Lecture 12 - Fri Sept 25 (13-15) - Wahlberg

Time & Place: Friday September 25 at 13-15 in E31.

Guest: Dr. Malin Wahlberg, associate professor in Cinema Studies at the Department of Media Studies at Stockholm University 

Title: Storytelling and Voice in Documentary Cinema 

Talk: Malin will present a aesthetical/philosophical perspective on time, memory and documentary enactments.

Lecture 11 Thu Sept 24 (15-17) Pargman

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Time & Place: Thursday September 24 at 15-17 in E31.

Guest: Daniel Pargman, KTH

Title: The theory and method of Design Fiction – what this course is really about 

Talk: We are doing "Design Fiction" in this course. Design fiction is the use of narrative elements and scenarios to envision, explain and raise questions about possible futures. I will discuss the term and the practice of envisioning the future through narrative scenarios (i.e. envisioning the future through convincing and compelling stories).

Literature:

1) Daniel Pargman (2014). "The Future of News and ICT for Sustainability 2029". This paper was submitted to the workshop "Alternate Endings: Using Fiction to Explore Design Futures" that was held at the CHI 2014 conference.

2) A great example of near-future design fiction explorations are the British television series "Black Mirror". Please watch the episode "The Entire History of You" (48 minutes). All seven Black Mirror episodes are available on YouTube. Do watch other episodes if you have the time. My personal favourite is "Fifteen Million Merits"


3) Optional: read Daniel's longwinded-but-hopefully informative and entertaining blog post about a one-day Design Fiction workshop at CHI 2014 (see above). 

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Seminar instructions (Wed Sept 23)

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Our next seminar will be held Wednesday morning (8-10 in L41 and L42) Here are the instructions for how to prepare for that seminar:

1) Read through the 23 short future-related topics in the preceding blog post. We have harvested these topics from your essays, from our guest lectures and from literature.

2) "VOTE" HERE for your three favorite topics/technologies. These are the topics you could imagine yourself exploring during the project phase, or, that you at least would like another group to work with during the project phase. Your vote is a vote on interesting topics - not a pledge of yours as to what you want/will work on during the project phase. NOTE: perhaps we were better at formulating certain topics than others - but your task is to see through and beyond the short descriptions and imagine what these topics could be developed into!

3). You are hopefully inspired by several of the topics, but you might realise that we have missed an excellent topic that really should have been on this list. Invent a title and write a short text about that topic (1-3 sentences) and suggest that topic as a comment to this blog post.

4) NOTE: We all meet in the biggest of the two seminar room for initial information before we divide into smaller groups. Please be on time! Late arrivals will have fewer options!

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Seminar topics

Please see the subsequent blog post with the instructions for the upcoming Sept 23 seminar.

Do note that all topics below are both brief and relatively abstract. It's possible to use the formulation below as a starting point from which to delve deeper and explore a smaller sub-problem.

1.    Data journalism (database) storytelling

How can data journalism (database journalism) be used in the future to create good stories?

2.    Archives and storytelling

Historical archives can be a fantastic source for information. But how can they be used (or “leveraged”) to create good stories in a high-tech future?

3.    Big data storytelling

Big amounts of data are nowadays constantly collected from things we do in our lives. (How) can big data be used to tell good stories?

4.    Sensors and storytelling

How can sensors (and the data they measure/generate) be used in the creation of stories, or for capturing the audience’ attention?

5.    Geopositioning and storytelling

Geopositioning (positioning data) is a growing field. How can storytelling take advantage of this technology?

6.    Personalized storytelling

How can storytelling become more personalized? What technologies can help create personalized stories?

7.    Interactive storytelling

How can storytelling become more interactive? What technologies can help create more interactive stories?

8.    Overcoming shorter attention spans

The audience’ attention span is getting shorter. How can we resist or overcome this trend? What technologies are necessary in this process?

9.    Overcoming noise (signal-to-noice ratio)

Noise is another “problem” (challenge) today when it comes to grabbing and holding on to the audience’ attention. How can this be overcome so that great rather than shallow stories can be told?

