Will the same story work on multiple platforms?
On a recent SXSW panel I heard Tom Bodkin and Kohi Vinh who are the design tzars of NY Times say, that they are to making their content platform agnostic - meaning that you can read and watch the same content on the web, on iPhone, on digital readers etc. To me this is a wishful idea that has been recycled using different buzzwords (it used to be called convergence). I admit that I also used to be a big believer of the idea of using and distributing the same story across lots of platforms, and it is a really good argument to throw at the number crunchers who claim it is too expensive to produce large, in-depth web documentaries. But I have seen it fail in reality. It it is kind of like writing a novel, believing it will also do great if it is printed on posters, or published on twitter. If you are a storyteller, the medium is an inseparable part of the content. If you do a great interactive project with video, interactive graphics and comments, don’t expect that you can just move it to a phone with a small screen (an no ability to play Flash). I agree that if it is just about distributing information, it might work in some cases. But in every other area than hard news, journalists and storytellers should do more than distribute information…the should deliver experiences (I should do a blog post about this later..). I also agree that some forms of content works on multiple devices - Quicktime movies works great on your computer, your television and pretty well on the iPhone. But what if I want the director commentary track that the DVD offers? Then the multiple platform idea dies. Great stories drives the media platform and vise versa. Having said that I do believe that ideas, research and our media assets like video clips, photos and sound bites are platform agnostic, and that we as journalists and storytellers can be much better at driving one story idea to different platforms. But the way the story is story-boarded, edited and produced should be different from platform to platform.
