Transmedia Storytelling and Digital Avatars

- Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is a technique by which a narrative is divided or developed across various platforms to form a coherent narrative. It involves not only using various channels of communication, but also developing and expanding a story through the sum of the unique narrative pieces used in each medium. Furthermore, users must play a decisive role in this development. The ultimate goal is to engage your audience.

Transmedia is a way of creating a unique experience for users and engaging them in a narrative that more involves them and draws their attention to what a brand offers. A method of total creativity that utilizes different media and languages and communicates any idea. Additionally, it becomes a way to build a community around the company. 

This is a way for brands to stay close to their audience and maintain interest in possible products or services. It is designed to attract interest, attract attention and be a very powerful tool for increasing awareness and customer loyalty.

- Intermediality and Transmedia Storytelling

Transmediality and intermediality are related concepts that deal with the relationships between different media.

Intermediality is a term used to describe the relationships, connections and interactions between different media forms. It can refer to the way one medium influences another, or the way different media work together to create a unified experience or message. 

For example, intermediality can be used to describe the relationship between written text and images in a graphic novel, or the way a film combines music, dialogue, and visual storytelling elements to convey a narrative. Intermediality can also refer to the way one medium (such as a video game) uses elements of another medium (such as literature or film) to enhance its storytelling or gameplay.

Transmedia storytelling (also known as multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of using current digital technologies to tell a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats.

From a production standpoint, transmedia storytelling involves creating content that uses a variety of technologies to permeate the everyday lives of viewers. To enable this engagement, transmedia production will develop stories across multiple media formats to deliver unique content in each channel. What matters is that these things are not only (obviously or subtly) linked but also narratively synchronized with each other.

- Transmedia Storytelling and Communicating the Future

Transmedia is a type of story in which a story unfolds across multiple media and communication platforms, in which a subset of consumers play an active role in the expansion. Transmedia is a term widely used in marketing, but rarely put into practice due to the difficulties this creates.

Today we live in a multi-screen world where we watch TV while checking Instagram, Facebook (on a smartphone or laptop) or chatting on Whatsapp. We surround ourselves with screens for any daily activity.

Foresight professionals and the futures space in general face a number of challenges in communicating the future. Merely presenting data and having a "rational" discussion is not enough to shape perceptions of the future and motivate people to act. The rapid development of digital media technologies and the emergence of transmedia storytelling provides forward-thinking professionals with a powerful new way to communicate about the future.

[Chicago, USA]

- Digital Avatars

From virtual goods to the emerging digital world, technology is once again pushing the boundaries of human experience into uncharted territory.

A digital avatar is an artificial intelligence-powered, human-like virtual assistant that enables intelligent interactions with customers. 3D avatars can be used for different purposes, they create a sense of trust by communicating directly and easily with customers. Humanoid robots are being studied, particularly their ability to mimic human behavior patterns in interests, attitudes, emotions, desires, biases, and many others. 

Often, a digital avatar is just a graphical representation of a person or user performing a specific function. What we see on social media platforms are 2D icons, but there are also 3D figures that are mostly seen in games or any virtual world. 

3D avatars can be used for different purposes, they create a sense of trust by communicating directly and easily with customers. Their use on various platforms is significant because they convey a sense of seriousness. Using a digital human that smoothly communicates your company's values in a specific way will convert those visitors into loyal customers. Most people who talk to an avatar smile at some point, which creates a dopamine release, even though they know the interaction isn't real, and it's pretty telling!

Although they are an entertainment medium, many organizations have found their way in different fields such as healthcare, advertising, etc. Users are excited and want to know what's in store for them.

- AI-powered Avatars

Recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence are opening up new opportunities that are bound to greatly impact the human experience in the coming era of virtual worlds, also known as the metaverse.

While in the past, AI has helped machines perform routine manual tasks, the technology can now also perform certain cognitive tasks due to its ability to learn, improve through experience, and eventually mimic human behavior.

Not only that, but the rapid expansion of cheap and powerful computing power has also witnessed the massive digitization of objects and processes in the world. More recently, humans themselves are being digitized in the form of virtual avatars. 

Artificial intelligence has given new meaning to the creation of virtual humans by pushing the boundaries of technology once again to a new field—artificial intelligence life forms. 

The idea of a digital avatar is popular across industries. Businesses can benefit by using a digital avatar as part of their brand identity. AI-powered avatars can serve endless purposes, from being hired by real-world companies to teach new employees to serving as trusted confidants in the virtual world, to name a few use cases.

- The Metaverse and Digital Avatars

Over the past few years, almost everyone has simultaneously existed in two realities: online and offline. It's hard to say whether one is worth more than the other. So the idea of the metaverse was the problem at the time. If we live in both realities, our personalities seek ways to express themselves. 

Since the metaverse was developed, the idea of self-representation has become even more important: another reality, another me. Hidden here is the central idea of the appeal of the metaverse. This is an opportunity to become whoever you want to be in reality. In the metaverse, you get a second chance and wider freedom.

Looking to the future, the world will only become more virtual, and humans will increasingly live in virtual universes, side by side with AI-powered virtual beings.