10.    Crowdsourced storytelling

Are there innovative technical solution for crowdsourced storytelling? How can this topic be explored?

11.    Eyewitness storytelling

How can eyewitness storytelling be developed in a high-tech future?

12.    Machine translation (language)

In our globalized world, machine translation of languages will become even more important in the future. How can this field be developed?

13.    Point of View ”filters” (ex. Swedish PoV)

What are some ways to filter information in order to get a point of view? Or the opposite - how can we overcome this filtering problem?

14.    Machine learning storytelling

How can machine learning be used/integrated in storytelling in a high-tech future?

15.    Future of audio storytelling

In what ways can audio storytelling be developed in the future?

16.    Social media storytelling

What social media channels are best suited for storytelling? How do channels differ, and how can they be developed in a high-tech future to enhance storytelling?

17.    Virtual Reality storytelling

What opportunities do virtual reality bring to storytelling, and how can this field be developed?

18.    Storytelling through computer games

How can we tell stories through computer games? How can computer games be developed to tell better stories/better tell stories?

19.    Learning from storytelling in fairy tales

What can be learned from storytelling in fairy tales and how can it be used to capture the audience’ attention and imagination in a high-tech future?

20.    Learning from storytelling in fake viral stories (Jack Werner)

What can be learned from the storytelling in fake viral stories, and how can we used this knowledge to create better (true) stories in a high-tech future?

21.    Learning from storytelling around the bonfire

The template for “traditional storytelling” is the image of a group of people sitting around a bonfire. What can we learn from this tradition, and how can this knowledge be used in a high-tech future?

22.    Our human senses and storytelling

How can we use different features involving our five senses when telling stories? What are the opportunities for relying on more than sight (and sound) in a high-tech future?

23. Storytelling using wearables

Apple watch is an example of a wearable in today’s society. What will wearables look like in a high-tech future, and how will they enhance storytelling? 

Applications to the executive group are open!

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As mentioned in the introductory lecture, we will form a separate, special group called "the executive group" before all the other project group are formed.

The executive group will not work on a project idea the relates to this year's theme (storytelling) during the project phase, but will instead be a "project management team" and an interface between the teachers (Malin and Daniel) and the project groups.

The executive group will perform a number of tasks, some of which are mandatory and some of which are optional:

- One person will lead the executive group and have the overarching responsibility for making sure that the executive group performs its tasks and for communicating with the teachers.

- One person will have the overarching responsibility for producing the book, "The Future of Storytelling/Storytelling of the future".

- One persons will have the overarching responsibility for producing the final presentation/show on December 17.

- One person will have the overarching responsibility for the Future of Media project website (separate from the course website/blogs - here's last year's website)

- Marketing/sponsorship/advertising (optional)
- Documenting/filming the project phase (optional and a brand new opening based on a student's suggestion).

- Whatever else you can think about (optional)

The persons responsible for the final presentation and the website will also be jointly responsible for collecting all materials produced by the project groups and publish it on the course's web archive - perhaps including redesigning or updating the archive itself). 

It is usually quite popular to be part of the executive group and to make use of practical media technological skills that students have acquired over the years. You therefore have to apply for a position in the executive group. Send your application (1-2 pages maximum) to Malin (picha at kth.se) and Daniel (pargman at kth.se) by mail. The deadline is Wednesday, September 23 at 15.00. Please specify what task or tasks (above) you are especially interested in/suited for and list relevant experiences as well as other reasons, arguments and supporting information that you would like to emphasise in your application. The executive group usually consists of around 5 persons and some positions are usually more popular than others. It is ok to apply for several different positions.

Part of the responsibilities of all members of the executive group is to participate in regular lunch/work meetings (usually every second or third week) together with the teachers and with the project group leaders during the project phase (October - December).

