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.

There is a clear marketing benefit that arises from multiple entry points into a media property -- and in allowing your audience to participate in creating content and new platforms to distribute it. (Luke Freeman has a discussion here concerning transmedia storytelling in the for-profit media world.)

WHAT IS TRANSMEDIA ACTIVISM

But even more interesting is the door transmedia storytelling opens up for social change cause outreach. Nonprofits and creators of social change media have a challenge in making their content "sticky" and, in a crowded field with limited funding or distribution channels, it takes significant resources and expertise to create audience awareness and inspire action. There is a real and distinct opportunity for activists to raise awareness and influence action by distributing content through a multiplatform approach, particularly in which people participate in media creation.

Looking at this issue in the simplest of terms, "transmedia activism" is one of the best ways to have people connect to a cause, by exposing them to a variety of media properties over various distribution channels -- which opens up avenues for dialogue and provides an audience an educational experience about workable solutions -- and then working with the most creative and engaged audience segment to facilitate the creation of their own content that further explains the cause and inspires action around it.

FILMMAKERS

Paul Hawken, is turning his widely influential book Blessed Unrest into a film by inviting social activists to contribute stories that illustrate the book's "movement of movements" theme -- the documentary will consist entirely of pieces culled from online submissions and aims to be at the forefront of collaborative media towards social change movements.

Spooky Concert, Storyboard Slide, 2008

In a similar vein, Gael Garcia Bernal and Marc Silver, two of the creators of the upcoming documentary Resist, have set up ResistNetwork, a site to strengthen the film's outreach throughout its making, and to invite its audience to contribute stories of change that may end up in the final product or in ancillary media. The network already hosts short films and calls for action from its participants around the film's theme, a search for "authentic freedom" from economic inequity and instability. The network partnered with Amnesty International to set up a webcast exploring how decentralized communications networks can address poverty and its underlying causes.

Silver has also created Eye of the Storm, described as "a website, a public installation and a story," which encourages its audience to explore ways to find peace amid chaos, by contributing audio, video, images and writing, creating an ever-growing collection of user-generated content that will be streamed on web and mobile platforms and will also be part of a real-world installation.

Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein writes about his current documentary project, What We Got: DJ Spooky's Quest for the Commons, for which the film's creators are also using a transmedia storytelling process to craft the film and its outreach strategy.

And on another front, Steven Starr, Producer of FLOW, has leveraged the success of the documentary to create a website aimed at encouraging collaboration among Right to Water activists, who will be able to use the site as a global hub upon which to launch their own local sites.

SOCIAL ACTIVISTS

Organizations have also been successful in executing transmedia efforts. One dynamic example is the Human Rights Action Center, which has been celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights each year through a variety of media it has created, collected or commissioned, including concerts, films, blog posts and spoken word.

Breathrough's social videogame, ICED (I Can End Deportation)

Breakthrough is another organization whose entire mission and strategy is built on transmedia activism, creating and distributing content in a number of media forms and distributing it across a variety of platforms, including the relatively new and growing field of games for change (Games For Change is one resource to explore these tools).

Two recent game efforts have been Oxfam's A Seat at the Table; and Global Kids, which has created Ayiti: Cost of Life and Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City, by retaining a professional developer and working with youth in an after-school program.

BUILDING YOUR COMMUNITY

So how do you do it? How does a nonprofit or media maker -- particularly one with a tight budget or small workforce -- engage in transmedia activism? As Charles Leadbeater has said, "[y]ou don't need an organization... to achieve large and complex tasks... this is about [community-building to] provide communities with tools, resources, platforms on which they can share."

To build a community and have that community connect with a cause, nonprofits should think through how they can execute a multiplatform approach. For this, there needs to be (1) a defined, sustainable strategy and (2) the attendant resources to create and acquire compelling content and distribute it.

With regard to strategy, an organization should consider how its business model could support a co-creation network, and how it can be innovative in minimizing its cash outlay while maximizing its outreach. In the context of social change -- where media can be created by audience members, donors, partners or beneficiaries -- a social change initiative should network with its stakeholders to encourage or solicit innovative media tools that raise awareness and inspire action.

To that end, a similar outreach effort to "friend-raising" will be required in terms of bringing together a co-creation network. (This brings up another potential benefit in terms of fundraising organizations, in that engaged audiences are more likely to donate money; an engaged stakeholder is more likely to donate time to create media, as well.)

