Practical Class Info V7 COM 546 (formal title: Evolutions and Trends in Digital Media) Narratives & Networks

s in Digital Media Class Site: https://uw.instructure.com/courses/150377 Twitter hashtag: #mcdm546 Instructors: Hanson Hosein, Dr. Malcolm Parks Adjunct: Shay Colson (shaycolson@gmail.com) Room: Paccar Hall 290 Tuesdays 6p-10p: October 4 December 13 Office Hours: By Appointment Contact: hrhmedia@uw.edu, macp@uw.edu Overview The digital media revolution is profoundly changing the way we communicate. It also poses new challenges and opportunities for professions, firms, industries, and nations as well as individuals. In this new reality, every organization is a media organization, every market is a media market, every manager is a media manager, and every experience is a mediated experience. Professionals and amateurs, organizations and individuals are all competing for attention through a multiplicity of platforms. The struggle to be heard is fierce, but being heard is not enough. Successful communication necessitates the creation of compelling content, and sustained engagement by distributing this content through relevant networks. In this foundational MCDM course, you will confront this paradigm shift head on by creating your own channel and network engagement strategy. By doing so, we will accomplish the following learning objectives: Understand the key communication and social changes facilitated by digital media through networks, along with their opportunities and risks. Apply the practice of creating powerful narrative through storytelling as a primary method of influence and persuasion in communication. Be able to identify, describe, and apply concepts of social influence and persuasion. Describe and assess the basic characteristics of networks and their role in sustaining engagement.

The MCDM balances the conceptual with the applied. Both are essential to understand the fundamental social changes in media production and use, to promote the kind of strategic thinking you will need to influence and persuade in

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media the digital media era, and to measure the success of your efforts.

The course is guided by the four programmatic goals of the MCDM: to encourage innovation, to empower a sense of creativity and entrepreneurship, to build community, and to engage through story. These are the Four Peaks that we climb toward throughout the MCDM program. They imply the creation and curation of compelling stories in partnership with communities of interest, as we avail ourselves of connective technologies that by their very nature subvert our ability to entirely control the process. This brings both risk and opportunity, which we must manage on an ongoing basis if we are to achieve our stated Return on Investment in this communicative interaction. It all begins with getting someones attention; it lives on through a sustained level of multi-platform engagement.

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media Readings

We reserve the right to modify the assigned readings with the pledge that you will have at least one week's notice if that should happen. The required books will not change however. PDFs are available via the Instructure Canvas class site. REQUIRED Hosein, Hanson (2011) Storyteller Uprising: Trust and Persuasion in the Digital Age. Seattle, WA: University Bookstore Press, 3rd Edition. [provided at Orientation] Shirky, Clay (2008) Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York, NY: Penguin. MCDM (2011) Flip The Media Guide to Blogging. Seattle WA: MCDM Public, 1st edition [provided as PDF]

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [worth having/reading no matter what; these will be referred to in the lectures] Benkler, Yochai (2006) The Wealth of Networks. New Haven: Yale University Press (purchase or free PDF) Benkler, Yochai (2011) The Penguin and the Leviathan. New York: Random House. Lanier, Jaron (2010) You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. New York, NY: Knopf Zinsser, William (2006) On Writing Well. New York, NY: Collins. Various articles and book excerpts (to be supplied online: watch syllabus for weekly updates).

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Deliverables and Grading Primary Assignment In this class, your challenge is to take an idea or concept that you believe should garner greater attention than it presently does and come up with a strategy that you connect to a larger network (i.e. its well known in one market, but should expand to a national market the MCDMs Make The Change award is one such example). Your primary instrument for this will be a newly-created WordPress-based blog. First, youll draft a 3 to 5-page preliminary framework for your narrative and network strategy through a storytelling brief (see Chapter 24 in Hansons Storyteller Uprising for a template). Next, youll begin to execute on this brief through content you create and curate around your subject-centric blog (you will provide a mid-quarter analysis of your blog, as perceived through class readings and discussions). We will use social media tools in our class to share the sites among your peers, hoping to spur interaction among all of you. The goal is that you will connect people to your idea. You may even begin to develop a channel for your content that employs a diversity of platforms to distribute your content. Along the way, we will connect you to like-minded classmates to team up for peer review on your final storytelling brief, as well as to present as a group at the end of the quarter. We believe that teamwork is fundamental to 21st century professional life and that you should experience it to a certain degree within this introductory class. Heres more detail on those final two deliverables: (1) A more developed, final storytelling brief that describes the steps that you took to create your content, and especially your thought process network engagement. You must incorporate class readings and discussions in this final 9 to 12-page assignment, along with relevant content from your blogs. Your concluding section of this brief will include your thoughts on what ideal next steps you would have taken if you had more resources (time, money, people). You will engage in peer evaluation, as you review each member of your assigned groups own brief. Your grade for this assignment will be based on (a) your own storytelling brief; and (b) the critique that you submit for each group member (no more than a paragraph per member).

