It was fun. We worked hard and focused and produced some interesting stuff. David Wilcox did some fantastic social reporting, the attendees captured their work on video which is gradually appearing, and there are lots of photos on the flickr group. Expect much knowledge sharing; we work to an open innovation model.

A full event report will follow with the high level design rationale and details on the interventions and how you can do it yourself; in the meantime, one of the workshops was to identify the ‘five golden rules’ for anyone thinking of launching a new multi-platform project.

Here are the top five golden rules to consider when thinking about an ‘innovative multi-platform content’ project, as identified by the event attendees:

(the five golden rules as voted by attendees of the event)

Here are the those that didn’t make it into the top five:

(the next golden rules that didn’t make it to the top five)

Here is the full list of all the rules (the top 16 are in order of voting):

• What’s the point?
• Know your target audience
• Know your platforms and their features and constraints
• Identify a desire/need that this product is filling
• A single/simple idea
• Innovate or improve
• Consider potentials, adaptability, flexibility, extendabiity of your concept
• Go Gonzo: create a culture of use; go out there and create the story
• Ask if it makes financial sense
• There are no rules
• Release early and often
• Innovation must involve risk
• Give it a title
• Keep communication simple
• Content must be find-able
• Is it feasible?
• Develop/have a strong idea and stick to it
• New or existing technology used in a compelling and powerful way
• Agree upon a plan
• Don’t spend more than 1/3 of the budget on technology
• Start from what the user wants, not what you want
• Keep it simple
• Ask why it is multi-platform
• Ask yourself if you have the right skills to make it
• Understand the lifecycle and stages of development
• Ensure seamless content interaction across all platforms
• Do you or we have the expertise?
• Know how to measure success
• Can it grow?
• Are you using the right platform?
• Don’t forget your audience
• Platform must be driven by idea not technology
• Platforms must have relevance and value ‘use strenghts’
• Content must appeal to audience
• Interdependence of platform, content, audience
• A clear and adaptable business model
• A clear target audience

Now, we all know that having favourites is wrong, so these aren’t my favourites, but a couple of them really touched my favourite spots:

This one made me think of Nancy White, John Smith and Etienne Wenger and their work on the emerging role of Technology Steward:

(golden rule from event)

This one just simply IS:

Good work all! Full report to follow.

Storytelling and narrative analysis bounced back into fashion through knowledge management a few years ago and is increasingly popular. We hear more and more about organisations looking to ‘engage us’ with ‘it’ (usually involving social media), but ‘it’ also has great power (with related ethical considerations) as a tool for groups to understand themselves, make sense of their situation and develop apropriately.

There are hints of this in social reporting, technical stewardship, user-centred design processes, community hosting and more.

One of the things that stuck most in my head from the k-cafe was the importance of stories to communities as social objects to share, compare, think about, discuss, and build around. We all have a different perspective on these tales, especially until they are written down, yet (and perhaps because of this) they bond us in many ways.

Here’s a bit from ‘The Storyteller’ by Mario Vargas Llosa:

“… I was deeply moved by the thought of that being, those beings, in the unhealthy forests of eastern Cusco and Madre de Dios, making long journeys of days or weeks, bringing stories from one group of Machiguengas to another and taking away others, reminding each member of the tribe that the others were alive, that despite the great distances that separated them, they still formed a community, shared a tradition and beliefs, ancestors, misfortunes and joys; the fleeting, perhaps legendary figures of those habladores who – by occupation, out of necessity, to satisfy a human whim – using the simplest, most time-hallowed of expedients, the telling of stories, were the living sap that circulated and made the Machiguengas into a society, a people interconnected and interdependent beings…”
(The Storyteller, p93)

The next Gurteen Bristol Knowledge Cafe is going to be held in the multi-disciplinary Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol, on Thursday 27 November, from 18:30. The cafe proper will begin at 19:00 prompt.

Tim Sheppard, local storytelling group member, will be introducing the subject before we get down to the serious k-cafe business as usual.

If you have any specific interests, please let us know. Tim got some feedback in the pub after our last gathering, but if you feel the urge to share some more with him, please add your thoughts to the wiki page.

As usual, please come along and enjoy while meeting and deepening your understanding of this topic, and book yourself in using the event booking page below:

Event booking and venue information link

Tim Sheppard website link

Storytelling wiki page for you to add any requests

Bristol Gurteen Knowledge Cafe mailing list link

Event page on Gurteen website