In just a few minutes, the media onslaught began. And one can cynically regard the non-stop FoxNews and CNN live coverage as exploitation business as usual – after all, television news outlets have been known to run endless live news commentary on highway police car chases. But looking a little deeper into this event finds us inside a narrative with fragments across media, and a backstory embedded in the fabric of the web in a way that suggests a shift in how we understand these kinds of events.

It instantly became clear to me that we have entered an age in which the narrative of real time politics has gone beyond monolithic TV spectacle and entered into a complex mode in which the collective consciousness of a nation and a people surfaces with the kind of depth and breadth that was simply not possible in a pre-web era.

As I attempt to piece the fragments together, I discover an underlying narrative built around artifacts, not merely evidence in the sense of the law, and the justice to be meted for this crime but rather, a trail of moral imperatives, political certitudes and unspooled dogma. It looks something like this:

PART 1: AN INCIDENT

In March 2010, Gabrielle Giffords votes for the Health Care Bill. The Tuscon Sentinel reports that her Arizona office is broken into and vandalized.

On March 25th MSNBC interviews Giffords, and, she says does not perceive this as a serious threat. However, she expresses concern that Republican ex-Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin has targeted her publicly.

PART 2: THE CROSSHAIRS

Sarah Palin targets a handful of Democrats on her website using as a graphic representation, a crosshairs symbol that resembles that of a gun. Giffords is disturbed by this image and says in the MSNBC video that this is dangerous and may incite violence but the image stays up on the site.

PART 3: A RANDOM GUY WHO LIKES MEIN KAMPF BUYS A GUN

Eight months later, on October 25th, 2010, Jared Loughner signs up for a MySpace page, on which he posts his love for books such as Mein Kampf. Less than a month later, on November 19th, Loughner purchases a Glock semi-automatic handgun in Arizona.

PART 4: THE SHOOTING

A surveillance video in a Tuscon Safeway captures the shooting of Representative Giffords and the other victims. The video is puportedly on Youtube but quickly removed as is the identified shooters MySpace page (screengrabbed above).  Bystanders instantly document the scene.

PART 5: WHO DID IT?

Police apprehended and identified Loughner on the scene. Artifacts from his Youtube channel, are found, downloaded and re-encoded by several youtube users following the removal of his channel.

PART 6: WHAT MOTIVATED THE SHOOTER?

At this point, little is known about the shooter or his motives. But then in the hours following the shooting, Sarah Palin’s name begins to surface and her map with the crosshairs makes its way around the blogosphere. Many commentators see Palin’s map as a call to arms and a violence-inciting graphic that could be related to the shooting. The Huffington Post reports that the map is taken down from Palin’s site and a controversy ensues about why.

PART 7: THE AFTERMATH

A few days later, Palin takes to her Facebook page to defend herself against any association with the acts of violence by Loughner.

Within hours of her video, President Barack Obama gives a speech memorializing the victims of the shooting. He calls for civility, and his rhetoric addresses a the wide swath of political animus generated in the previous days. His message: reconciliation.

PART 8: POST-MEMORIAL

At this writing, Representative Giffords appears to be recovering if still in critical condition. The shooter, Jared Laughner, is in police custody, awaiting his trial. In the six short days since the shooting, millions in America alone have watched video coverage and commentary, read accounts and opinions, stared at the web artifacts online, and written hundreds of thousands of comments on blogs, youtube videos and tv and newspaper sites. A Google search for “Gabrielle Giffords shooting” yields 87 million references, and a YouTube search finds nearly 5,000 videos.

THE MAKING OF A NEWS NARRATIVE

The core of the narrative cycle of this story has played out in so broad a field that it is almost impossible to catalogue it all. But what we can observe based on the myriad ways in which information was both generated and revealed is that we are no longer in an era where a handful of journalists report to the public what they have observed or what they consider “the facts” of the story to be. For example, had the presence of the Palin crosshairs map not been widely blogged about, then the disappearance of the map may have sounded like an outlandish conspiracy to defame Palin. Even the sudden emergence (by a youtube user) of the nearly year old MSNBC video in which Giffords refers to the Palin map is a function of a narrative that refuses to be corralled by any one source.

