Tribalism in Transmedia
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 6:54AM
One of the things I love best about working in transmedia is the community of fellow creators and like minds. There has never been a warmer, more vibrant, supportive, enthusiastic group of people. But as much as I love my community, I'm seeing a dangerous sentiment afoot these days.
That sentiment is hostility toward outsiders, carpetbaggers, newcomers. We are a tight-knit tribe, and we police our territorial borders with jealousy. We have become victims of our own success, we lament. It's the dawning of the age of the transmedia douchebag, we say. We attack the legitimacy of opinions from anyone not sufficiently established as a member of our community. We review newcomers' presentations, papers, projects, rolling our eyes and denouncing their credibility in order to more firmly establish that unlike the victims of our bile, we are insiders.
We have got to cut that out, and fast.
I can't cast stones; I've been as guilty as anyone else. It can be hard, really hard, to know that you've put two or five or ten years into paying your dues and building your craft, and you're seeing work, acclaim, and speaking slots go to those who aren't as "deserving." Outsiders.
It's true: There are going to be people in our field who are self-aggrandizing, who take credit but don't give it, who puff up their accomplishments (if any) and who win projects over others with more experience and insider credibility. Sure, kid, it's not fair. But who ever told you it was going to be fair?
The solution isn't solace through embitterment. We risk losing the generosity of spirit that makes our community worth belonging to in the first place. We risk becoming jealous even of each other, we risk rejecting innovation because of its source, we risk not fostering talent that can help us all to get better at what we do. We risk everything that matters.
This is a problem that will naturally work itself out. Some of you will remember the heady days of the mid-'90s, when anybody who could edit a little HTML could pull down a chunky salary as a web designer. Since this wasn't a difficult skill at the time, soon there was a glut of web designers on the market. Some of them were talented, dedicated professionals. Some of them were crafty careerists who knew what to say to get a job.
But as the art and science of web design matured, it became easier to tell who really knew what they were doing, and who didn't. The solution didn't involve vocabulary changes or eye-rolling that you couldn't be a real web designer if you'd only hung out your shingle in '99 instead of '95. All it took was time.
All we need is time. Newcomers will be coming, as we mature as an industry. This is not the sign of the end; this is the sign that we've made a good beginning. Now we need to pay it forward, share what we've learned, and see what fresh eyes and minds clear of preconceived notions can show us.
We're at a crossroads. As our community grows past the point where everybody can feasibly know everyone else, at least by reputation and on Twitter, we can choose to become increasingly hostile to outsiders to protect our own credibility. Or we can choose to embrace newcomers, regardless of background or credential, in order to benefit the craft itself.
I choose to give everyone a chance. What about you?
Reader Comments (36)
I must say that I haven't seen the hostility you mention. I consider myself a newcomer (I've been around in the community for a few years -- not as long as you, but I haven't been making an effort to be a creator except since ARGFest 2010) and if anything I'm having to decide what to pursue and what not to.
I wonder if it also has something to do with the difference in our craft. Your work is further toward the pure art side. It's difficult to judge on precise scales, especially working in a new industry. Programming is more precise and the old measurments still work in this new industry.
I'm happy to say that, as a newcomer, I've never experienced hostility or anything other than positivity and encouragement. I hope the incidences of elitism in our community can be kept to a minimum.
However: I also hope that newcomers will do their research, learn the history and read up on past discussions, when entering into dialog with the community. If they do, the discussions that are initiated can move quickly beyond the Transmedia 101 level to something more useful. Is it possible that some of the negative response to newcomers stems from frustration at having to rehash the same old information over and over, when the old discussions and info are already available to anyone with a search engine?
An easy trap to fall into and I'd be lying if I said it had never crossed my mind. Not completely unlike discovering a great band and despising those wannabes that like them weeks later. Because we all know only the first people to like a band REALLY like them.
I remember the sensation during the dot com boom too - "oh you're a web designer too huh?" - where you just want to shake them and say "no I'm one of the rare AUTHENTIC web designers amidst a sea of fakes!". We saw what it took to separate the wheat from chaff there - a bubble bursting. Do tribalism & turf wars become a part of any rapidly growing sector - like a modern day gold rush?
The cynic in me worries that market forces will play much too large a part in 'forging' this community, and the optimist seeks out articles like these to find a better way. Thanks for calling it out.
Evan Jones
What's not okay is losing our basic decency and humanity as the transmedia train picks up speed, and everyone's scrambling to get on board.
The points you raise definitely must be considered, but so far I think you guys are doing a bang-up job :)
But another difficult aspect is dealing with people obviously have no idea what you do. The amount of times I have people tell me what transmedia is because they think I don't know because I'm not Henry Jenkins or Jeff Gomez is insane, or even people who think I've only been a library for the past few years. I'm not going to pretend to them that they a right. I'm going to tell them what I really think, in the most diplomatic way I can.