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(2) A ten-minute class group presentation that gets to the heart of your story strategy, and how you engaged networked community to spread the word. This presentation should ideally incorporate a short, sharable piece of multimedia content (visual or audible) that can serve as a demonstrable artifact for your overall project. Youll also include examples from your blogs, strategy papers, and class content. Youll be subject to a 10-20 minute class Q&A and discussion. THE STORYTELLING BRIEF The Old Spice campaign is the most successful viral video in the young history of the Web (the corollary on the advocacy side is Dan Savages It Gets Better campaign to inspire bullied LGBT teens. See http://www.itgetsbetter.org). The Man Your Man Could Smell Like http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE was developed by a team of young professionals at Wieden+Kennedy, a Portland, Oregon-based advertising agency. Their research had revealed that although men used Old Spice body wash, it was usually their female partners who purchased the product. That set the creative process in motion. The team decided to employ an integrated approach to introducing their content into the media ecosystem, with a combination of a clever TV ad launched on Super Bowl weekend, followed by digital distribution. There was no guarantee that anyone would like what they had created a strangely humorous exhortation from a former professional football player wearing only a towel but what happened next could have hardly been anticipated. Americans flocked to the ad, they shared it, they commented on it, and they spoofed it (with a notable Sesame Street parody). Oprah Winfrey declared her love for it; Ellen DeGeneres interviewed Isaiah Mustafa the actor who played the Old Spice Man on her show. And yet, at this point, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like was still nothing more than a really successful advertisement, with some staying power thanks to social media. It was what Wieden+Kennedy did five months later with the Old Spice Responses strategy that truly set the web afire, with 6 million YouTube channel views within a 24-hour period. (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL484F058C3EAF7FA6) With a scant (by advertising standards) $200,000 budget, they set up a makeshift film studio in their Portland office. They employed a social media team to analyze online conversations in real-time, and the Old Spice Man began to

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media respond directly to comments and requests that had been left on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. In two days, they created 186 videos that played exclusively on Old Spices YouTube channel. Their responses focused on influencers, along with a few celebrities such as actor Ashton Kutcher and his wife, Demi Moore. (http://youtu.be/GPlg9ez4L1w)

Thanks to their social media monitoring, they identified individuals who carried considerable weight within their own online communities such as Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, and (bravely) the controversial Internet collective Anonymous. It was a highly entrepreneurial, interactive engagement strategy that reaped considerable dividends, in both brand awareness (the Old Spice YouTube channel has over 200 million views as of this writing) and in sales (which increased 110% at the height of the campaign). TEMPLATE (a) What outcome do you seek (ideally based on recent, specific insights that you might have around your initiative or product)? Such as behavior change, product launch, increase in sales, brand awareness, donation. Revitalization of Old Spice as a brand for men, specifically Body Wash purchases by their female partners. (b) What kind of successful engagement needs to occur? Such as online comments, increase in word of mouth, social media affirmation from those whom youre most keen to reach. Need to get online users (primarily women) talking about Old Spice, sharing story assets, having conversation as couples about body wash. (c) What story do you want to tell? Considering your organizations overall narrative, develop a short Action-Idea. An absurdly attractive man asks women if theyd like their partners to look like him. He confesses that this isnt possible. But if they can smell like him by using Old Spice Body Wash, the other desires these women crave could be fulfilled. (d) What are your storys primary elements? In other words, what might create a relevant, relatable connection, set the scene, provide some narrative tension, as well as a resolution?

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media A half-naked man with a toned body pleads that women look at him; he tempts them with alluring objects and exotic settings that flash by in a humorous way; then offers up Old Spice Body Wash as a solution with a final punch line.