As information surrounding the shooting surfaced from social media, news, and first person sources, what became evident was that the substance of this tragic narrative –the story itself, would become one in which America both plays out and questions its love for and discomfort with the rhetoric of violence. After all, these calls to arms are documented in many places – every leader, in politics or media who has ever called for or suggested anything close to assassination of a rival or other public figure can be found online and studied and/or played ad infinitum. In what other era has this been possible?

And in the broader political scene that is a backdrop to this chilling story, many narratives are aggressively being played out including the one that pits Sarah Palin as a presidential contender in 2012 against Barack Obama. In constructing this narrative, political operatives on both sides will use as their tools, the artifacts of this incident, now over 87 million strong, to build the fabric of the presidential history of America and the moral tenor of its people. Within the chaos of it all, there are a number of stories, not the least of which is the question of how our rhetoric can so seamlessly become narrative.

Naturally, studying the thread of this narrative made me question how it is that some of the most relevant moral and social issues of our time are patently NOT present in the more “constructed” narratives that we consciously create for television and film.  There is something here, inside this story–this wide-ranging “news” narrative that floats from Facebook to FoxNews to the rabid comment section of the Huffington Post and beyond which I think we ought to observe very closely. We are in an era that spins constantly – it is not the “web” for nothing, after all. Though the loom has become invisible to us with our tethered devices and time-wasting digital blithering, let’s not forget that we are weaving rapidly, frequently and without conscious regard for what the fabric is saying. Yet that fabric is where the handwriting of our story lies.

Yet every time I hear the “TV Everywhere” chorus, I wonder who made this “the moment”. Because it most certainly does NOT seem to be any kind of definitive moment for me. I still watch the shows I like, exchange the content I dig up online, no matter whether the cable is connected, wrapped, cut or hanging out behind my TV. Perhaps TV Everywhere is a song based on the agenda of cable providers desperately trying to figure out how to keep subscribers, and big content providers trying to make sure they keep their prized demographics.

But seriously, is cutting the cord and watching content across various platforms/devices really the issue when considering what comes through to whatever screen? Do platforms really matter in that context? Does the fact that Google TV wants to offer an all-you-can-eat content buffet really alter my tastes in any profound way? I think not.

As audiences, we care about whatever our interests are at the moment, not so much about the gear, or the platform. Although certain platforms make the experience of entertainment smoother and more convenient to our lifestyles, the truth remains that we follow that which moves us. And sometimes those of us who spend a lot of time thinking about technology and content in a slightly abstract way forget this. Yet, ask any TV programming executive and you will hear them say they are looking for content that audiences are drawn to. This is not to say these guys get a pass – after all, their blind spot has been their unwillingness to experiment with content that doesn’t look like old-school TV. That makes me wonder really HOW committed they are to meeting the demands of a sophisticated and fast-changing viewership. But I digress.

Let’s go to the watercooler for a second — that famed watercooler which has become extension of the shared entertainment experience we have alone or with personal friends in our private spaces – our home, or their homes. Then we seek to share and/or relive the “best of” moments when we engage with our work colleagues in a not so intimate environment called the workplace. Now with social networking in the workplace (and all the gear to make it possible even if the bosses don’t like it), the act of sharing entertainment is an activity that can be experienced not just with the folks you physically SEE in your office, but perhaps your buddies on the other floors, or a that rival company, or “friends” you added on Facebook one drunken night at a bar and now trade viral videos with. The range is wide and features feathers of every color: From long popular lo-fi gag photos LOLcats to Josh Groban singing Kanye West tweets and the occasional political moment that grabs the country’s attention such as the indefatigable Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 8 1/2 hour speech, these exchanges connect us virtually and physically in laughter, outrage, mockery, sadness, wistfulness and all manner of diversionary emotion.

