project models: narrative design for social change

Project Models

Narrative Design for Social Change

Transmedia Activism

September 2012

Transmedia ActivismFramework for strategy to

- Create social impact- Influence perception- Build community

through fragmented storytelling byauthors, stakeholders, and communities whoshare assets + create entry pointsinto issues and solutions across multiple forms of media

linasrivastava.com | transmedia activism | project models

Roots of the Framework

Design

Community-CenterednessUser-Centered DesignDesign ThinkingUser ExperienceSystemic/Systems Change

Storytelling

Social ChangeLeadershipLocal VoiceHumanizing Social IssuesInteractivitySocial MovementsActivist Media

Social Innovation

Novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions

Using Transmedia toCreate Social Impact

Issue Awareness Engagement Action Change

AudiencesCommunities

Actionable ContentStory Universe

Story World <--> Ecosystem

+ How to Tell a Story Together+ How to Tell a Story of Complexity

Social Action: Essential Story Element

Using Transmedia toCreate Social Impact

Building Communities

Every movement + community needs+ cohesive narrative

+ shared goals+ common identity

+ stewardship

StoryCollaborative Action

VoiceLeadership

Essential Elements for Sustaining Communities

Business Models

“A business model is the story of how value is created,

delivered, and captured.”

-- Saul Kaplan,The Business Model Innovation Factory

What Is a Business Model?

Narrative Platforms: Types of Business Models

+ For-profit Companies+ Nonprofit Organizations+ Storyworlds+ Campaigns+ Media Projects

+ Corporate Sponsorship+ Audience Funding | Crowdsourced Funding+ Crowdsourced Production+ Philanthropic Funding

++ Film Philanthropies++ Foundations Supporting Underlying Issues++ Impact investment funds

+ Income Revenue models+ Venture Capital | Private Equity

Narrative Platforms: Financing Models

Project Models

MSF | Starved for Attention

Case Studies

Content

ProductionDistributionRemix

Lakou Mizik

Social Action+ Culture Regeneration+ Economic Development+ Community Vibrancy

+ Positive awareness + empathy + Picture of systemic change+ Highlight Haitian organizations

Lakou Mizik

Audiences | Fans+ Haitians in-country+ Haitian Diaspora + Fans of World music+ Fans of Caribbean music+ Arts/activism+ Post-earthquake donors

Lakou Mizik

Financing:

+ Corporate Sponsorship + Audience Funding / Crowdsourced Funding+ Philanthropic Funding+ Income Revenue model

Successes:

+ Content: ++ The platform is up, active, alive++ People know about it: It’s fulfilling a need++ Filled with 1000 stories++ Starting to get interest from established partners

+ Technology: ++ Forward movement is to become a service provider on group storytelling

+ Lesson Learned:++ Can become commercially viable off the back end

Challenges:

+ Content:++ Funding: $120,000 ($100K from TFI, 20K from Kickstarter)

+ Technology: ++ Even harder raising funds from VCs if you’re “successful” on other sources-- they want to be the first ones in

+ Lesson learned:++ “Who are you?”

+++ Combined a technology company/documentary company, but didn’t distinguish the two enough+++ Combined management+++ Combined philanthropic funding with VC asks

“Kickstarter is not for everyone.” -- Sara Nodjoumi.

Successes:+ Funding: Doubled their Kickstarter ask 4 days before the deadline+ Audience: Had a built-in, existing audience

The Iran Job

Mixed blessings: + The film will most likely be self-distributed + Have pursued traditional avenues for distribution, but it’s too slow. + Audiences respond well, so they’re not going to wait. + Need USD $100,000 to put it into 10 cities. + They are going back to their grantors:

++ None of the “traditional” funders++ Personal contacts, Iranian-American orgs

The Iran Job

Challenges:+ Management:

++ 2-3 people working full time for 3-4 weeks before launching the Kickstarter campaign++ Spent a lot of time on the rewards++ Every detail was studied, but delivery deadlines were pushed back

+ Catch 22: ++ The money gets spent. ++ And people think you’ve already got the money

+ How to keep momentum after the Kickstarter campaign

The Iran Job

Lesson learned:+ Your rewards are your donor engagement, your marketing tools (even in pre-production).

The Iran Job

AMERICA 2049 linasrivastava.com | transmedia activism | project models

AMERICA 2049

Impact:

+ Over 20,000 throughout the world played through the 12 week run

+ 110,200 unique Facebook interactions. 5,200 twitter followers

+ 86% of players indicated at least some willingness to become active on an issue they encountered in the game

+ 56% reported they had spent time reconsidering their views on the issues raised in real life

+ Generated mainstream press coverage from 120 outlets

Lessons Learned:

+ Balancing Engagement with Message to Increase Impact

+ Moving Players from Clicktavism to Activism

+ Transitioning from Expected to Novel Application of Platform

+ Exploring New Distribution Models & Unlikely Partnerships

+ Accounting for volunteer hours

+ ROI: Project management to Scale to Impact

AMERICA 2049

Who Is Dayani Cristal?

Successes:+ Funding: Film has strong funding and investment+ High aesthetic quality and innovative narrative form+ “Flipped the Model”: Strategic Planning:

++ Social action and cross-platform strategy developed alongside film development and production++ Audience engagement planning developed alongside film development and production

Challenges:+ Need to flip the model of funding: ++ Social action, cross-platform, audience engagement need funding earlier in the process

Lessons learned:+ Strategic planning needs to be done earlier in the process+ Impact planning and measurement are a specialized skill+ Build strong, cross-sector teams

Assessment Models

+ Community-centered participation It has at its core the use of local voice, in direct partnership with the platform creators

+ Move beyond awareness It uses its platform to connect audiences to commit to a particular worldview, advocacy or action, by using local stories

+ Platforms that are culturally appropriate to cross borders to foster transformation.

Essential Elements for Transmedia Activism Models

Assessing Your Social Change Model

+ Respect+ Relevance+ Resonance

Full model available at http://www.slideshare.net/lksriv/the-3-rs-co

Intentionality+ Creating rigor and around and recognizing the intentionality behind "citizen" media

+ Parsing out the fine lines between story to engagement to propaganda

+ Bridging the engagement/action gap.

Assessing Your Social Change Model

Lina Srivastava

http://linasrivastava.cominfo@linasrivastava.com

@lksriv

project models: narrative design for social change

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