This dissertation presents the essence of the experience of instructional designers and instructors who have used alternate reality games (ARGs) and transmedia storytelling (TS) for teaching and learning. The use of game-like narratives, such as ARGs and TS, is slowly increasing. However, we know little about the lived experiences of those who have implemented such transmedia experiences in formal or informal learning. The data consists of written transcripts from interviews with 11 co-researchers in the United States and Europe. Phenomenology was the guiding methodology. The study begins by reviewing storytelling and the use of games in learning, leading up to exploring the tradition of using ARGs and TS in learning contexts. The analysis was one of reduction leading to codes, summary stories, themes, and the essence of the experience. Co-researchers used many techniques to enlighten their learners including problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, encouragement, disruption, and connection-making. When successful, connection-making facilitates learner agency development by providing learners with the power to act by their own initiative. Action came through the communicated narratives and games that closely tied to real-world problems. In the context of these efforts, this study's co-researchers emerged as educational life-world learning-coaches, "sensei", who were each using strategies and techniques to move students toward meaningful real-world learning and the ability to make a difference in the world. The dissertation closes by exploring implications of this study for instructional designers and instructors interested in using alternate reality games and transmedia storytelling for teaching and learning purposes.

El presente trabajo analiza los elementos de la representación del adolescente en los videoclips de la narrativa transmedia de la boyband surcoreana TXT. Con el reciente aumento de la popularidad de las boybands y girlbands surcoreanas en Latinoamérica, especialmente en jóvenes adolescentes, nace la duda si se repetirá el fenómeno que alguna vez One Direction logró. La segregación existente entre Pop Occidental y el K-Pop como industria se basa en la interactividad que mantienen con sus fandoms. Sin embargo, es la representación de la narrativa dentro de la conceptualización de la banda lo que permite la vinculación profunda del fandom con los grupos. Hoy en día la difusión de la narrativa transmedia en la industria musical popular coreana ha aumentado, especialmente en las nuevas generaciones y, en este contexto, se ha diversificado. Es por ello que cada narrativa existente contiene matices que difieren del otro, convirtiéndose así en el valor añadido que posee su universo transmedia. Gracias a esta narrativa no solo son capaces de empatizar con su fandom a través del planteamiento de una historia más cercana a la realidad; sino que mantinenen su propósito inicial: aumentar su popularidad. / This work analyzes the elements of the adolescent's representation in the transmedia narrative video clips of the South Korean boyband TXT. With the recent rise in popularity of South Korean boy bands and girl bands in Latin America, especially among young teenagers, the question arises as to whether the phenomenon that One Direction once achieved will be repeated. The existing segregation between Western Pop and K-Pop as an industry is based on the interactivity they maintain with their fandoms. However, it is the representation of the narrative within the conceptualization of the band that allows the deep connection of the fandom with the groups. Nowadays the diffusion of the transmedia narrative in the Korean popular music industry has increased, especially in the new generations and, in this context, it has diversified. That is why each existing narrative contains nuances that differ from the other, thus becoming the added value of its transmedia universe. Thanks to this narrative they are not only able to empathize with their fandom through the approach of a story closer to reality; Rather, they keep their original purpose: to increase their popularity. / Trabajo de investigación

El siguiente articulo aborda el webtoon coreano desde una perspectiva gráfica, tiene como objetivo explicar el papel de los códigos visuales en la narrativa crossmedia del webtoon coreano, corroborando la hipótesis de que los códigos visuales contribuyen al webton debido a la estandarización de estos. Se realizaron un muestreo no probabilístico, entrevistas y análisis semiótico. Los principales resultados se basan en los códigos visuales de los personajes y su estandarización y se concluye que de esa manera los códigos visuales contribuyen a la narrativa crossmedia del webtoon. / The following article addresses the Korean webtoon from a graphic perspective, its objective is to explain the role of visual codes in the crossmedia narrative of the Korean webtoon, corroborating the hypothesis that visual codes contribute to the webtoon due to their standardization. Non-probability sampling, interviews and semiotic analysis were carried out. The main results are based on the visual codes of the characters and their standardization, and it is concluded that in this way the visual codes contribute to the crossmedia narrative of the webtoon. / Trabajo de investigación