One thing is constant: every content creator wants a piece of the watercooler Holy Grail – the sticky phenomenon…the thing that gets people talking. Surely that’s why advertising, after suffering the fate of the mouse-click strove hard in 2010 to legitimately become part of that rainbow of emotion that is a valuable commodity in the marketplace. Occasionally it succeeded with campaigns like the Old Spice Guy. And it is perhaps what Hollywood tries to invent when it births a new franchise (or re-hashes an ancient one). But 2010 was also the year in which that fountain of “real entertainment” notoriously failed to create a marquee entertainment brand that had folks gathering around the water cooler.

So what exactly is it that we as a voraciously media consumptive society (at least in North America) are engaged by? A quick cobble-together yields a picture it that looks something like this: zombies (The Walking Dead), cats doing anything, famous people making fun of other famous people (Josh Groban/Kanye West), old people telling dirty jokes (Betty White), politics served with jokes (Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert), regular people saying what everyone thinks but doesn’t say (The Rent Is Too Damn High Party’s Jimmy McMillan). All these people engage us in ways that entertain and/or inform, often provoking or titillating the senses.

With so much competing for our eyeballs and minds, we are now in the habit of curating viscerally and without regard for the classification of content. Invariably, hybrids emerge, and a blurring between content forms begins to take hold. For example, the blurring of the line between so called “information” and “entertainment” is increasingly evident. Certainly, to some this signals the death of “real news” and journalism. Some others, like the very tabloid styled Huffington Post lose no sleep over this distinction and move forward into a future that seeks to engage, at any cost.

While I’m not arguing for the tabloid-ization of everything, and I value ideas and engagement that push the brain beyond titillation, there must be a way in which cross-pollination becomes an opportunity to re-think the way we see form. Forget about TV being on my Android. Who cares? We MUST think beyond platform and medium into content itself, and the audience that seeks out all the things we as media creators bring them – news, jokes, social change, stories in any and all forms.

We’ve already seen the result of a powerful hybrid news-entertainment personality in “fake news” guy Jon Stewart, whose laudable actions on behalf of the 9-11 Responders yielded real political and practical impact. I’m not sure Jon Stewart as a figure could have been considered America’s “most trusted newsman” in a pre-digital, pre-social media world. Of course there are some who consider comparisons between Stewart and Cronkite a travesty of epic proportions. While I myself might wait a few more years to crown Stewart, I think the reach of his work speaks for itself.

Onward, sans-idea boundaries, into 2011!

And every once in a while when there’s lots of time to play around, you can get really, really into making pretty melon-thingys with it. But then it sits there behind everything else in your drawer until…wait, I think I found a new use for it – I can use it to scoop the inside of a cupcake out to make a room for a filling!

I’ve written about how Twitter feels like entertainment to me sometimes, and have often used it as many do, for polling or advice, or just to keep up with the news of your business or friends. But as many have pointed out, it’s an evolving platform, the full potential of which will reveal itself in time.

Microblogging in and of itself is an interesting hybrid between the fully formed blog concept and the concise idea nugget that speak to our fast moving, mobile enabled times. There is no doubt that the evolution of microblogging has been courtesy of the mobile computing age. So what can we I do with this thing?

The entertainment possibilities grow everyday. With the success of @shitmydadsays (a recounting of foul-mouthed, misogynistic advice-giving 74 year old dad), CBS is taking the chance on another Twitter based show with @sshdonttellsteve, a chronicle by “Steve’s” roommate of his layabout, unemployed and frequently drunk roommate. And just last month, we find Ashton Kutcher developing a show called Dear Girls, based on @charliemcdonnell‘s eavesdroppings on a bunch of ditzy girls who live upstairs from him.

In a trend that leans mostly toward the satirical, these shows all have the quality of distancing oneself from the main characters and laughing AT them, in a very Twitter-esque “OH” kind of way. OH-the abbreviation for “overheard”- is a way Twitter users show their disapproval or scorn for certain kinds of social behavior. Usually, when someone is inappropriate, or oversharing in a public context, these quotes tell the rest of us that “those people” are to be the fodder for jokes. This clearly makes for very entertaining commentary. Which is why that strain of Twitter commentary is what makes it to Television.