(e) What is your story format and vehicle? Such as a video, podcast, text, game, press release, blog, slideshow, whitepaper or an online series. A series of short commercial videos, destined for web and TV. (f) How will you syndicate your story into the media ecosystem? Consider your organizations channels, social channels and legacy media channels. Online distribution Super Bowl weekend (when couples are together), followed by TV broadcast the day after the Super Bowl when people are searching online for event-related commercials. (g) What conversations and interactions can you anticipate from this syndication? Consider how you can engage any influencers involved in those conversations and interactions. Comments on YouTube, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, other social platforms. Sharing via those networks and e-mail. Identify influencers feedback (highly respected commenters, high Klout scores, celebrities, well known figures within specific communities). (h) What further story assets can you develop from those conversations and interactions (sometimes in collaboration with your influencers) that will help propagate and sustain your story ecosystem? [This is a big unanswered question, well discuss it in our last class, after your final brief is due, so we expect some speculation from you. Well discuss it in detail in that final class.] Choose a number (186) of commenters (primarily influencers) and respond directly to them with time-sensitive online videos using the same actor and action-idea over a weekend.

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GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS 97 - 100 = 4.0 94 - 96.9 = 3.9 91 - 93.9 = 3.8 87 - 90.9 = 3.6 83 - 86.9 = 3.3 79 - 83.9 = 3.0 75 - 78.9 = 2.7 (1) Individual Engagement (Individual /20) 3 substantive comments to Flip The Media (or one published post, subject to editorial submission approval). Before the end of the quarter, please send an e-mail with URL's for links to all of your comments or post to shaycolson@gmail.com) 7 Brief Reflections (to Canvas Class Pages for each specific Week -substantive comment that refers to the week's reading, class lecture or discussion). 5 Cluetrain Manifesto essay (1-2 pages), due 10/4/10 Which 1 of the 95 Cluetrain Manifesto theses (www.cluetrain.com) resonates with you most? Why? Drawing on this week's readings (at least 3 citations), as well as any of your professional experiences, craft a well-written (heeding Zinsser) 1-2 page essay (MAXIMUM) of how you think your Cluetrain thesis of choice has had an impact on how an organization with which you're familiar (your employer, your sports team, your local government, etc.) communicates -- or should have an impact on how it communicates. We're not sticklers for single-spaced or double, you should write as necessary. Nor am I wedded to any particular citation style, but you should be consistent (APA is one such style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/). But we'll deduct points if you go one word over two pages! Please use a Word-compatible file, no PDF's. SUBMIT TO https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/hosein/17277, AND BRING AS HARD COPY (on paper) to first class on October 4th 5 MCDM Basecamp consultation (with Scott or Anita as assigned). (2) Preliminary Storytelling Brief (Individual/15) DUE Week 4 October 25th Draft a 3 to 5-page preliminary framework for your narrative and network strategy through a storytelling brief (see Chapter 24 in Hansons Storyteller Uprising for a template). SUBMIT https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/hosein/17277, (3) Blog (Individual/20) DUE Week 7 November 15th Interim Blog Report: Identify three of your "favorite" posts to your blog so far and provide their URL's. Cut and paste the one post of the three into your report that you believe to have been

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media

most "effective." What counts as "effective" will of course, differ from project to project, according to your respective goals. What we're looking for specifically is to relate your reflections upon success in creative compelling narrative and engaging networks with the readings and class discussions so far. So once you've identified and included your "effective" post, you should define what you mean by "effectiveness" in your report, in relation to your objectives. After you've shared that definition, then you should go on to analyze your post in relation to it. Suggested: Why did this particular post work? How might it help frame how you proceed with future submissions? How might this be seen in the context of the readings or examples discussed in class? Are there any compelling revelations that might signal "best practices" when it comes to creating content and engaging communities around that content? Three to four pages maximum, submitted to Catalyst Dropbox. SUBMIT https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/hosein/17277 Grading rubric e-mailed directly to you and also in Canvas files. (4) Final Storytelling Brief and Peer Grading (Individual/20 for brief) DUE Week 10, 5:59 p.m. December 6th. Describe the steps that you took to create your content, and especially your thought process network engagement. You must incorporate class readings and discussions in this final 9 to 12-page assignment, along with relevant content from your blogs. Your concluding section of this brief will include your thoughts on what ideal next steps you would have taken if you had more resources (time, money, people). SUBMIT https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/hosein/17277 (5) Group Presentation (Team /25 20 for presentation, 5 for critique) In 510 minutes, create a persuasive digital presentation (slides, animation, or video) that summarizes the essence of what your group believes to constitute powerful narrative and network-building, building off of the work in your respective Storytelling Briefs. Youll deliver the presentation as a link to the COM 546 Canvas page. You'll show the multimedia in class then submit to an in-person Q&A, where youll critique and grade each other.

