Unit 3: Participation

Convergence and transmedia. Covers technological, industrial and cultural convergence, transmedia versus cross-platform storytelling, the participation transmedia invites, and the links to technologies, institutions and audiences.

Contexts of production and use. Covers what each context means, how the five key concepts operate within them, why context changes meaning, and how to apply the framing when making and responding.

Critique media practice. Covers what critique is, analysis versus evaluation, using the key concepts as critical lenses, building an evidence-based judgement, and how critique informs the responding objectives and the IA1.

Languages key concept in a participatory context. Covers direct address, interface and written codes, conventions that prompt interaction, and how language choices initiate and sustain participation across audiences, technologies and institutions.

Production design media practice. Covers what production design is, design briefs and treatments, planning documents, designing for participation, and how the practice draws on the five key concepts when making.

Technologies key concept. Covers affordances, algorithms, production and distribution tools, convergence, and how technologies shape audiences, institutions and languages when making and responding.

How audiences participate in moving-image media. Covers participatory culture, the audiences and technologies key concepts, user-generated content, and how participation reshapes representations and institutions when making and responding.

Institutions key concept. Covers studios, networks, platforms, regulators and funding bodies, how they shape participation, and their interplay with audiences, technologies and representations when making and responding.

Representations key concept. Covers self-representation, user-generated representations, how participation diversifies and contests representations, and the links to audiences, institutions and technologies when making and responding.

IA2 multi-platform content project. Covers the treatment, choosing two interconnected platforms, the storyboard, the pilot sequence, designing participation across platforms, and how the key concepts inform the making.

IA1 case study investigation. Covers the inquiry process, choosing a focus, applying the five key concepts as analytical tools, structuring an evidence-based argument, and the responding objectives.