But I wondered if we might not take the core function of satire into the edgier realms of social change or use it to address social consciousness. And sure enough, I was reminded of a feed I saw quoted in the early days of the BP oil spill, @BpGlobalPR. This fake PR feed tweets in a voice that sounds both cheery and honest about an oil company’s motivations and behind-the-scenes ammoral behavior.

Like all good satire, it is amusing because it unmasks the PR game that these large corporations play, and which we all know they play. For instance, here’s a recent tweet: “Chevron launched their “We Agree” campaign today, calling on oil companies to clean their messes. Jerks.http://ow.ly/2Vx7q ”  Clearly, accountability is at the heart of this satire, and they take the same “shame on you” game that we play with our foul-mouthed dads, drunken roommates and ditzy neighbors and bring it into corporate accountability.

Of course CBS will NEVER be interested in satire based on critical social or environmental issues, but that is why Twitter is a wonderful home to have if you happen to be gifted in that sort of voice. After watching The Inside Job this weekend, I thought: Where is the Twitter feed that satirizes greedy bankers. Hello? Any takers? This melonballer needs another use!

Below is a CBS promotional video for the series, launching this fall. My immediate feeling was that I enjoy the twitter feed more than what I can see of the show so far. The obvious reason is that so much of Halpern’s dad’s humor is totally R-rated, and it doesn’t translate to network TV.You can watch the video below and also read the original Twitter feed to see what you think.

I’ve long been fascinated by memes like I Can Haz Cheezburger and FAILblog, many of which have been extended to print and published in book form. The beauty of most Memes is that they are image-based and take a split second to appreciate – essentially a single joke that can be played in many ways to great comic effect. But with entirely text-based memes like we’ve seen on Twitter, including TextsFromLastNight (which I’ve also heard will soon become a TV show),  I wonder if there is something that makes some memes more narratively compelling than others.

With William Shatner in the role of the Dad from ShitMyDadSays, a nice dovetailing of Shatner’s own social media savvy and interest (he’s very active and often amusing on Twitter as @WilliamShatner) with the clippy, 140 character way in which the Dad character developed on Twitter makes for a more interesting experiment than most. It makes me wonder if the secret sauce is character + personality = sustainable series. We will soon find out if the 1.4 million fans of the @shitmydadsays meme will actually enjoy the extension into story and stick around to watch the show.

There was MySpace, then YouTube, then Facebook, Twitter followed by every other niched and slightly varied social network. I love the idea of social media for a number of reasons, aesthetic, personal and political. Nothing warms my heart more than the idea that someone behind a firewall in Iran could connect with me sitting in my apartment in Los Angeles during the controversial political situation that arose from the 2009 Iranian election. I also enjoy the casual exchange of interesting ideas and happenings that is the stuff of Facebook friendships.

So here we are, in 2010 with so many ways to connect, form communities and find kindred spirits online. Yet for all the fun we have watching viral videos, getting recommendations from friends on what movies to watch, or playing Mafia Wars with them on Facebook, are we really accessing the best and brightest of what’s in that enormous web-o-sphere?

Let’s imagine for a second that the web is like a frontier, say, how most of America was before the 19th century. And suddenly, from literally a few hundred thousand settlers, 100 million people showed up and populated the land. You’d have something akin to the chaos that happens when people are displaced after massive disasters or wars. Nobody would what the rules were, how to find anything and the one guy who had the map of the entire land might be the most valuable person around.

I’m going to call the Mr. Wise Sage Google. So Google comes in and says: ask me a question, any question. You need to know where the nearest river is so you can access water? I can tell you? You need to know where you can find lumber to build your houses? Here, I’ll show you. Then slowly but surely, this massive number of people settle down, with the help of Mr. W.S. Google. A few years goes by, Mr. Google teaches a few classes, and people learn more about their world, how to find things and they come up with their own maps and books and ideas.

