The story of the EMC and PMC partnership to create the positive impact game BREAKAWAY. Ways to think of media platforms for storytelling to produce positive social impact.

1. Storytelling Across Media Platforms for Positive Impact
Ann DeMarle & Sarah Jerger

2. • BREAKAWAY Partnership: PMC and EMC
• EMC: Who We Are Today
• How We Work
• Project Examples
• Emergent Media: What Is It?
• Forms
• Affordances
• Types of Interactions
• Story Experiences
• Emergent Storytelling
• Active Learning & Examples
• Participatory Storytelling
• Cycle of Mastery Towards Goals
• Connectivity & Amplification
Outline:
Ann DeMarle — demarle@champlain.edu , anndemarle@gmail.com — @anndemarle
Sarah Jerger — sjerger@champlain.edu — @sarahjerger

3. • Successful grant request to UNFPA
2008
• Narrative game to address VAW/G
• First instance of Sabido
methodology applied to games
G A M E

4. G A M E
Production:
• Project Start 2008
• Launched 13 episodes online/CD 2010
Educational Model:
• Facilitator’s Guide 2011
https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu

5. G A M E

6. G A M E
Production:
• Project Start 2008
• Launched 13 episodes online/CD 2010
Educational Model:
• Facilitator’s Guide 2011
• Hebron, Palestine camp 2012
• El Salvador camp 2013, 2014
• Buffalo camp 2016
Assessment & Research:
• First assessment 2014
• Second assessment 2015
• Third assessment 2017
Second Production:
• Mobile 2017/18
• Mahama camps Rwanda 2019 https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu

7. EMC: Who We Are Now

8. Our Roots
2005 Roger Perry
Endowed Chair:
Champlain College’s
nationally ranked
Game degree programs,
in the top 15 for 12+
years. “Top US College” —Atlantic Monthly
“Most Innovative College in the North East” —U.S. News & World Report

9. An academic studio
partnering with industry,
public institutions &
nonprofits to develop
new concepts, processes,
uses & applications for
games & other forms of
emergent media.

10. Dr. Albert Levis, America's Army, Archer Mayor, Aspen Institute, Big Heavy World, Bookstock Literary Festival, Boston Museum
of Science, Burlington International Airport, Burlington School District, Carbon Research Collaborative, Case Western Fowler
Center for Business as Agent of World Benefit, Center for Integration of Medical and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) at
Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, Chicago Museum of Design, City of Burlington, Digital
Now, ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Fletcher Free Library, Flynn Center,
Free Press Media, Ford Foundation, Fort Ticonderoga, Fusion Productions, Generator, Genevieve Griffin, Google Earth,
Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, Heritage Winooski Mill Museum, Hotel Vermont, How About Now, IBM, Institute of Museum
and Library Sciences, Jager Di Paola Kemp Design, Kelliher Samets Volk, Kingbridge Centre, Mamava, MarketWatch, Masie
Center, Meach Cove Farms, Meeting Professional International (MPI), Microsoft Games, Money Magazine, Municipality of
Hebron, NASA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), National Life Group, North American High
Tech Center, Orchestra Engagement Lab, OVR, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Polhemus, Population Media
Center, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Samuel Eto’o, Smarter Shift, Snelling Center for Government, South End Arts and
Business Association, TimeToSocialEyes, LLC, Trees for the Planet, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)—El
Salvador, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)—Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education
for Peace and Sustainable Development, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), State University of New York at Buffalo,
Stern Center for Language and Learning, Toronto Kids Digital Festival, Triptych Journey, University of Cape Town, South Africa,
University of Sonsonate, El Salvador, University of Vermont, Varises, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont Arts
Council, Vermont Campus Compact, Vermont Creative Network, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Vermont
Division for Historic Preservation, Vermontivate, Visible EP, VTIFF, Vermont Teddy Bear, VHA Health Foundation, VSA Vermont,
Wake Robin, Xerox, Yellow Wood Associates, You Have a Voice.
Our Partners

11. How We Work
• Students: creativity,
digital natives, cross-
disciplinary teams
guided by faculty &
staff
• Emergent Media
design & production
expertise
• Collaborative design
cycle, prioritizing
iteration
• Designing in-person
& online learning
experiences

12. • Mobile apps
• Serious games & curriculum
• Gamification strategies
• Social media campaigns
• Video
• Static & motion graphics
• Big data visualization
• Large screen interactives
• Alternative computer controllers
• Virtual and augmented realities
Conceptualization
Prototyping
Production

14. Building Blocks:
Training course for early
childhood educators,
Stern Center for
Language and Learning

15. Make-A-Change:
Educational game
addressing sexual
assaults on college
campuses

16. Eden:
VR environmental
storytelling using 3D
animation & scent

17. VARiSES:
Surgical VR training tool
using 3D animation

18. Silent Connection:
Exploring empathy
through VR
storytelling/video

19. Emergent Media: What Is It?
Storytelling & Communications: Historical Perspective
“Facebook launched in 2004,
YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006,
the iPhone in 2007. By 2008,
Twitter had 1M users, and only
about 1 of 6 Americans had a
smartphone. Today, Twitter has
more than 300M users, and 2 of 3
Americans own smartphones.”
—-Jill LaPore, The New Yorker, 8/16,
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20
16/02/22/did-social-media-produce-the-new-
populism

