Abstract:

The media ecosystem was transformed by the rise of new players and practices. New mechanisms of participation and production are now part of a fluid, collective and complex process of creation. In this hybrid media landscape, the culture of convergence promotes new ways of telling stories, abandoning the traditional linear approaches, and encouraging active participation of the receiver in the narrative construction (Jenkins, 2009; Scolari, 2013; Fidalgo, Ambrosio, Peace & Amaral, 2018). The ability to tell stories in disruptive and innovative paths represents an extension of traditional storytelling in the digital age. Transmedia storytelling can be defined as a process in which narrative elements are dispersed across multiple media or platforms to create a unique and coordinated experience (Jenkins, 2009; Scolari, 2013).

Being able to conceive and produce narratives in non-linear ways is a highly complex competence. Hence, the centrality of ‘hypermediation’ processes implies the development of transmedia skills. Considering the dimensions of digital literacy and media literacy postulated by Renée Hobbs (2011), i.e., access, analysis, creation, reflection and acting, transmedia narratives and digital storytelling can be essential instruments for the promotion of media literacy in the classroom. Transmedia narratives can open new opportunities for formal learning environments, but they can also be combined with informal learning contexts, as they foster new pedagogic approaches through the interaction with students and throughout the promotion of activities outside the classroom, in a logic of mobility and interconnectedness.

This paper aims to reflect on transmedia narratives as specific instruments for the promotion of media literacy. Based on extensive documental analysis, we describe and analyze European transmedia storytelling projects that focus on media education. Preliminary results show that the projects promote pedagogical practices that fall into four models:
i) Transmedia play;
ii) Connected learning,
iii) Gamification;
iv) Location-based learning.

This study deepens our knowledge on possible uses of transmedia and digital storytelling as tools for the promotion of media literacy.

Keywords:

Storytelling, media literacy, transmedia.