Then, another few years go by, and as people get when they are well fed and comfortable, they get bored, restless. They have a few books and games and songs they brought from the old country which they’ve read over and over again. The kids want something new, different so soon you get some young whippersnapper called Mr. Hot Stuff Youtube who invents a new, novel idea: anyone can come up with a brand new game, or story and share it with the rest of their community. Wow! The kids go wild. They love it. They tell stories of birds falling from trees; babies laughing, dancing, talking in funny ways. And everyone laughs heartily. A few of these kids become really well known all over the land and everyone agrees: the new age is upon us.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the adults are thinking: hmm, these babies dancing, are they really that interesting? They’ve seen babies do all kinds of extraordinary things in their lives and so this just doesn’t seem that exciting. But every once in a while, they see something beautiful, a performance that makes them think and look a little harder. But in between working, eating and sleeping, it’s hard to find those beautiful interesting ideas. So they just give up because mostly it looks like rubbish to them.

Then suddenly, riding on a gorgeous, shiny black horse, a familiar face from the old world appears, but he looks very different from what they remember, and his name is Mr. Slick Interface Hulu. He brings fantastic entertainment and beautiful packaging and everyone is happy, young and old because it gives the old folks what they want and does it just how the kids like it. For a while, everyone is happy. But as humans are inclined, they get bored with Mr. S.I. Hulu’s offerings and the rumblings for more entertainment begin.

At this point, the kids, who are still playing with Mr. H.S. Youtube’s ideas have grown up a little. They’re talking about politics, and music and art, and real stories, not just babies and animals and farting. Even the old folks notice that they are drawn to the new wave of inventions. But now, there’s a problem: there’s so much of this stuff that no one can find what they like. Even the kids are starting to get frustrated because there’s so much out there.

Enter a new-old character: Ms. Smart Thinking Curator. Ms. Curator was once a kid who played with H.S. Youtube ideas. Now she has traveled, been educated by curators of from the old country and developed some tastes of her own. The old folks love her because she understands their language, and the kids like her because she’s one of them. Ms. S.T. Curator suggests a simple new idea: How about if I figure out what everyone’s into: so the people who love puppies and babies can have as much as their hearts desire and the best of the Shiba Inus in the universe. Then those political rabble-rousers, who want to hear and participate in arguments all day long can have their own little corner. And same with the people who love food, clothes, horses and so on. And because Ms. S.T. Curator knows that people want to taste the product before they sign up, she spends a little time explaining why those puppies she selected are the best puppies in the entire world. And Voila! The curation of entertainment is born.

So now I ask, is it not time to trust some new voices and tastes to curate entertainment for us? I don’t discount the voices of the masses, nor am I unaware of the significant challenges in aggregating and distributing video/film in a meaningful way online. BUT, with the advent of interfaces like Boxee and to some extent Roku (and other such devices) which make it possible to combine many entertainment sources this is imminently possible. I see that Clicker is attempting some such organization although my argument about them is that they are still quite neutral in their aggregation and not aggressively curatorial.

I believe we are entering the age of the Curator. There is plenty of entertainment being created that is difficult to access or find. What we need are assured voices who understand contemporary tastes and can do a better and more effective job than the crusty and outmoded TV and film studio executives of bringing relevant content to the attention of interested audiences.

So while technology inventions and killer apps are amazing, can somebody please invent the Human Curator – that would be killer.

Over tea in Brooklyn’s train-rattling DUMBO neighborhood, Monello and I spent a few lively hours discussing a broad range of ideas surrounding the practice of Transmedia and what it means to the form and art of the story when we cross into the wild, expansive possibilities of narrative without boundaries. Again and again, he cited examples of  audience engagement AS art, performance, and not simply the necessarily evil creative people have to suffer to get their work seen by audiences. I recognized that as artists, especially filmmakers, the “art” of audience engagement may be the hardest one to embrace yet in constructing the full Transmedia experience, Monello demonstrated how critical it is.

What struck me as we spoke was how accessible and practical Monello was but then I remembered that it was he and his group of collaborators after all, that were responsible for the savvy, practical and explosive phenomenon known as The Blair Witch Project. (He calls that an early, unidentified Transmedia project – which spawned lesser known books and games that expanded the story and appealed to varying audiences) Yet as the same time, I found myself his unbridled love for story and his zeal for the challenge of creating compelling, immersive experiences rather infectious.

