Applied Media Research - Digital Fiction Factory

For the module Applied Media Research as the name suggests we have to research into an area of the media world. Three different companies are going to come into the university and give us a lecture on what they do and set us a research question in relation to their companies role in the industry.


The first company to come and give us a talk was the 'Digital Fiction Factory' a creative partnership between the BBC, Channel 4, Creative England and Conker Media who deal with multi-layered storytelling. The companies digital producer Ian Wareing gave the presentation.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.digitalfictionfactory.com/

The companies main goal is to create stories across different platforms to enhance the experience for the audience. The platforms include:

• TV/Radio/Film
• Online
• Social Media
• Mobile/Tablet

At the end of the presentation Ian set us the question his company are hoping for an answer to:

'The internet, social media and other open systems have allowed for user generated content (UGC), crowd-sourcing and other forms of audience participation to prevail in digital media. But how do we translate these features into storytelling experiences, without treading on the toes of the author?'

When he set it I think i stared at the question for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how I would research and try to answer such a question, I understand why it was important to ask, the way in which audiences interact are changing with new technologies and storytelling needs to learn to change and adapt too in order to keep up.. At the moment though I have no idea how that can be done.. Research is the key.