The revolutionist : Eugene V. Debs : a transmedia experience for public media audiences

Abstract

As digital media increases in popularity and broadcast audiences decline, it is crucial that television networks find ways to engage their users. Public media stations can determine what their audiences want and enrich storytelling through design thinking to create a transmedia experience. Design thinking allows content creators to determine users’ preferred platforms and storytelling methods within a multi-platform, transmedia landscape. WFYI, a public media station in Indianapolis, produced a documentary about the socialist labor leader Eugene Debs. While creating the hour long program, an organization-wide committee and the station’s young professionals group created an eleven part cross-platform media campaign to engage different audiences around the storyworld of The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs . While the individual pieces were designed by users and content creators, a more interconnected transmedia design following the story from one platform to another may have enhanced the experience. Nevertheless, this approach of “meeting audiences where they already are” can expand the story world from what can be told in a single broadcast hour to multiple experiences, more in-depth content, and a broader range of users. Keywords: Transmedia, public media, design thinking, multimedia, cross-platform, digital storytelling, television, radio, social media, documentary, Eugene Debs, collaboration