Because it was my obsession with rapidly shifting world of narrative form and content that led me to start writing this blog in the first place, I bombarded Monello with questions about how he and his partners at Campfire manage to do what they do, convince brands to let them create cross-platform stories and experiences; badgered him for the requisite end-of-year 2010 predictions; and pestered him for speculations on when Transmedia might go wide. He was gracious and patient with his extensive answers – a limited selection of which I am posting here.

WHAT IS A STORYTELLER WITHIN TRANSMEDIA?
Rejecting the limitations of titles such as “filmmaker”, Monello says stories can be anywhere and on any platform so he privileges the term “storyteller” above all others. When a storyteller is effective, s/he is “conducting” and “orchestrating” a creative narrative experience for an audience, no matter where that might be. He is adamant that audiences should be able to engage as lightly or as deeply as they want, and that all engagement experiences should be built with that in mind – value at very level. Emphasizing that a Transmedia narrative might have a component as low-tech as a paper invitation (which Campfire used in the True Blood campaign), the goal is always to allow the audience to engage, and dig deeper if they so desire.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ARTIST/AUTEUR’S VISION IN TRANSMEDIA NARRATIVES?
In designing the narrative experience, Monello says, “the dirty little secret of transmedia narratives: creators have far more control over the story than anyone really lets on.” In more cases than not, when an audience engages with the intention of building/contributing to a narrative, they are playing a role that has been designed by the author of that story. So to all those auteurs nervous about crossing into the abyss of a creative world run by crazed mob fans, there’s nothing to fear. On the contrary, encouraging fans to engage can only increase the value of one’s brand.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR TRANSMEDIA NARRATIVES TO BECOME MAINSTREAM?
Right now, he says he still struggles with mainstream marketing teams resistance “to constructing a convergent multiplatform narrative” because of the splintered way agencies handle all their platforms–hardly ever basing a campaign vision on a unified cross-platform story. Despite challenges on the brand side with which he works,  Monello thinks the Transmedia road is still a lot tougher on the Film and TV studio side where one might expect there to be more story innovation. The ideal scenario, he says, is that a powerful showrunner will initiate a Transmedia project across the board and turn it into audience gold but doubts that will really happen. He believes a more likely scenario is that the “game-changer will come from an indie creator,” not unlike a Blair Witch scenario of the next decade who “with the force of the fans will reformulate the system”.

Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies: Unlike other forms of media the Internet will not destroy the pay-TV model. Consumers want a high-quality video experience across platforms (mobile device, laptop, monitor). Consumers will demand quality and ease of use.

Doug Knopper, co-founder and co-CEO of FreeWheel: Consumers are getting closer to the type of content experience they want when it comes to video. Winners will be twofold in this world: those that create compelling content and those who can figure out how to build a business model around that content. Allowing the media companies the control and flexibility to manage and monetize their content will help content creators survive this transition.

Avner Ronen CEO and co-founder of Boxee: It may be the year of TV Everywhere, but the future is Internet Everywhere.   Storytelling will change. There are no limits on the length of a story, and viewers will be able to direct their viewing experience. One can also run parallel stories within a show. By 2015, there will be an Internet show that will be bigger than a TV show today. You will have more Apple subscribers than Comcast subscribe. People will watch more video and they will pay more for it.

Jeremy Reed, SVP Content and Editorial, Demand Media: Next big thing is trying to understand there is an imbalance between supply, need and cost. You need to understand the ROI before you greenlight content. Is it quality and relevant to a community? And increasing the competitiveness — in a search world is a social world.

And perhaps the MOST controversial was James Spare’s demo of “my TV is watching me” (watch demo close to the end of the video). Everyone screamed Big Brother!

James Spare, president and CEO of Canesta: We’ve invented technology that can track objects in 3-D space. The market for 3-D is huge. A new market is 3-D input, which can, for example, have a screen detect your motion and then be able to interact in a 3-D environment. (Shows video of TV watcher moving channels with hand wave gestures). This will give rise to a whole set of new capabilities.