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Week 1 A Communication Uprising: October 4th - Why Narratives?? Hansons story as transformational history (mass media to social media) - Why Networks? Mac Job (Not Jobs) Was Right - Old Spice, It Gets Better -- deconstructed - Cluetrain, Shirky readings discussion - Syllabus Discussion DUE: Cluetrain Manifesto essay READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Hosein (all of it) Shirky (chapters 1, 2) Zinsser, What Is Good Writing? Week 2 An Introduction to Networks: October 11th - An introduction to the nature and dynamics of networks - What is social capital? - The Arab Spring example and debate. - Gladwell vs. Shirky READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Easley & Kleinberg, Chapters 1, 2 (PDF). Malcolm Gladwells New Yorker piece on social media. Gladwell, Shirky, From Innovation to Revolution, Foreign Affairs March/April 2011 Shirky, Chapters 8,9 (very helpful for understanding social capital). Week 3 Storytelling/Research: October 18th - Mac on Word of Mouth. - Hanson on Is it a Science or an Art? - Storytelling in-depth: why the Action-Idea matters - Can we develop a key insight and build a narrative around it? - Guest Speaker: Sam De La Garza, Ford Fiesta DUE: Start blogs; post your homepage address to Canvas thread, with ActionIdea for your platform. For discussion in-class. READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Selbin, Eric Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story, Chapter 2 (PDF) Kozinets et. al Networked Narratives, Journal of Marketing (2011) PDF

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media Shirky, Chapters 3, 4 How Ford Got Social Media Marketing Right (Harvard Business Review blog, January 2010) link Week 4 Networks and Ecosystems: October 25th - Origin of digital media networks, why did certain ones prevail? - What constitutes best practices when syndicating content and communication? - What role does legacy media play? - Mac on a short history of the social web. - Anyone want to guess where were headed? - Guest Speaker: Transmedia, Brent Friedman, Electric Farm. READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Benkler, The Penguin and The Leviathan, Chapters 5, 9 (PDF) DUE: Preliminary Storytelling Brief

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Week 5 What Are We Trying to Do Anyway?: November 1st - Mac on targets and theories of influence. - Hanson: What does ROI mean in the digital age and how do we measure it? - Guest Speaker: Adriana Gil Miner, Artefact READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Charlene Li, Open Leadership, Chapter 4 (PDF) http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2010/04/22/altimeter-report-social-marketinganalytics-with-web-analytics-demystified/

Week 6 Content: November 8th - What are our content choices? - What are some of the basic skills we can develop? - What kind of media makes sense for a particular strategy and particular communities? - Guest speaker: Filiz Efe, Kristina Bowman on content creation. READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Chapters 4,6 Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks (2006 Yale University Press) PDF available for free download here.

Week 7 Game Theory: November 15th

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media The role of gaming in engagement. Mac on network analysis, grouping our teams. Guest Speaker: Jordan Weisman father of ARGs.

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READINGS FOR THIS CLASS: Easley & Kleinberg, Chapters 6 (PDF). DUE: BLOG PAPER Week 8 Self-Organization and Teamwork: November 22nd (optional check-in class) - Whos doing what? - Whats resonating, success stories?