This effort requires appropriate technology, staff capacity, and the management ability to collaborate with external consultants and partners. The Internet and related Web 2.0 technologies have opened up new and cost-effective ways for social change initiatives to communicate with their base and to foster a co-creation network -- and has the added benefit of expanding the engaged audience and moving them from awareness to action.

There are also a number of technological tools such as wikis, virtual team environments and videoconferencing, to make interactions and collaboration easier--both internally and with external content creators. In terms of staff capacity and management capability of a nonprofit specifically, performing a communications audit can illuminate an organization's practices and internal capabilities to deploy staff to manage creation, curation and distribution of content, and engage with external content creators.

FINDING THE FUNDS

Image by
Darren Hester via Flickr

The question of resources, specifically funding, is more difficult. Some of the work of building a co-creation network and distributing content can be performed within an organization for "free," in that communications or development staff can be trained to do the work as part of their tasks. Although there is a transactional cost to using staff blood and sweat, there can be little direct cash outlay. (On a related note, during a discussion of social media networking tools at the Craigslist Foundation's Nonprofit Boot Camp, panel attendees estimated they spend around 2 hours a day maintaining their internet- and mobile-based communications towards outreach. A sustained transmedia activist effort would likely require a similar time commitment.)

Content that is produced by users in an open collaboration, particularly in the context of the social change world, could be accessed for free, as well -- or if for payment, for less than an organization would pay a full-time staff person dedicated to content creation. But any sustained transmedia activism effort will require funding. There are still relatively few funders who support media outreach initiatives with any consistency.

In the past few years, The Fledgling Fund has emerged as a forward-thinking and consistent funder with a roster of innovative projects, some of its own making.

The Omidyar Network, Humanity United (which only funds mission-related projects involving mass atrocities and modern-day slavery) and the Skoll Foundation have all supported outreach initiatives employing cause-related art and media.

This past summer, BritDocs hosted a forum, The Good Pitch, bringing together third sector funders and organizations with media makers to explore the idea of collaboration and funding. Shooting People's blog contains a fuller list of some funding possibilities.

Nonprofits engaged in social change initiatives should view storytelling as a necessary component of mission-fulfillment. Any individual institution engaging an audience -- whether beneficiaries, funders, board members, community or other stakeholders -- is required to convey clearly and artfully what it does, how its does it, where its work is most effective and necessary, and why they should support efforts to continue or grow the institution's work.

In the larger view of systemic change, storytelling takes on an even bigger role, where a well-told story creates a shared experience and helps illuminate all factors (root cause and symptomatic) that effect social change efforts at both global and local levels, creating a comprehensive, connected, "best practice" view of achieving progress.

As Lichtenstein points out in his blog, his journey through this process of transmedia storytelling has changed him from a filmmaker to a content producer. Nonprofits dealing with social change don't need to get into the business of content production or multiplatform distribution-- but it is a digital world now. It's likely time to add storytelling to the task list.

FURTHER READING

• Upstream: What Is New Media?
• FLOW: For Love of Water
• Interactively Addressing Immigration
• Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky's Shortlist

This article is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. It was originally published on MediaRights.org, a project of Arts Engine, Inc. This notice must accompany the article at all times.

Making lifestyle choices that protect the environment, reduce global injustice, reflect social responsibility, and contribute to richer communities can also move us away from corporate control.

Here are five suggestions for a freer life:

1. ENTERTAINMENT

Big corporations stifle independent music, books, and movies.

Good: Buy music directly from the artist. Support independent bookstores. Watch independent movies.
Better: Make your own. Sing, play music, tell stories. Only 100 years ago, almost everyone did. Draw out the creativity around and within you.

2. CLOTHES

Fashion fuels the ad industry. Many clothes are made in sweatshops.

Good: Choose union -- and U.S. -- made clothing.
Better: Make your own, patch holes, buy secondhand. Avoid big brand names.

3. FOOD

Most domestic food is grown using GMOs and vast amounts of petroleum. Importing food contributes to global warming.

Good: Eat seasonal foods. Buy local/organic.
Better: Try the 100-mile diet. Start a garden. Support farmers' markets.

4. MONEY

U.S. economic activity consists mainly of moving money around.

Good: Make sure your investments are socially responsible. Put your cash in a local bank or credit union.
Better: Use a local currency system, or start one. Barter for goods and services to get away from money altogether.

5. FUEL

Oil profits are skyrocketing. Peak Oil drives resource wars.

Good: Switch to biofuels made from waste. Carpool.
Better: Bike. Meet your needs close to home.