I want more people in transmedia. I love it when I learn something new. But I'm not going to lie to them for the sake of being nice. Instead, I try to be honest and friendly. The approach is far from perfect and I'm not fully comfortable with, but it is what I'm attempting now.
So I agree with your call Andrea, but I'd love to hear is ways people have come up with to deal with it.
Scott hit the nail on the head, I feel, with his speeding train, and perhaps this is where the picture begins to blur.
I myself have posted how I've been researching transmedia for a few years, firstly through my MA and now as my PhD subject, and I'm stunned every week by the amount of new 'transmedia producers' that are springing up (seemingly from nowhere!)
There's tons of 'noise', especially on Twitter, about #transmedia and it's a mixed bag ranging from those who see it as the future, the 'loudmouths' who are RT'ing anything to do with transmedia all over the place and then the haters... Marketing has, rightly so, hopped onto the speeding train and can see the huge value in extending storyworlds, timelines and territories, but with that kind of exposure you're certain to get those that see it as a buzzword.
I've always found the transmedia community to be a fabulous, sharing one and that is how it should continue. But when you're fielding tweets and even emails that suggest you don't know what transmedia is and even challenging that 'they know more, more, more' it's a tough call.
Let's keep it open and let's keep our cool.
There's always hostility with anything 'new' - especially when there's potential of something being a money-spinner.
It's all about sharing, right? ;)
Maybe in as few as two or three years time, transmedia will be old news and will have evolved into something far more exciting, controversial and challenging!
1. I endorse what Scott said about human decency 100%. You guys, responding in this thread, are the trendsetters and a lot of people will look to you to leadership and guidance. You're going to have to rise above snarkiness and act accordingly.
2. As Alison touched upon, as soon as the money comes into the Transmedia space it is going to be attacked by people far more dangerous to you than naive newbies and ignorant bandwagoners. The sharks are going to descend - people who would gladly use and deceive you to take your cut of the pie. Accordingly, the community that you have built up - and I now feel proud to be part of - must be maintained in order that we all have people that we can trust.
3. Common sense: this is the internet. You don't know what people's backgrounds are. That annoying guy who keeps emailing you with stupid questions and retweets everything remotely Transmedia related? He could be sitting on a trust fund deep enough to bankroll your projects for life. He might have other talents that complement your work. And - let's not forget - he might be teachable and become a great future ally. You just never know.
But in reaction, we're doing a lot of criticizing based on perceived authority (or lack thereof) and not on the actual work being done. Look at the snark directed at Tim Kring, just for example, or the hostility toward SXSW panels submitted by community outsiders.
I've been snarky about people, and then *met them* and found out they really were bright and had great ideas and knew what they were talking about and were really trying hard at this thing. And I'm sure people have been snarky about me, because there's no credentialing authority, and I'm as much a self-appointed expert as anyone else, right?
There really is a lot of rotten posturing going on. But the answer isn't to posture harder, you know? And it's not to write somebody off based on that posture, either. A lot of us found our way here independently. It really is possible these new experts have hard-won knowledge earned as they traveled alone through the wilderness, before they found us. They just have a lot of reactions in place (like overexplaining what they do) because they're not used to there being anyone else in the world like them.
As for my previous comments. What your post (and netwurkers quip) reminded me of was the couple of times I've said to people: 'hey, I've been dealing with the question you're looking at for a while and I don't agree with you'. I thought you saw disagreeing and qualifying it by saying it is a view after much time was an example of hostility. But I realise now you're not really talking about that. It seems you're talking about slips into 'hater' behaviour?
What gets me too? The fact that PR is influencing the progress of transmedia more than the actual projects, and indeed audiences. I'm thinking now that if we spend more time getting audiences to demand transmedia projects we would have an easier time getting great transmedia projects done! :)
We do need more and bigger projects getting done, and more and better audience participation. I'm trying to do my part, but would you believe, of the half-dozen things I've worked on this year, NONE of it is launching until next year? O_o Crazy!
I think it remains a question of perspective still! There are the Twitterers who still believe it's all hype and hyperbole, but also there's a huge legion of writers, producers, filmmakers, gamers who are so excited about the possibilities that transmedia strategies and production can bring.
So, dependant on where the 'haters' or the 'champions' stand on the timeline of immersion I'd say we're commercially somewhere between the 'Peak of Inflated Expectations' but perhaps also on the brink of the 'Trough of Disillusionment'. Until some commercial, organic transmedia IPs start to appear - that appeal to the general public, perhaps even through broadcast or publishing, then it's still tough to measure.
Personally? I'm finally on the 'Plateau of Productivity' - but then again I'm writing a transmedia rom com and continue to ride those peaks and troughs of Gartners hype cycle ;(
Ultimately fabulous transmedia experiences that are created organically and discovered without the need for huge PR campaigns will allow it to speak for itself.
Let's keep pushing for that moment. :)
x