Understanding Media Relations in the Age of Convergence: A Metatheoretical Taxonomy

Multimediality, crossmediality, intermediality, transmediality. Over the last three decades, media (as well as comparative) studies have been characterized by the emergence of new categories, aimed at describing and analysing the variety of relations established by different media in the age of convergence. Despite their widespread diffusion in many research fields, however, these categories still lack a shared and stable meaning, having eluded any attempt of theoretical systematization so far. As a consequence, they tend to overlap semantically, making it impossible for scholars to share a common vocabulary. The objective of this paper is to propose a meta-theoretical rearrangement of the abovementioned categories, with the aim of outlining a systematic taxonomy in which each term can find a definition and a position

Understanding Media Relations in the Age of Convergence: A Metatheoretical Taxonomy

Multimediality, crossmediality, intermediality, transmediality. Over the last three decades, media (as well as comparative) studies have been characterized by the emergence of new categories, aimed at describing and analysing the variety of relations established by different media in the age of convergence. Despite their widespread diffusion in many research fields, however, these categories still lack a shared and stable meaning, having eluded any attempt of theoretical systematization so far. As a consequence, they tend to overlap semantically, making it impossible for scholars to share a common vocabulary. The objective of this paper is to propose a meta-theoretical rearrangement of the abovementioned categories, with the aim of outlining a systematic taxonomy in which each term can find a definition and a position

De la práctica al diseño transmedia. El papel del diseño en el desarrollo de los proyectos transmedia

Lluny d'emprar el terme transmèdia com un simple adjectiu que pot qualificar a certs substantius, actualment es pot considerar la transmedialitat com una veritable manera d'executar projectes abordant la complexitat de l'escenari mediàtic contemporani. L'objectiu d'aquest treball és definir la disciplina de Disseny Transmèdia mitjançant la descripció de les activitats de projecte i  d'investigació desenvolupades en el Politècnic de Milà, amb especial atenció al projecte Plug Social TV. Plug Social TV és un projecte posat en marxa el 2013 en dos barris perifèrics de la ciutat de Milà amb la participació dels estudiants del curs de Disseny de Comunicació, dirigits per l'equip d'investigació Imagis Lab. L'objectiu principal del projecte és experimentar els processos i els instruments de comunicació que, a través de la construcció de mons narratius i la seva distribució estratègica i multicanal (analògica i digital), poden suportar la formació d'un diàleg entre els interessats presents en el territori.Far from using the term transmedia as a simple adjective to characterise certain nouns, nowadays, transmediality can be considered a real way to execute projects tackling the complexity of the contemporary media scene. The aim of this work is to define the Transmedia Design discipline, by describing the project and research activities carried out a Polytechnic University of Milan, placing special emphasis on the Plug Social TV project. Plug Social TV is a project that was started up in 2013 in two neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Milan, involving the participation of students from Communication Design, and directed by the research team from ImagisLab. The main aim of the project is to test drive the communication processes and instruments which, through building storytelling worlds and their strategic and multichannel distribution (analogue and digital), can support the creation of a dialogue between interested parties present in the territory.Lejos de usar el término transmedia como un simple adjetivo que puede calificar a ciertos sustantivos, actualmente puede considerarse la transmedialidad como una verdadera manera de ejecutar proyectos abordando la complejidad del escenario mediático contemporáneo. El objetivo de este trabajo es definir la disciplina de Diseño Transmedia mediante la descripción de las actividades de proyecto y de investigación desarrolladas en el Politécnico de Milán, con especial atención al proyecto Plug Social TV. Plug Social TV es un proyecto puesto en marcha en 2013 en dos barrios periféricos de la ciudad de Milán con la participación de los estudiantes del curso de Diseño de Comunicación, dirigidos por el equipo de investigación ImagisLab. El objetivo principal del proyecto es experimentar los procesos y los instrumentos de comunicación que, a través de la construcción de mundos narrativos y su distribución estratégica y multicanal (analógica y digital), pueden soportar la formación de un diálogo entre los interesados presentes en el territorio

