Example slides:
Smart TV apps are fundamentally changing what it means to watch TV — from businessinsider.com.au by Emily Adler
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The app store phenomenon, centered on smartphones and tablets, has been the biggest story in software for the past five years.
Its next logical destination: the living room, via smart TVs and set-top boxes connected to the Internet.
Smart TV apps represent the latest threat to the struggling pay TV industry. Watching TV is no longer based around flipping through channels at broadcast, but finding the right content portal for what you want to watch now.

Higher definition videos here | Campus Technology article here
Bye bye second screen? The InAIR lets you browse the web and watch TV all in one place — from techcrunch.com by Colleen Taylor (@loyalelectron)
Excerpt:
Nowadays, many people browse the web at the same time that they’re watching TV — the phenomenon is called the “second screen.” But a new gadget called InAIR from a startup called SeeSpace wants to bring our attention back to just one screen by putting the best of the laptop, the smart phone, and the TV all together in one place.
From DSC:
I like what Nam Do, the CEO of InAir is saying about one’s attention and how it’s divided when you are using a second screen. That is, when you are trying to process some information from the large screen and some information from the smaller/more mobile screen on your lap or desk. You keep looking up…then looking down. Looking up…then looking down. By putting information in closer proximity in one’s visual channel, perhaps processing information will be more intuitive and less mentally taxing.
This fits with an app I saw yesterday called Spritz.

To understand Spritz, you must understand Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). RSVP is a common speed-reading technique used today. However, RSVP was originally developed for psychological experiments to measure human reactions to content being read. When RSVP was created, there wasn’t much digital content and most people didn’t have access to it anyway. The internet didn’t even exist yet. With traditional RSVP, words are displayed either left-aligned or centered. Figure 1 shows an example of a center-aligned RSVP, with a dashed line on the center axis.
When you read a word, your eyes naturally fixate at one point in that word, which visually triggers the brain to recognize the word and process its meaning. In Figure 1, the preferred fixation point (character) is indicated in red. In this figure, the Optimal Recognition Position (ORP) is different for each word. For example, the ORP is only in the middle of a 3-letter word. As the length of a word increases, the percentage that the ORP shifts to the left of center also increases. The longer the word, the farther to the left of center your eyes must move to locate the ORP.
In the Science behind this app, it says (emphasis DSC):
Reading Basics
Traditional reading involves publishing text in lines and moving your eyes sequentially from word to word. For each word, the eye seeks a certain point within the word, which we call the “Optimal Recognition Point” or ORP. After your eyes find the ORP, your brain starts to process the meaning of the word that you’re viewing. With each new word, your eyes move, called a “saccade”, and then your eyes seek out the ORP for that word. Once the ORP is found, processing the word for meaning and context occurs and your eyes move to the next word. When your eyes encounter punctuation within and between sentences, your brain is prompted to assemble all of the words that you have read and processes them into a coherent thought.
When reading, only around 20% of your time is spent processing content. The remaining 80% is spent physically moving your eyes from word to word and scanning for the next ORP. With Spritz we help you get all that time back.
So, if the convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer continues, I think Nam Do’s take on things might be very useful. If I were watching a lecture on the large screen for example, I could get some additional information in closer proximity to the professor. If the content I wanted to see was more closely aligned with each other, perhaps my mind could take in more things…more efficiently.
SeeSpace InAiR: The World’s 1st Augmented Television — from kickstarter.com by Nam Do, Dale Herigstad, A-M Roussel
From DSC:
For those interested in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), interactivity, interface design, augmented reality, and end user experience design — I think you will really like this one!
Again, I can’t help but think there are some significant educationally-related opportunities here; let’s let the students help us innovate here.
Mesmerizing fairy tale on the power of transmedia storytelling — from frametales.com by DRAFTFCB Madrid and posted by Filip Coertjens; with thanks to the Scoop on this from Laura Fleming (@NMHS_lms)
BBC iWonder: Introducing Interactive Guides — from bbc.co.uk by Andrew Pipes
See this piece as an example of what they’ve come up with.
Interactive guides on three screens
The BBC article also pointed to a bit older,
but very creative piece from the NYT entitled:
Snow Fall
Transmedia Story Stream: Don’t just read a book–play it! — from bleedingcool.com by Dan Wickline; with thanks to Digital Rocking Chair for the Scoop on this
Excerpt:
Instead of downloading a static book, Transmedia Story Stream allows readers to log into story worlds filled with fans, activities, and extended narrative that can include video, audio, casual video games or live gatherings. And just like in a video game, the book will award fans for participating in the story. Fans can earn points and badges, collect digital goodies to share, earn money for spreading word of mouth, participate in a live chat with an author or illustrator right in the book or win a phone call with a character in a story.
Also see:

Transit 2013 — from thebigidea.co.nz by Anna Jackson and Fiona Milburn
Excerpt:
For their last Transit post of the year, Transmedia NZ’s Anna Jackson and Fiona Milburn asked six influential and inspiring people to look ahead to 2014 and share their thoughts on the future of transmedia storytelling in New Zealand.
I think that 2014 is going to be a banner year for transmedia storytelling, and that New Zealand is going to be a key participant in creating it and proliferating it. We know that Weta Workshop and Weta Digital are hosting the production of the new Avatar films in NZ. Weta has a distinctly transmedia approach, which they have been refining in recent years. Weta is proving that, when carefully planned, the production of transmedia content can be integrated into the filmmaking process, which in turn saves time and money.
On the education front, we understand that various colleges and universities in New Zealand are more closely investigating transmedia practice. Starlight Runner is exploring how we can directly help the Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland to integrate practical transmedia studies into its curriculum, which is very exciting.
— Jeff Gomez, President and CEO
Starlight Runner Entertainment
Streaming International: How the Internet has made TV a global medium — from sparksheet.com by Maura McWalters
Excerpt:
Television used to be one of America’s biggest exports. But the internet is bringing content from Asia, India and the Middle East into U.S. homes – and new advertising opportunities along with it, reports TV columnist Maura McWalters.