Provided by YesMagazine.com, a non-profit, ad-free magazine that covers topics of social justice, environmental sustainability, alternative economics, and peace. The magazine is published by Positive Futures Network.

Here at MediaRights.org and Media That Matters, we decided to crew up and give you a fresh, focused, all-in-one package of brand new short films, background information, resources, tips and activities on each of the topics covered in the eighth annual Media That Matters Film Festival.

The mission of the festival is to take the concept of "audience" a step further and use short-form, big issue media as a tool to educate and inspire activism.

This month, our Take Action Pack celebrates Black History Month, which is especially resonant this year. The first black President in the U.S. brings hope that our next generation will grow up with a positive recognition and respect for multiculturalism and race; becoming more active members of the global community. By using our film A Loud Color as a jumping off point, this guide will help provide information about the issues surrounding racial equality and provide helpful tools that you can use to take action in your own community.

The Issue

Image by discoverblackheritage via Flickr

February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada: a time to focus on and celebrate the many achievements and contributions of men and women of African descent. Black History Month functions as an opportunity to not only recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of individuals like President-elect Barack Obama, but to also honor the historically important role that the black community has played in the construction of America's identity. Black American neighborhoods have long been plagued by redlining, protective covenants, housing discrimination and poverty, and yet strong, tight-knit and supportive communities have managed to emerge from these difficult conditions. Many of our most famous black leaders credit their success in large part to the support of a close and nurturing community.

New Orleans, Louisiana is a city with one of the most dense black populations in the United States. On August 29, 2005 the landscape of New Orleans was changed forever when Hurricane Katrina crashed into the city, flooding the levees and destroying countless homes and business. The hurricane's worst damage was to predominantly poor, African-American areas of the city; places where residents did not have the resources to vacate the city after the initial flood warnings. The initial event, as well as the slow rescue response and aftermath of Katrina, is often cited as the most glaring contemporary example of the remaining racial inequity within the United States.

While Obama's presidency reminds us that great strides have been made towards equality, many black neighborhoods in New Orleans have yet to recover, more than three years since the disaster. Rebuilding not only houses, but entire communities is a challenge currently facing the black New Orleanians who have remained in their city while gathering and preserving history is a large part of that project. The Media That Matters' film celebrates Black History Month with the story of one extraordinary man who is struggling to recover the past and build the future of his community in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward.

The Film

A Loud Color follows 72-year-old Louis Harding as he tours his mostly deserted neighborhood and discusses his mission to rebuild the community center he opened just one month before Hurricane Katrina hit. Winner of the Legacy Award, the film conveys Harding's deep sense of hope that, despite the hurricane's enormous setbacks, he will be able to re-open his center and give black youth in New Orleans a place to come together and learn about their shared history. Both a charismatic storyteller and knowledgeable historian, Harding recounts the contributions of notable African Americans to New Orleans culture, as well as sharing his views on heroes and self-esteem in the black community.

Producer and director Brent Joseph says of the film: "My intended audience comprised of people who cared about the struggle for education in minority neighborhoods as well as those interested in post-Katrina New Orleans. In the end, the film was made as a grassroots effort to inform people of the courage and determination of New Orleanians to strengthen their community."

We are extremely fortunate to be able to present an update on Louis' situation in New Orleans. The Director sent us a couple of special updates that are included on the eighth annual Media That Matters DVD's special features as well as streaming on our website.

Other films to check out from our MediaRights database include PBS' Frontline: The Two Nations of Black America, and the collection of the first ever black-produced and controlled network television series, Black Journal.

The Action!

Educators

• Learn more about African American history, business and culture from this extensive source of documents, articles and links.
• Help make government more responsive to the concerns of Black America! Select an issue and send out letters to your senators through Color of Change.
• Are there seniors in your family or community that should be recognized for their contributions? Do a little research and nominate a "visionary' whose history can be recorded by the National Visionary Leadership Project.
• A Loud Color was produced by the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC.) Visit their website to see some more great work and learn about their many programs for artists and supporters.
• Use one of the above mentioned films as the jumping-off point for a lesson or unit on racial justice, History or the African diaspora, as well as the fiscal and political policy implications surrounding these issues. Download our free Discussion Guide that includes activities and discussion questions that can be adapted for any film.

