work together (books, comics, etc). In both cases the result is the creation of a fanbase that follows the cross-media experience from media to media in order to get the full story.” Drew Davidson 2010.  Also here.

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Transmedia:{def. 1}“Transmedia stories are those which ‘unfold across multiple media platforms with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution the whole.’” Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture 2006

{def. 2}“Transmedia storytelling, a concept identified by Henry Jenkins, is storytelling by a number of decentralized authors who share assets and create content for distribution across multiple forms of media. Transmedia immerses an audience in a story’s universe through a number of dispersed entry points, providing a comprehensive and coordinated experience of a complex story.”Lina Srivastava  2008

{def. 3}‘Each part of the story is unique and plays to the strengths of each medium, and the audience is often invited to participate and somehow interact with the narrative.’‘Simply put, transmedia is the art of conveying a rich message, theme or storyline to a mass audience using multiple media platforms in concert.’Jeff Gomez 2009Example: Nurse Jackie’s Dr. Cooper tweets during the episodes and those following ‘his’ account are given an inside window into the character’s in-the moment thoughts & responses.

{def. 4}“A Transmedia Narrative project or franchise must consist of three (or more) narrative storylines existing within the same fictional universe on any of the following platforms:  Film, Television, Short Film, Broadband, Publishing, Comics, Animation, Mobile, Special Venues, DVD/Blu-ray/CD-ROM, Narrative Commercial and Marketing rollouts, and other technologies that may or may not currently exist. These narrative extensions are NOT the same as repurposing material from one platform to be cut or repurposed to different platforms” Producers Guild of America reference

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Ubiquity/ Ubiquitous Computing: “When discussing the connectivity, wireless networks come into play and these networks enable ubiquity in our cross-media communications. A ubiquitous experience is one that we can have whenever and wherever we want. As wireless networks spread and cellphones get more media features, we’re able to always have media content at our fingertips. This allows for cross-media experiences to be as much, or as little, a part of our daily lives as we like.”Drew Davidson

UGC: User Generated Content. Because of the popularity and ubiquity of social media and participatory engagement, interactive and online storytellers are increasingly designing opportunities and invitations to audiences to play with, remix and create new content extending existing official content.

User Experience (UX): “Every aspect of the user’s interaction with a product, service, or company that make up the user’s perceptions of the whole. User experience design as a discipline is concerned with all the elements that together make up that interface, including layout, visual design, text, brand, sound, and interaction. UE works to coordinate these elements to allow for the best possible interaction by users.” reference

User Scenario: “In art and design, used to communicate an idea for a product or experience involving interactivity. The designer shows and/or tells an engaging short story, about a fictitious person using the interactive product or interacting with the “smart” architectural space, artwork, or virtual environment (from a web page to immersive virtual reality experience). User scenarios are an evolution of thought experiments, historically used to explain natural phenomena with simple logical stories, helping readers grasp complex ideas, non-technically, without equations. Einstein’s elevator and train, Newton’s apple, Maxwell’s demon, and Schrödinger’s cat are classic examples.” reference

Web 2.0: ‘Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTMLWeb pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Over time Web 2.0 has been used more as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis, and Web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0.Web 2.0 was previously used as a synonym for Semantic Web, but while the two are similar, they do not share precisely the same meaning.’ reference 

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Web 2.0: ‘Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTMLWeb pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Over time Web 2.0 has been used more as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis, and Web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0.Web 2.0 was previously used as a synonym for Semantic Web, but while the two are similar, they do not share precisely the same meaning.’ reference 

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