The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds. Paratexts, Cyberworlds and Augmented Reality

In this study we shall be trying to examine in more depth the relationships between the processes of trans-medial world-building and their “ontological fibrillation” via the affordances of recent digital technology. The analysis will be concentrating on the contribution from Augmented Reality in the ontological materialization of The Walking Dead transmedia storyworld. To this end, the dual configuration of a narrative continuum and an attractive-interactive materialization of the make-believe will be taken into consideration. This assumption will be backed up by our endeavouring to update the conceptual contributions of narratological categories, such as para-textuality, and medial categories, such as cyberworlds and the social media; the trend towards materialization of storyworlds, following in the tracks of a historical-archaeological perspective of pre-digital transmediality will be traced with reference to several scholars within transmedia studies

Neorealism and Transmediality: A Migrating Narration

The lively debate on cinema, literature and the visual arts between the two wars fed into Italian Neorealism in an intertextual way, as emerges in Bazin’s, Zavattini’s and Deleuze’s writings on Neorealism. The French philosopher observed how Neorealism breaks the sensory motor connection typical of classical cinema, thus paving the way for a cinema of pure optical situations. W.J.T. Mitchell’s concept of ‘the image as agent’ exemplifies how neorealist movies possess a lasting iconic impact capable of affecting different medias, thus making new venues viable for innovative intertextual narrations. The present contribution analyses how this debate may be translated today in a multimedia theory that orients aesthetic choices and forms of reception in a globalized context.  In rethinking transmediality as a concept we are forced to address semiotics rather than linguistics, and therefore incorporate written, oral and, most of all, visual texts in a new conjuncture. This contribution explores how the Neorealist decade (1945-1956) in Italy can be assimilated to what Thomas Pavel in 1975 theorized as a “possible world” where written and visual expressions are assembled in an unprecedented form of storytelling. W.J.T. Mitchell’s concept of ‘the image as agent’ illustrates how Neorealist cinema has an emotional impact capable of transcending written forms of signification, thus making new venues viable for a participated forms of reception, which are still present in later works such as Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1990) and Costanzo’s My Brilliant Friend (2018)

Fake rules, real fiction : professional wrestling and videogames

Emerging from a legitimate contest regulated by a set of rules, professional wrestling is today a fictional product, where no actual competition takes place. Those same rules serve as a setting for a particular kind of narration: the kayfabe, the fictional framework for all professional wrestling’s narrative, a fictional world with the characteristic of having a 1:1 ratio between real time and fictional time. Professional wrestling and videogames deal in different contexts with the same elements: rules and fiction (Juul 2005) [13]. By combining aspects of narrative theory and game studies research, this paper will analyze the narrative of professional wrestling utilizing the tools commonly used or specifically developed for videogames. An understanding of professional wrestling elements is necessary to explain and criticize the different approaches that videogame designer have used when creating wrestling videogames, a popular sub-genre that present specific peculiarities. The first chapter will provide a background to the history and the evolution of professional wrestling tracing the transformation from wrestling as a legitimate contest to a constructed media spectacle. The on-going constructed nature of contemporary wrestling will be addressed using Chatman’s concept of narrative. We will then use the theory of scripted narrative and alterbiography (Calleja 2009) [4] to explain how the pre-designed elements in a staged match are only partially scripted. This will be the ground for three subsequent passages, each one enlarging the view on the object of study: what happens in the ring, what happens just outside of the ring, and what happens in the fictional world of professional wrestling. By considering the transmediality (Jenkins 2003, 2004) [11, 12] of professional wrestling, we will analyze those conclusions and see how they are used by professional wrestling videogames: the territory where real rules have to be fleshed out in order to simulate the “fake rules” of professional wrestling. The paper concludes that theoretical frameworks developed within game studies have produced useful tools that can be deployed in different contexts, in this case to understand the constructed story that so deeply informs the agonistic (Caillois, 1962) [5] aspects of professional wrestling. The concept of scripted narrative and alterbiography clarifies how the narrative is enacted in and outside of the ring, integrating previous studies about wrestler fan behaviour (Ford 2007) [8], and claryfing the role of the wrestler as both a storyteller and an actor. By considering wrestling as a serialized fictional product, it is possible to analyze the kayfabe as a unique narrative frame, capable of keeping narrative coherence operating with a 1:1 ratio between real time and fictional time. The concept of transmediality, also discussed in game studies, proves to be deeply affected by the kayfabe. Wrestling has strong transmedial narrative elements: it is sufficient to feature few elements of the wrestling enviroment to project the contents of the kayfabe. With that said, making a game out of the mixture of dramatization, physical performance, and symbolical meaning of professional wrestling is no easy task. A theoretical framework can be useful to approach design issues: wrestling fictional elements appears in videogames thanks to its deep rooted transmediality, but the subtleties of professional wrestling’s narrative are still understated in wrestling videogames.peer-reviewe