For Families

President Barak Obama pitches in by painting a house in New Orleans.
Image by Barack Obama via Flickr

• Listen to remarkable oral histories, or record your own story through the Storycorps Griot Initiative. Inspired by the tradition of the griot-or storyteller-from West Africa, this project works to preserve and honor the stories and voices of Black Americans.
• Declare your support and become a Friend of New Orleans! Find people across the globe dedicated to the building efforts and learn what else you can do to assist the city.
• Interested in helping to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward? Give a donation today, or volunteer your own time to Common Ground Relief. Common Ground is a cooperative dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans by offering "assistance, mutual aid, and support".

For Youth Leaders

• Contribute your time and skills to help a New Orleans family get a new home. Check with Habitat for Humanity affiliate to find out about volunteer opportunities.
• Is there an issue in your community that needs attention? Community organizing might be the best approach.
• Learn about and help to preserve the rich history of New Orleans. Visit the Preservation Resource Center, part of Rebuilding Together New Orleans.
• Want to raise money in your community and make a donation directly to Louis Harding's youth center? Go to the film's website for Louis' mailing address.

In Conclusion

We invite you to search around both the Media That Matters and the MediaRights sites to find others films, organizations and articles relating to cultural identity and racial justice.

Good luck, and let us know what you are doing to encourage awareness or change on these issues! Publish an announcement on MediaRights to encourage others to join you, or send us an email with any news or feedback!

More Take Action Packs:

• Conscientious Consumption: Take Action Pack
• The Global Community: Take Action Pack
• American Indian Heritage: Take Action Pack
• Health Literacy: Take Action Pack
• Youth Activism: Take Action Pack
• Every Third Bite: Take Action Pack

This article is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. It was originally published on MediaRights.org, a project of Arts Engine, Inc. This notice must accompany the article at all times.

Who is M.K. Asante, Jr.?

M.K. Asante, Jr.

M.K. Asante, Jr., 25, is an award-winning author and filmmaker who the Philadelphia Inquirer calls "a rare, remarkable talent that brings to mind the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance."

He wrote and produced the documentary film 500 Years Later, winner of five international film festival awards. His latest film is The Black Candle, narrated by Maya Angelou it uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to explore and celebrate the African-American experience.

Asante is also the author of three celebrated books: Like Water Running Off My Back, Beautiful. And Ugly Too, and It's Bigger Than Hip Hop.

He is a professor of film and creative writing at Morgan State University.

You can learn more at his website, www.mkasante.com.

M.K. Asante, Jr. on the Power of Film

I believe in the power of documentary film to transform, inspire, encourage and ignite. I have devoted my being to it and I have been a witness to its transformative power. It is the cousin of the narrative feature, but unlike the narrative feature that usually ends with a perfect resolution, the documentary relies on the viewers to finish the story, to complete the resolution, to be a part of the solution.

M.K. Asante, Jr.'s Picks

Ilha Das Flores (Isle of Flowers): This 12 minute film is perhaps the most powerful documentary I've ever seen. It changed my life and should be watched by all. Do you know what the Isle of Flowers is? Do you know why it exists? Watch this film!!!!

The Agronomist: An extremely powerful film about Haitian media revolutionary Jean Dominique. This film illustrates the power of media in our time and also shows the tenacity of the human spirit.

Classified X: Melvin Van Peebles, one of the godfathers of independent Black film, takes us on an unflinching journey through the history of Blacks in cinema. If you don't already know that hollywood was built on black exploitation, check this out. If you do know, watch this to find out how we can break the cycle!

American Blackout: An especially important film to watch during this political season. For a better understanding of race and electoral politics, check this out. Brilliantly told by the crew from GNN.

Favela Rising: This film, shot in Brazil, illustrates the power of music and art even amid the hardest conditions. Again, the power of the human spirit to be free, to reach others, to build and grow community and to overcome is evident in this masterpiece.

Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-PartHarmony: An extremely powerful film which shows the power and critical role that music played during the People's revolution and fight against apartheid in South Africa. Brilliant, stunning and important and urgent and amazing. Check it out.

Bastards of the Party: What an amazing film! This film shows the history of the Bloods and the Crips, illustrating how they went from community organizations whose mission it was to help the community and to bring about revolution, to killing each other. The filmmaker, a Blood himself, makes an urgent plea to end the wretched cycle of death and destruction. This film is about resurrecting brothers and sisters!!!

500 Years Later: My first film project. This film explores the psycho-cultural effects of slavery and colonialism on the African diaspora.

Wattstax: This is one of my favorite films. Stylistically, it celebrates Black culture while making some very critical political points. This film is musical, visual and simply awesome. Watch it now!

This article is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. It was originally published on MediaRights.org, a project of Arts Engine, Inc. This notice must accompany the article at all times.