I am very excited to be attending Merging Media’s Transmedia Seminar and Lab happening April 28-29, 2011.
The seminar and lab provide a framework for Transmedia business and creative development as well as explores ways to identify and develop the operative idea of multi-platform production. I am really excited to benefit from Anita’s invaluable business advice and creative development tips at this inspiring event.
The two day hands on lab covers full cycle of development, writing, production & distribution from “Conception to Consumption”.
The Seminar is open to professionals from all media sectors and is suitable for practitioners who are curious about transmedia and want to learn more or know about it and are seeking a framework to continue the development of their transmedia programs.
Check out this promotional video we did to create buzz for the event.
These past few months I have neglected to post anything on my website which is a shame. Although I have been super busy which is a great sign on a fun project called Neonology.
The study of the new, Neonology is all about promoting a welcoming, safe and inclusive community for all youth. Neonology encourage today’s youth, teachers, school administrators and parents to become leaders of change and help silence stereotypes and prejudices.
The project provides youth with the tools to understand the impact power and privilege has on their lives, teachers and administrators with the means to become aware of the power they have to create an anti-oppressive teaching culture, and parents will a deeper awareness of the complexities and intricacies of their children’s social framework.
During this time I have worn several colourful hats during the development stage of this project. With no real communications plan in place I stepped in to help the North Shore Multicultural Society grow this project into full fruition. Which means that I worked with them on their brand while working alongside an illustrator to get the vision and message on to paper and online.
Our next step was to create a content strategy of what the website would hold for youth. Once the framework of the website was in place, I built their channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help share their message online. Because this project was more visual than content rich, I decided to bring in a film production company to create a promo video for their audience to share.
Did you know that Neonology workshops are in a few high schools across the North Shore and over 1000 students gained a new perspective this year and they are continuing to gain more interest.
Our next step is to get some publicity around the workshops so that they could implement them into other schools around the world but their first priority is the have them across the North Shore.
Lastly we will be launching an event for the students, which will have an arrage of fun workshops focussed on movement physically. Ironically Neonology is a MOVEMENT.
This week on Collaborative Corner, Nicole Sheldrake who is a creative writer and the founder of Vancouver Innovation Camp talks about creative thinking and how you can apply these techniques to your daily process.
I’m a writer, so you’d think that when invited to write a guest blog post I would leap from my chair with excitement and shout Yes! Instead, I felt as though I was ordered to prance naked on Granville Street at Tuesday lunchtime.
So of course I accepted.
But it got me thinking about how one simple request immediately brought up my bucket of fears and stories. Stories, for example, I tell myself about not being good enough. Despite those fears filling my head, I said yes because developing creative thinking skills is partly about being open to new experiences.
It would be a practical but exhilarating piece of work. I could see it front me, glowing slightly with inspiration – what to do, how to do it, legions of readers being excited by new ideas… and indeed, it was right in front of me, on this great blog called Copyblogger, on another called Litemind… and so on.
There are already a ton of blogs about creative thinking and how to do it. I figured that, honestly, I would only be repeating what they were saying. So I decided to apply creative thinking techniques and come up with another focus for my blog.
The blog must be instructional, i.e. tell readers how to be creative thinkers.
Assumption #3:
I must write the blog from the point of view of an ‘expert’.
So I could write a fiction blog that showed readers how to think creatively from an amateur’s experience. There was some potential there…I’ve read many blogs about creative thinking techniques but none about a person’s experience consciously and (semi-) systematically applying the concepts.
Creative Action Online
Of course there are lots of people out there who are successful in business and creative projects and who apply creative thinking techniques daily. But what about someone who is just starting to ‘unleash her creative potential’? Someone who wants to think more creatively, not just for her creative projects but in all aspects of her life?
Being an expert is not my thing. I’m an expert in my own life. That’s it. And I like applying concepts. I like creative ‘action.’ I made a decision; I could write a blog about the action I am taking to apply creative thinking techniques in my daily life. Disclaimer: you’ll be reading about my failures as much as my successes. Failure is, after all, just a way to get feedback on progress and learn.
Action Items
Do something you fear, every day: It can be small. Very small. Talking to a stranger at the bus stop. Practice acting despite your fears.
Challenge your assumptions: List your assumptions about a problem first. Are they actually true? Can the assumptions be altered in any way? What other possibilities does this reveal?
Keep the Conversation Going
This blog will be about my experiences applying creative thinking to solve problems or just improve my life. If I can entertain you or maybe, just maybe, even inspire you to think more creatively, then I will consider the blog a success.
A blog is a collaborative effort and I would like to hear your comments and stories. What is your experience with applying creative thinking techniques? What results have you got from challenging your assumptions?