  

NOTE on grades: As apart from all other project groups, responsibilities will be divided/negotiated individually in the executive group and grades will be set individually for members of the executive group (i.e. not all members of the executive group will necessarily get the same grades). Even though the work in the executive group can be very hectic at times (near deadlines), we still feel that it does perhaps not demand the same work effort as being part of an ambitious project group. The default grade for members of the executive group is therefore grade B or a C (assuming that you do "deliver", i.e. that there is a successful final presentation in December, that we each do get a printed book at the end of the course etc.). That means that members of the executive group have to perform outstanding work in order to attain the highest possible grade in the course (A). This is however often the case and most members of the executive groups usually perform flawlessly and do get grade A in the course.

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Lecture 9 - Fre Sept 18 (13-15) Werner

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Time & Place: Friday September 18 at 13-15 in E36.

Guest: Jack Werner, Dagens Industri 

Title: True or false storytelling. Rumours and source criticism in social media, and why we love a good story 

Talk:

About: Jack Werner (1989) is a journalist, writer and debater. Over the span of the last six years, he’s worked at Nyheter24, Sveriges Radio (Swedish Public Service Radio) and Metro, among other places. At Metro, he was the initiator of the fact-checking effort Viralgranskaren ("Viral Fact Checker") that 2014 was awarded the Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism. Late 2014 he published a book on viral ghost stories, known as "creepypasta". He's currently working at Di Digital, a news site covering tech, startups and web culture. On the side, he’s producing a podcast about creepypasta for Sveriges Radio and monthly columns for the radio program "Medierna i P1".

Literature:

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The coming schedule

Sept 15, 8-10, E51. Creativity on demand – getting good ideas when you need them. Lecture/workshop with Matilda E. Hanson. Prepare yourself by thinking of a technology, useful in storytelling.

Sept 16, 8-10, B3 (upgraded lecture hall). Storytelling in Magazines – how it works at Bonnier Magazines. Gabriel Sjölund and Josefine Lind Andersson, Digital Media/Bonnier Magazines.

Sept 17, 15-17, D41. Historical storytelling – how to make history come alive. Mats Hayen, from the Stockholm city historical archive.

Sept 18, 13-15, E36. True or false storytelling. Rumours and source criticism in social media, and why we love a good story. Jack Werner, Dagens Industri.

Sept 22, 8-10, L1 (upgraded lecture hall). Storytelling and entrepreneurship – the case of Storytel. Jonas Tellander, CEO at audiobook company Storytel.

Sept 23, 8-10, L41, L42. Seminar and technical workshop around some good story ideas. Anna Careborg, Malin Picha Edwardsson, Matilda E. Hanson and Daniel Pargman.

Sept 24, 15-17, E31. The theory and method of Design Fiction – what this course is really about! Daniel Pargman.

Sept 25, 13-15, E31. Storytelling and Voice in Documentary Cinema. Dr. Malin Wahlberg, associate professor in Cinema Studies at the Department of Media Studies at Stockholm University.

Sept 28, 10-12, V22. Corporate storytelling/advertising as storytelling – the case Volvo Trucks - The Epic Split feat. Van Damme. Björn Engström, copywriter at Forsman & Bodenfors.

Sept 30, 15-17, V23. Storytelling in computer games. Daniel Ström, Gurugames, and Lucy Armelin, former media student at KTH, now working with computer games.

Oct 1, 15-17. Lecture cancelled.

Oct 2, 13-15, E34 and V11. Seminar – the groups are decided and good ideas are generated. Malin Picha Edwardsson and Daniel Pargman.

Oct 5-9, JMK, Karlavägen 104, Stockholm. Workshop with Robb Montgomery. A more detailed Schedule will come.

Oct 8, JMK. Hackathon.

Oct 13, 8-10, Q33. How to work in project groups. Anna Swartling, Scania.

Oct 14, 8-10, D3 (upgraded lecture hall). Storytelling in Social media. Frida Boysen, former editor-in-chief, now expert in the use of Social media.

Oct 14, 15-17, JMK. The art of creativity and how to generate good ideas. Milad Hossainzadeh, White Architects.

Oct 15, 15-17, JMK. Storytelling – the case of Basha Posh. Jenny Nordberg, journalist and author.

Nov 6, 8-16, V3. MIDCRIT.

Dec 16, 12-20, F1. Rehearsal for final presentations.

Dec 17, 13-17, F1. Final presentations.