The Meta of Nonlinear Storytelling
The text you are reading forms a sentence; in sequence, these fragments tell a story. Yet a single story may take on infinite perspectives and retellings.
Nonlinear storytelling is more intuitive than we realize, as in the time since you had opened this article it is possible your own attention may have wavered and a line of parallel thoughts took you on a diversion passed before you continued reading.
Black Mirror recently released an interactive story on Netflix titled Bandersnatch. While this has left piraters puzzled, it’s clear that this format is the future of securing media with several extra steps to erode just how easy it is to pirate and watch. To get a sense and spoilers of what this nonlinear story looks like, check out this image here.
As a communication tool, the text and videos we ingest major social media is linear narratives told through viral memes in a feed with very limited customisation.
The Internet, as a collective unconscious of our shared experience with these tools, equipped to expend our attention on what is most popular or most recent.
How we tell these stories is affected by the way we find these stories and the prevalence of these topics on the front of our mind.
Stories in our feeds are vulnerable to be manipulated or posted without integrity, creating a massive undertaking for data aggregators and tech giants to self-regulate their business models as marketers in a manner that’s either invasive or biased (such as fake news, misinformation and disinformation; it’s important to know the difference). Emerging data science and distributed ledger technology have the potential to provide the technical infrastructure to provide this resource to benefit every stakeholder.
While many platforms are finally implementing better search; we are on the heels of a cultural shift that is more than a technology or business innovation. Even providing these features alone, it’s imperative that everyone is capable of accessing these tools and economic necessities to rise above the competition and thrive in our fast-paced society.
- What is coming to challenge aggregators is a New Deal on Data. Described originally by MIT’s Sandy Pentland, is implemented by replacing *free* access to data aggregators without any voice, transparency or rights; to reward participants for data use with an opt-in to valued relationships.
The key distinction to this relationship is ownership. Without us personally storing and hosting the data, it must be encrypted to require agreement by both parties.
Hence where distributed ledgers and blockchain enter the picture (completely absent of the currency abstractions we are familiar with).
Working for us, we may better utilize platforms which pay more people, more fairly for creating unique and valuable content while we use them.
- Even as an audience member or consumer, our shared experience provides value which could pay us for our attention.
Given the ability to monetize how we spend our time online, creates an opportunity to monetize our digital identities and reclaim our metadata.
The Rise of Collaboration aimed to create a shared lineage
These issues have inspired the Roclin Group to collaborate with projects and use cases in distributed ledger technology, blockchain and the Internet of Things.
Combining visual maps, graph databases and decentralized cryptography we are developing platforms for the next generation of big data, to ensure that all stakeholders can benefit from and control their online presence.
As we move into 2019, we aim to create and share some of our own projects encompassing:
- Data entry, access and control
- Data visualization and media presentation
- Personalization, with respect to your identity
- Data exchange, use, privacy and transparency
- Governance, voting and incentives
- API access and interoperability of networks and systems for data exchange
These web tools and a decentralized cohort of projects are emerging in experiments around the globe. Adoption and education across industries and use cases are creating a new web to rival the growth and business of tech giants. Ultimately, it will be up to brands and influencers to shape these new markets and build trust back into social media.
Together, we will do our part to shape the tech landscape to create a healthy economy driven by access, inclusion and opportunity for generations built on respect.
Our collective is growing as both a centrally organized and decentralized entities building projects with similar goals. Updates and early access to projects soon.
If you’d like to contribute, join or follow our story stay tuned here on Medium and join our new Discord community.
