Bill Wasik, Susan Boyle and Henry Jenkins

If you have a spare few hours, Henry Jenkins' eight part If it doesn't spread it's dead series makes for some fascinating theoretical reading.

But if you're on a lunch break, try this article from Salon.com on 'viral culture'.

It's an interview with Bill Wasik, 'internet instigator' and original inventor of the flash mob.

It's insightful, pragmatic. In particular I like his analysis of the Susan Boyle phenomenon and what he calls the 'nanostory' (there's a lot more to the article than SB but thought it worth mentioning).

"I define nanostory as the basic unit of this kind of churning viral culture. Susan Boyle is a classic example of a nanostory. She burst onto the scene. Not just in Britain but here in the U.S. with a few YouTube videos. And immediately what she becomes is not just a little celebrity but this giant symbol of all this stuff about the culture that people want to hang on her. Her age or her appearance becomes symbolic of cutting against this youth- and beauty-obsessed media culture. The sort of style of music she likes, these throwback Broadway songs, wind up being indicative of some kind of more transcendent approach to music.

She becomes this giant symbol and all this meaning gets heaped upon her. But then of course, there's nothing to sustain it. She became this giant micro-star at a point when she wasn't going to be on television again for many weeks. If you can't feed the machine, then it shuts down. We'll just be distracted onto the next thing if it doesn't give us more to keep us going. That, to me, is a classic example of a nanostory. It is a short-lived media phenomenon that is driven by the sheer quantity and speed of the contemporary conversation. So many hours of cable news to fill, there are so many blogs that need refreshing. Now there's Twitter and more. And so we seize upon these tiny little things and try to elevate them into sensations, but of course they can't bear up under the weight of it."

For a different viewpoint, you can check our Henry Jenkin's view here

Two interesting reads: crowdsourcing and spreadable media

Here's two things I've been thinking a lot about over the last week or two.

First, Neil Perkin's 'crowdsourcing' project. Neil put a call out for people to contribute slides to a presentation on the subject of community. With the addition of bookends and a few tweaks, he 'sourced' a surprisingly cohesive, smart and by its very nature, authentic presentation, and I'm totally enamoured with the idea.

In a funny way, one of Neil's observations about entertainment sums up the whole presentation - quite simply it's more fun if it's shared.

The second is Henry Jenkins' eight part spreadable media serialisation entitled If it doesn't spread, it's dead.

I've only just started reading, but so far it's an interesting look at the concepts of memes and viral media, and the weaknesses of biological metaphors. It suggests that a theoretical emphasis on self replication comes at the expense of understanding the way ideas are transformed 'as they pass from hand to hand'.

Discuss.

Entertainment for convergence culture

Over at Faris’ place he’s posted a link to his insightful new preface for the Brazilian version of Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture.

It’s a first class summation of ‘participatory culture’.

Here's a taste:

"The convergence he is referring to isn’t the convergence of devices and suppliers that the telecoms and technology industry is obsessed by, but rather the convergence of modes; of production with consumption, of the mainstream with the underground."

and

"The story of participatory culture runs through reality TV, the cheap way to fill airtime that became a global phenomenon, through knowledge communities, fan fiction, Photoshop and cross platform, or transmedia, storytelling – anywhere there are gaps in the canonical narrative that people can rush to fill.”

So anyway, Faris also mentions Heroes as the first entertainment property created for convergence culture. Heroes first aired back in September 2006.

However I think I can proudly say that the Aussies pipped the Yankees at the post on this one.

In 2003, a then little known outfit called Hoodlum Entertainment created Fat Cow Motel for pay TV operator Austar and its TV, mobile and broadband platforms.

It was set in the rural town of Fat Cow, a small place where big things happened. Participants were invited to help solve a series of mysteries over 13 weeks to help keep the town alive.

In light of its success, it was picked up by ABC.

Hoodlum were quite simply ahead of their time.

You can take a look at this and other case studies here.

Hoodlum are now recognised as a global leader in interactive storytelling having recently scored a Bafta and an Emmy for their work on Spooks and Emmerdale respectively.

I write this not to gloat but because I have a professional crush on Hoodlum and hope I will work with Nathan and Tracey at some point.