Crossing the textual frame and its transmedial effects

The year 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of Juri Lotman’s birth. On this occasion, I propose to return to one of Lotman’s concepts, namely that of frame. The term was proposed in The structure of the artistic text (1970/1977), in the traditional understanding of a limit that separates a text produced in any kind of medium from extra-textual structures (other texts) or non-text (real-life contexts). This notion of frame comes close to its understanding in literary studies, as well as the theory and philosophy of art and should not be confused with a well-known concept of frame propagated in AI Studies (Minsky 1975, Petöfi 1976) and which refers to a global cognitive pattern of storing common-sense knowledge about particular concepts and situations in memory. Lotman returned to the discussion of the textual frame in Universe of the mind (1990), mainly in application to the fine arts. He also elaborated there a more inclusive concept of boundary (proposed in Lotman 1984/2005) as a demarcation of the semiosphere and of its internal subsystems, which necessitates constant translations between particular codes and languages. Lotman dubbed transgressions of textual borders transcoding, which in contemporary parlance is a clear manifestation of transmediality. Therefore, I propose to analyse the concept of frame in relation to Intermedial Studies (cf. Elleström, 2014). Such crossings of boundaries between different media/modes/modalities are simultaneously creative and potentially confusing, in that they display a semiotic collision of artistic codes and require a heightened processing effort on the part of the addressee. My vantage point is basically semiotic, with the focus of interest going less to verbal texts and more to the issues of frame in the visual arts. Semiotic considerations on the problem of boundaries are complemented with brief phenomenologically-oriented ponderings on aesthetic and cognitive import of framing devices (Crowther, 2009) that emphasize their antithetical function as: a) devices with their own artistic value, even complementing the text vs. b) “defences against the exterior” and hindrances to creative liberty. First, I turn to two areas of interest of Lotman himself: 1) the extension of artistic media in Baroque art and 2) collages, which I treat as transmediality through surface. Lotman perceived collages as a collision of the fictitious with the real, referring to their doubly figurative nature (metonymical and metaphorical). Next, I complement this discussion with examples taken from 20th-century painting and sculpture, e.g. Spatialism, Minimalism, and Hyperrealism. Of particular interest is the situation in which the frame becomes a text commenting on its content or plays a metatextual function. Another game worthy of attention is embedding of frames. The discussion closes with the case of transmedial effects between painting and theatre, illustrated by Polish painter and stage-director Tadeusz Kantor’s theatrical experiments in Cracovian Cricot 2 Theatre: a) Velázquez’s Infanta Margarita entering Kantor’s self-portraits and a photo-portrait frame in the performance Today is my birthday (1990); b) Kantor stepping out of the frame of his own self-portrait on the illusory boundary between real life, painting and theatre. The article posits to treat frame and multiple ways of transgressing it as an integrational phenomenon that opens a path for further interdisciplinary studies across the borders of artistic semiotics, Intermedial Studies, literary theorizing and the theory and philosophy of art.