Week 9 Sustaining the Story: November 29th - How do you keep things going? - Developing further story assets (organization and user-driven). - Re-organizing as a media organization - Discussion: conjecture based on thoughts around your brief. READINGS FOR THIS CLASS Lanier Chapters 1, 4 (PDF). Watch http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/A-Conversation-with-JaronLanier Shirky, Chapters 10, 11 Week 10 Presentations: December 6th DUE: FINAL STORYTELLING BRIEF Week 11 Presentations: December 13th

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MCDM Practices and Policies Disability Accommodations Statement To request academic accommodations due to a disability please contact Disability Resources for Students, 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924/V, 206-54308925/TTY. If you have a letter from Disability Resources for Students indicating that you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations that you might need for the class. I am happy to work with you to maximize your learning experience. MCDM Electronic Mail Standards of Conduct Email communications (and all communications generally) among MCDM community members should seek to respect the rights and privileges of all members of the academic community. This includes not interfering with university functions or endangering the health, welfare, or safety of other persons. With this in mind, in addition to the University of Washington's Student Conduct Code, the MCDM establishes the following standards of conduct in respect to electronic communications among students and faculty: Email communications should be limited to occasional messages necessary to the specific educational experience at hand. Email communications should be responded to, if at all possible, within 48 hours. In particular regard to student communications with faculty, if an email from a student to a faculty member does not receive a response within 48 hours, then the student should investigate other ways of contacting the instructor (telephone, office hours, etc.). Email communications should not include any CC-ing of anyone not directly involved in the specific educational experience at hand. Email communications should not include any blind-CC-ing to third parties, regardless of the third partys relevance to the matter at hand. MCDM Foundations The Master of Communication in Digital Media is a degree program primarily for working professionals, intended to balance fundamental theory and concepts

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media with practical tools. It focuses on the economic, political, social and cultural impact of new communication technologies and encourages students to apply these concepts to their spheres of interest.

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Many of our students are looking to advance their careers some within their present organizations, others in new professional directions. They want a new perspective on technology. Although a few may pursue additional studies after completing the MCDM, the MCDM is not integrated into the Communication Department doctoral program. At the end of the program, students should be able to: (1) Communicate with influence and persuasion within a digital media communications ecosystem. (2) Understand what constitutes a successful communication endeavor within that ecosystem. (3) Grasp the big picture of technology and communication, and provide strategic leadership within an organization based on these key insights. The MCDM provides high quality instruction with conceptual and practical applications. As such: The syllabus should clearly define expectations and learning objectives. Class projects should flow directly from larger learning objectives. Grading and workload (3 hours a week per credit hour including class time) at this grad school level should also reflect that most students are working full-time, which may require instructors to be realistic and flexible in their expectations. A minimum of 2.7 is required for each course that is counted towards the degree. Final grades should be submitted in a timely manner.

Grading In order to provide greater details into grade expectations, the following guide is circulated to all MCDM faculty to consider as they assign grades each quarter:

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4.0 Excellent and exceptional work for a graduate student. Work at this level is extraordinarily thorough, well-reasoned, methodologically sophisticated, and wellwritten. Work is of good professional quality, shows an incisive understanding of digital media-related issues and demonstrates clear recognition of appropriate analytical approaches to digital media challenges and opportunities. 3.8 Strong work for a graduate student. Work at this level shows some signs of creativity, is thorough and well-reasoned, indicates strong understanding of appropriate methodological or analytical approaches, and demonstrates clear recognition and good understanding of salient digital media-related challenges and opportunities. 3.6 Competent and sound work for a graduate student; well-reasoned and thorough, methodologically sound, but not especially creative or insightful or technically sophisticated; shows adequate understanding of digital media-related challenges and opportunities, although that understanding may be somewhat incomplete. This is the graduate student grade that indicates neither unusual strength or exceptional weakness. 3.3 Adequate work for a graduate student even though some weaknesses are evident. Moderately thorough and well-reasoned, but some indication that understanding of the important issues is less than complete and perhaps inadequate in other respects as well. Methodological or analytical approaches used are generally adequate but have one or more weaknesses or limitations. 3.0 Fair work for a graduate student; meets the minimal expectations for a graduate student in the course; understanding of salient issues is incomplete, methodological or analytical work performed in the course is minimally adequate. Overall performance, if consistent in graduate courses, would be in jeopardy of sustaining graduate status in "good standing." 2.7 Borderline work for a graduate student; barely meets the minimal expectations for a graduate student in the course. Work is inadequately developed, important issues are misunderstood, and in many cases assignments are late or incomplete. This is the minimum grade needed to pass the course. In closing, MCDM students are expected to: - - Write coherently and clearly. Complete assignments on time and as directed.

Networks and Narratives in Digital Media - - - Not miss more than two classes a quarter, unless due to extreme circumstances. Engage as much as possible with colleagues and the instructor. Stay current with the latest developments in digital media.

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