Syftet är att bidra med ökad förståelse kring hur Fridays For Future använder digitala medier samt på vilket sätt de använder det transmediala berättandet för att kommunicera klimatförändringar externt. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med Fridays For Future medlemmar och resulterade i ett material som bearbetades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Den netnografiska observationen resulterade i stor mängd data från Fridays For Future kampanjen #Withdrawthecap som bearbetades genom en kvalitativ dataanalys och med stöd av Gambaratos (2013) analytiska överväganden. Utifrån analys och diskussion av studiens resultat drogs slutsatserna att digitala medier används för mobilisering av strejker. Vidare används digitala medier för att snabbt kunna svara på politikers beslut rörande klimatfrågan. Ytterligare dras slutsatsen att transmedial mobilisering används i kommunikationen. I kampanjen #Withdrawthecap används flertalet beståndsdelar som utgör ett transmedialt berättande vilket visar på att berättandeformen används till viss del för att kommunicera klimatförändringar. / How does the social movement Fridays For Future use digital media when communicating their stance on climate change? The study at hand employs qualitative interviews in order to discern how the organisation use digital media and external transmedia storytelling in their fight for climate preservation. Here, representatives of the organisation are interviewed about strategic decisions taken in regards to organisational digital media use. The collected data was categorized using qualitive content analysis. Additionally, a supplementary netnographic study is featured in which the campaign #Withdrawthecap is examined. The netnographic study resulted in a large amount of data, which was processed through a qualitive data analysis with the support of Gambarato's (2013) analytic considerations. This study unveils the prominence of transmedia mobilization. Furthermore, digital media are used to organize strikes and quickly respond to politicians' decisions regarding the climate issue. The #Withdrawthecap campaign uses most of the elements that defines transmedia storytelling which indicate that the narrative form is used to some extent to communicate climate change.

The world wide web has gone through several distinct eras since its launch in 1989, going through the eras Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0. There is an upcoming era, Web 4.0, where the web will become seamlessly integrated with people's everyday life. However, creating consumer engagement across platforms has already been recognized as challenging in Web 3.0 (Dolan et al., 2016). A type of storytelling, known for creating engagement is transmedia storytelling (TS). TS is a technique of telling one single story across multiple platforms, and when enjoyed together becomes a full experience. There is limited research conducted on the relationship between TS and the web, which became the problem of this study. The purpose of this study is to explorethe research gap and it was fulfilled by asking two research questions. The first oneestablished an understanding about the relationship between TS and Web 2.0 and 3.0, tounderstand how TS evolves and adapts to the web. Based on the built foundation, the second question aimed to explore the possibilities of TS and Web 4.0, and how they could benefit from each other and grow together. To answer our research questions this paper utilised the method of a multiple-case study that examines two cases, one in Web 2.0, and one in Web 3.0. The data was manually collected, traced and broken down into instances using reverse engineering. To analyse the data, it was rebuilt with visual mapping to understand the connections, and lastly compared to the web characteristics and TS principles. Concluding the findings and analysis, it can be established that TS evolves alongside the web, utilising and adapting to the new characteristics. In Web 2.0, TS relied heavily on offline sources such as DVD’s and TV, while in Web 3.0, it existed solely online. The participatory activity also grew from Web 2.0 to 3.0, where the users were an active part of the campaign evolving in Web 3.0. TS manages to create engagement across platforms, and benefits from new technical innovations. After the individual case reports, and cross-case analysis, it could be concluded that TS has good chances of continuing to adapt in the rise of Web 4.0. This study explored the research gap further, offering valuable insight onthe topic and opening for various further research possibilities, where TS and web cancontinue being investigated.