У 2022 році виповнюється 100 років від дня народження Юрія Лотмана. З цієї нагоди я пропоную повернутися до однієї з концептцій Лотмана, а саме до фрейму. Термін був запропонований у “Структурі художнього тексту” (1970/1977) у традиційному розумінні межі, яка відокремлює текст, створений будь-яким носієм, від позатекстових структур (інших текстів) або нетексту (реальних життєвих контекстів). Це поняття фрейму наближається до його розуміння в літературознавстві, а також у теорії та філософії мистецтва, і його не слід плутати з добре відомою концепцією фрейму, поширеною в дослідженнях (Minsky 1975, Petöfi 1976), яка посилається на глобальний когнітивний патерн збереження здорового глузду в пам’яті про певні поняття та ситуації. Лотман повернувся до обговорення текстового фрейму у “Всесвіті розуму” (1990), головним чином відносно до образотворчого мистецтва. Там він також розробив більш інклюзивну концепцію межі (запропоновану в Lotman 1984/2005) як демаркацію семіосфери та її внутрішніх підсистем, що вимагає постійних перекладів між окремими кодами та мовами. Лотман назвав трансгресію текстових кордонів транскодуванням, що в сучасному розумінні є яскравим проявом трансмедіальності. Тому я пропоную проаналізувати концепцію фрейму у зв’язку з інтермедіальними дослідженнями (пор. Elleström, 2014). Такі перетини меж між різними медіа/модами/модальностями є водночас творчими та потенційно заплутаними, оскільки вони демонструють семіотичне зіткнення художніх кодів і вимагають посилених зусиль обробки з боку адресата. Моя точка зору в основному семіотична, з центром інтересу, що зосереджується не на вербальних текстах, а більше на питаннях кадру у візуальному мистецтві. Семіотичні міркування щодо проблеми меж доповнюються короткими феноменологічно орієнтованими міркуваннями про естетичний і когнітивний імпорт засобів фреймуванння (Crowther, 2009), які підкреслюють їхню антитетичну функцію як: а) засоби із власною художньою цінністю, які навіть доповнюють текст vs б) «засоби захисту від зовнішнього» та перешкоди творчій свободі. По-перше, я звернуся до двох сфер інтересів самого Лотмана: 1) розширення художніх засобів у мистецтві бароко та 2) колажі, які я розглядаю як трансмедіальність через поверхню. Лотман сприймав колажі як зіткнення фіктивного з реальним, маючи на увазі їхню подвійну образність (метонімічну й метафоричну). Далі я доповню це обговорення прикладами, взятими з живопису та скульптури 20- го століття, напр., спаціалізм, мінімалізм і гіперреалізм. Особливий інтерес викликає ситуація, коли фрейм стає текстом, що коментує його зміст, або виконує метатекстову функцію. Ще одна гра, яка заслуговує на увагу, це вбудовування фреймів. Дискусію завершує випадок трансмедійних ефектів між живописом і театром, проілюстрований театральними експериментами польського художника та режисера Тадеуша Кантора в краківському театрі Кріко 2: а) Інфанта Маргарита Веласкеса входить до автопортретів Кантора та рамки фотопортрету у виставі “Сьогодні мій день народження” (1990); б) Кантор виходить із рамки власного автопортрета на ілюзорну межу між реальним життям, живописом і театром. Стаття розглядає фрейм і численні способи його трансгресії як інтеграційний феномен, який відкриває шлях для подальших міждисциплінарних досліджень через кордони мистецької семіотики, інтермедіальних студій, літературного теоретизування та теорії та філософії мистецтва

