Guagua Pública

Is transmedia a chameleon?

I live within three major cultures. I'm sure there's an infinite number of other cultures I connect with, but these are where I live. They are the American, the Puerto Rican, and the Internet cultures. So multiculturalism comes naturally to me. That and I'm a software guy, so everything is an object with certain properties and methods. To me multiples of anything are second nature.

So the concept of a story using multiple mediums, seemed like something most people would understand. It can be surprising when certain words fail completely in bridging cultures. I believe that transmedia is one such word. If everything is an object, then of course everything is transcultural and therefore transmedia. Unfortunately, in American English, hardly anyone can make the jump from objects to transmedia. I'm guessing, it's so beyond normal, most people can't find anyway to make transmedia "mean" anything to them.

After encountering this problem with Gil, then with a Linked In group, and finally with Kat Meyer from O'Reilly. I had to seriously analyze what was going on. If I want anyone to be able to get on the bus, then I probably should stop using transmedia! Between you an me, I think that the transmedia in transmedia producer will eventually disappear. They will all just be producers, but that's a while away.

In the meantime, I feel that to switch from an author to a transmedia producer should have some way to convey that a change was in order. When authors Internet-enable their process of production, they will, I believe, radically improve their influence and therefore, their revenue. So until authors accept they are producers, I think I'll call them web producers. Everyone knows the web, it's already comfortable. Once they understand that they need to work based on the feedback from their online tribe, they'll be able to produce products their fans will buy.

The only potential problem with web producer, is that I notice it already has a definition. Unfortunately, their not the same. Wikipedia compares web producer with online producer, or someone who oversees the making of content for websites and other online properties. A transmedia producer will do that, but so much more! For now though, they will have to be web producers or online producers.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: kaibara87