Research shows that young people of today read less and less fiction based on a negative attitude towards reading. At the same time, multimodal media is an increasingly growing part of what the school is expected to focus on. The purpose of the following study is to contribute with knowledge about upper secondary school teachers views on the relationship between multimodal media and students' reading pleasure in literature teaching. This is then discussed from Linda B. Gambrell's research-based perspective on the promotion of reading motivation and transmedia storytelling. By interviewing four practicing Swedish teachers from one upper secondary school, it becomes clear which multimodal media teachers at the school use and how they use these in literature teaching. The results of the study show that teachers use multimodal media such as film, pictures, theater, audiobook and podcast. The teachers experience that multimodal media function as a gateway to fiction in that these media arouse interest and stimulate students in a way that only traditional reading is not experienced as doing. Students get the opportunity to experience one and the same story through different media. At the same time, teachers value the traditional reading of printed text highly in a way that the use of multimodal media should not take place at the expense of traditional reading.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo investigar como características que são inerentes à cultura da convergência podem fomentar a leitura literária. Destarte, tencionamos observar como o uso da tecnologia pode complementar e enriquecer a leitura, através de práticas que possibilitem a junção das mídias tradicionais e as mídias atuais, para assim ressignificar os hábitos de leitura dos alunos. Propomos atividades de leitura participativa e intersemiótica com o uso de dispositivos tecnológicos, que favoreçam o gosto pela leitura e o desenvolvimento de competência de compreensão e de produção de textos narrativos. Utilizamos em momentos diferentes da pesquisa, dois questionários para obtermos dados qualitativos em relação às propostas realizadas. Concluímos que as mudanças nas práticas de leitura em sala de aula são vitais, uma vez que as conversões culturais não podem ser dissociadas das transformações educacionais. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate how characteristics which are inherent to the convergence culture can promote literary reading. Thus, we intend to observe how the use of technology can complement and enrich the reading through practices that enable the joining of traditional and current media, reframing the reading habits among students. We propose participatory and intersemiotic reading activities using technological devices in order to encourage the taste for reading and the development of the competence skills of reading comprehension and narrative text production. In different moments of the research, we used two questionnaires to obtain qualitative data on the proposals made. In summary, we conclude that changes in reading practices in the classroom are vital, since cultural conversions cannot be dissociated from the educational transformation.

<p>Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the “critical theory” of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic “cultural studies” approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic “cultural studies” field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the “completed” convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture. Using the contemporary british drama serial Doctor Who I examine the processes of meaning making among members of the television series fan culture on the popular video content page youtube.com as expressions of cultural convergence.</p><p>This study argues how the skills and talents developed in the interaction with popular culture and in a process of interaction between fans and participants (collective intelligence and participatory culture), will have an impact on the institutionalized knowledge “from above” and in a collective process will seep over to other fields of expertise. The study also argues, as a consequence of convergence culture, that in the contemporary state of online practices, social networking and in our interactions with digital media content, a mandatory “presence” has been created where we today are defined more through our online selves and these practices, than the ones that used to define us in our “physical” lives: “The medium is no longer just the message, we are living in a state where there is only messages”.</p>

Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the “critical theory” of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic “cultural studies” approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic “cultural studies” field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the “completed” convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture. Using the contemporary british drama serial Doctor Who I examine the processes of meaning making among members of the television series fan culture on the popular video content page youtube.com as expressions of cultural convergence. This study argues how the skills and talents developed in the interaction with popular culture and in a process of interaction between fans and participants (collective intelligence and participatory culture), will have an impact on the institutionalized knowledge “from above” and in a collective process will seep over to other fields of expertise. The study also argues, as a consequence of convergence culture, that in the contemporary state of online practices, social networking and in our interactions with digital media content, a mandatory “presence” has been created where we today are defined more through our online selves and these practices, than the ones that used to define us in our “physical” lives: “The medium is no longer just the message, we are living in a state where there is only messages”.

I processi di digitalizzazione e convergenza hanno avuto un forte impatto sulle modalità di produzione, distribuzione e fruizione dei contenuti audiovisivi. Ma tale impatto non si è limitato ai suddetti ambiti. Fenomeni come il transmedia storytelling, le narrazioni distribuite, l’intertestualità, l’ibridazione delle forme discorsive, l’integrazione di elementi di game-playing all’interno di strutture narrative tradizionalmente lineari, e la crescente rilevanza del world-building all’interno del processo creativo di una storia dimostrano che il cambio di paradigma non sta avvenendo solo a livello delle strutture economiche, produttive e comunicative, ma anche a livello narratologico. Scopo di questa ricerca è mappare tale cambio di paradigma, approfondendo in modo particolare l’emergere delle forme narrative transmediali. / The processes of digitalization and media convergence have had a major impact on the procedures of production, distribution and reception of audiovisual content. However, the impact has not been limited to those areas. The emergence of cultural phenomena such as transmedia storytelling, distributed narratives, intertextuality, the hybridization of forms of discourse, the integration of elements of game-playing within the traditionally linear narrative structures, and the growing importance of world-building within the story development process attest that the paradigm shift is not only occurring at an economical, industrial and communicational level, but also at a narratological one. The aim of this research is to map this paradigm shift, with particular focus on the emergence of transmedia narrative forms.