As we are part of the Storycode Paris organisation, we wanted to share with you - in English - what the core values of this Parisian chapter are. We - as separate entity - are nonetheless fully embracing this Manifesto as well as the one previously posted.Beyond these manifesto, we have our own set of values defined by the members of Chewbahat, which puts the spice into the sauce!
StoryCode Paris - as StoryCode.org - is a group promoting transmedia storytelling as well as new forms of storytelling present and future. Its circle of influence is mainly in the media and audiovisual creation, but may extend beyond and integrate broader means of expression and creativity.
We’re following the footsteps of Mike Knowlton and Aina Abiodun’s work - who launched the first Storycode events in New York in 2010, very early realizing the importance of creating moments of exchange open to all. The following defines a general approach and a range set of values that the founding members of StoryCode France endorse.
The rapid changes that have occurred in recent years following the development of the Internet have certainly caught off guard the almost century-old film, music, publishing, information & education industries. Initially, the movement was largely ignored by the secular culture industries. All have gone through - and some are still undergoing - a deep economic and social systemic crisis. A crisis which questions their very existence. Confronted with this persistent change, they get themselves together and tried to adapt their industrial or analogic models to the digital ecosystem. This effort was actually an attempt to keep the control over the production, financing and distribution of cultural goods. It aimed to extend the industry hegemony when the “consumer” challenged increasingly the old world, preferring the “new media” to “traditional”.
The public, the audience, the spectators or readers who once consumed what was offered by these industries have discovered over the past 10 years that other choices was now possible. From this expectation of the public, a new and vibrant ecosystem animated by new actors, new creators gradually rised. Many in that field have now come to realize that the web - in addition of being this great cultural treasure chest - was also a place of creation where everyone can thrive.
Since the late 90s, this global revolution is taking shape right before our eyes. From Josh Harris to Steve Jobs, Shawn Fanning (Napster) to Spotify, from Altavista Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest Peter Sunde to Aaron Swartz … these names are now synonymous with a story driven by the Moore’s Law. A story where this pioneers have profoundly changed the behavior of a vast portion of the world population.
The transposition of the methods and practices in the culture industry inherited from the analogical era to the digital era was - at first - a necessary step to develop a viable digital ecosystem. It is now time to move beyond this stage and to re-think everything based on values developed by and for digital natives.
The whole, greater than the sum of its parts.
StoryCode Paris and its founders are carrying these new values and defend the development and installation of digital natives practices, without denying the profound cultural legacy that decades of creation brought to us.
It’s not a matter of opposing the “old ones” against the “youngsters”. Instead, we prepare ourselves for the future by recognizing the opportunity offered to us today to create new forms of cultural expression, imagine new economic dynamics for finance and invent new ways to disseminate our work to a public increasingly demanding.
Collaboration, dialogue and communication are more than ever at the heart of cultural creation. The public must regain its place at the center of the creators’s concerns. Taking advantage of the numerous tools available to us – from social networking platforms to collaborative work tools – we can now easily exchange our practices, share our knowledge and contribute to a virtuous circle of learning.
Foundations of StoryCode Paris are based on the principles of collaboration, sharing and openness. The dissemination of the best practices as well as the bad ones among professionals and amateurs in our field of work is crucial to significantly increase the understanding of everyone and enrich our emerging ecosystem at the same time. Interprofessional, inter-disciplinary and international transmission, is a challenge that must be met to ensure a consistent and positive development of our practices. StoryCode Paris intends to promote these values and apply them with all its partners.
StoryCode Paris engage itself in this way by making the following another of its core value :
- Transgressing the structures, the methods, the existing conservatism to promote the development of more appropriate methods for a creation better adapted to today and tomorrow’s public.
In these times of transition, it is good that the traditional cultural industries – that are still strong – are producing high qualitative content with the help of creators. But, it is also necessary that the same industries seek to explore new ways of working and redefine their methodologies. Their influence over our emerging ecosystem, slows down the boldest and paralyzes the undecided. StoryCode Paris should specifically be used by its community to facilitate the exploration of these new paths by connecting creators with broadcasters and producers.
Ideas, technologies and desires.
This emancipatory energy must feed the thoughts of each and everyone and help creations to exist beyond the traditional circuits by creating sustainable revenues that would allow content creators to thrive and create again.
Today, the relationship between the creator and the producers/distribution is uneven, immature, where one is dominated by the others. It is time to shift the balance. It is time that this movement of creators who gathered on the web almost ten years ago, now get bigger and from a teenager turn into an adult.
StoryCode Paris includes within it the members of a same generation. The first one to have had the computer and video games as main home entertainment. We are not “digital natives” though, our cultural heritage is also made by the long history of traditional media. And specifically, it is because we know their strength that we can detect their weaknesses and prepare the upcoming transition.
GH and the founding members of Storycode Paris
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