Towards a Collective Intelligence: Transmediality and the Wu Ming Project

Since the dawn of the Italian Second Republic, former Prime Minister Berlusconi’s tactics of media domination, as well as his approach to culture creation, have had a considerable effect on the Italian imaginary. The collective Wu Ming, through their multisensorial and multimedial approach to writing, are among those intellectuals who question the cultural paradigms that have become hegemonic in Italy over the last twenty years. The experience of a Wu Ming novel extends past the printed word, as they experiment with all five senses to enhance the way in which the reader lives the content on the page, providing clear examples of Henry Jenkins’s «convergence culture» at work. This essay focuses specifically on the interplay of word and image in Wu Ming’s use of the social media site Pinterest to illustrate how this particular aspect of their project serves as a microcosm of their overall approach to culture creation and art, and how their facilitation of the collective process of consumption contributes to the formation of Arjun Appadurai’s «communities of sentiment» and Jenkins’s «collective intelligence». These formations revitalize the concept of popular culture for the digital age and offer an alternative to an Italian cultural imaginary long dominated by the practices of Berlusconism.Dagli albori della Seconda Repubblica in Italia,  le strategie di dominio sui mass media dell’ex premier Silvio Berlusconi hanno avuto un effetto considerevole sull’immaginario culturale italiano. In un approccio multisensoriale e multimediale alla scrittura, il collettivo Wu Ming mette in questione i paradigmi culturali che negli ultimi venti anni sono diventati egemonici. L’esperienza di un romanzo dei Wu Ming va ben oltre la parola stampata poiché cerca di stimolare tutti i cinque sensi per arricchire il modo in cui il lettore vive quello che c’è sulla pagina, dimostrando esempi chiari della «convergence culture» coniata da Henry Jenkins. Questo saggio esamina l’interazione tra parola e immagine messa in atto dal collettivo tramite il sito Pinterest e illustra come questo aspetto del loro progetto rappresenti un microcosmo di un approccio complessivo alla creazione estetica e alla pratica culturale. Inoltre, questo saggio descrive in che modo il processo collettivo di consumo portato avanti dai Wu Ming contribuisca alla formazione delle «communities of sentiment» di Arjun Appadurai e alla «intelligenza collettiva» di Jenkins. Queste sono formazioni che rivitalizzano il concetto di cultura popolare per la nostra epoca digitale e offrono un’alternativa ad un immaginario culturale italiano sovra-determinato dalle pratiche del Berlusconismo

Criteria for distance learning at the time of Coronavirus

The Coronavirus pandemic, forcing all schools and universities to exclusively activate distance learning (DL), has triggered an unprecedented innovative process. E-learning had remained a niche resource for a few innovators, experts and enthusiasts; but, with the forced DL due to Covid-19, teachers of all levels had to engage in a new form of teaching and in a new didactic paradigm. In this scenario, some criteria can be usefully identified – transmediality, interactivity, active learning and enhancement of experience – capable of guiding the didactic action and directing teachers towards a larger and more effective online teaching. These criteria, tested in an exceptional health situation, can be useful even beyond the emergency phase in view of a radical didactic renewal, even in classes taken live

Transmedializando lo fantástico: una aproximación basada en el usuario

This article deals with some methodological issues regarding the relationship between medium (more specifically the question of transmediality) and use (more specifically the issue of interactivity) in the field of the fantastic. More specifically, it discusses some fundamental hypotheses on the way the interactive dimension of transmedial adaptations can either increase or diminish the fantastic effect. A special emphasis will be put on issues of time and narrative, on the one hand, and context and medium traditions, on the other hand.Este artículo aborda algunas cuestiones metodológicas concernientes a la relación entre medio (más en concreto, el asunto de la transmedialidad) y uso (más en concreto, el tema de la interactividad) en el área de lo fantástico. En particular, reflexiona sobre ciertas hipótesis fundamentales en torno a la manera en la que la faceta interactiva de las adaptaciones transmediales puede incrementar o disminuir el efecto fantástico. Se prestará especial atención a las cuestiones de tiempo y narración, por una parte, y de contexto y tradiciones mediáticas, por otra