20. Emergent Media Forms: • Games
• Large screen interactives
• Alternative computer controllers
• Virtual and augmented realities (VR/AR)
• Mobile apps
• Social media
• Transmedia
• Gamification strategies
+

21. “The affordances of the environment are
what it offers the animal, what it provides
or furnishes either for good or ill”
—JAMES J. GIBSON, THE ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
TO VISUAL PERCEPTION (1979)
Procedural
Participatory
Encyclopedic
Spatial
+
Emergent Media Affordances:

22. Procedural:
Participatory:
Encyclopedic:
Spatial:
Actions based on rules
Invites human manipulation & action
Provides high capacity for information
Provides ability to navigate information or virtual spaces
Emergent Media Affordances:

23. Types of Interaction:
• Interactivity
• Immersion
• Networked
• Information
• Intelligence (AI)
• Participation
• Connectivity
• Replication
• Amplification

24. • Interactivity
• Immersion
• Networked
• Information
• Intelligence (AI)
• Participation
• Connectivity
• Replication
• Amplification
Emergent Media
Traditional Media
Types of Interaction:

25. Ideas over time
Books
(Text)
Ideas over time
Movies
(Imagery & Motion)
Sensoryexperience
Ideas over time
Sensoryexperience
Games
(Action & Ritual)
Interactivity
Story Experiences:

26. Emergent Storytelling:
Method Electronic Format
Verbal (Audio) Youtube
(TED)
Skype
Podcasts
(CRIMINAL,
-host Judge )
Text Texting Twitter Blogs
(Cowbird -Harris)
eBooks
(Numberlys -Moonbot
Studios)
Imagery &
Suggested
Motion
TV Movies Netflix Videogames
Instagram
& Facebook
Action
& Ritual
Videogames
Alternative reality
games
(World Without Oil -
McGonigal)
Augmented reality
(Future Past
-Brownell)
Social Media
Transmedia
(Pirate Fishing
-Ruhfus )

27. Active Learning
Emergent Media: Potential for Behavior Change

28. Connectivity & Amplification:
• Connect to special interests
• Create collaborative communities
• Share content & links across platforms
• Co-creation & crowd funding
• Exponential reach
Active Learning Environment:
The plow—like many
technologies, both ancient and
modern—is about creating
more of something and doing it
more efficiently, so that more
people can benefit.
—BILL GATES,
HTTPS://WWW.TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.CO
M/S/612932/BILL-GATES-HOW-WELL-
INVENT-THE-FUTURE/
#MeToo

29. Every Body Walk
Kaiser Permanente.
Combines short
films, documentary
feature, a website
property, social
networking presence
& media
partnerships with
multiple entities in
the non-profit &
corporate realm.
Launched 2011
Transmedia Example:

30. Pirate Fishing
Al Jazeera America
interactive online
experience places
users in the role of an
investigative journalist
uncovering the story of
illegal fishing
operations off the
coast of Sierra Leone.
2014
Transmedia Example:
http://www.aljazeera.com/piratefishing/

31. Participatory Storytelling:
• Participant vs viewer - become a character
• Role-play real life situations
• Hero’s Journey: exploration & solution seeking
• Ability to capture and share their story
• Virtual experience is actual experience
Active Learning Environment:

32. Clouds Over Sidra
Created for the UN to
raise empathy for the
struggle of refugees.
You become a 12 year
old girl Za’atari Refugee
Camp in Jordan.
Raised $3.8 billion.
2015
VR Example:

33. The Antarctica Series
New York Times series
of 4 VR cardboard
films reporting on
climate change in
Antarctica.
2017-2018
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/climate/antarctica-virtual-reality.html
VR Example:

34. Cycle of mastery towards goals:
• Agency & choice
• Leveling up
• Experience clear cause & effect
• Ability to practice behaviors
• Reflection
• Active decision making
=critical thinking
Active Learning Environment:

35. Game Example:
BREAKAWAY
Draw an example of bullying (verbal, physical,
psychological) that you have learned from
BREAKAWAY and how to deal with it.

36. Game Example:
BREAKAWAY Narrative Exposure & Responses to Questions:
• 83% reread dialogue before answering
• Younger girls spend more time reading
• Pro-social rate 50-90%
• Anti-social rate 10-37%

37. Never Alone –
Kisima Ingitchuna
Narrative game
preserving and sharing
the sacred stories of
the Cook Inlet Native
Americans. Cook Inlet
Tribal Council and
Upper One Games.
2016
https://youtu.be/pSCfIqr2lx8Source: https://www.facebook.com/NeverAloneGame/
Game Example:

38. Never Alone –
Kisima Ingitchun
Game Example:

39. Learn more:
Blog: https://emergentmedia.champlain.edu
Web: https://www.champlain.edu/emc
BREAKAWAY: https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu
YouTube: champlainemc
Vimeo: ccemergentmedia
Instagram: ccemergentmedia
Twitter: @CCEmergentMedia
FB: ChamplainEMC
Student Stories: http://ten.emergentmediacenter.com
Video: https://vimeo.com/213877948
Contact: Sarah Jerger — sjerger@champlain.edu — @sarahjerger

40. Anderson, C., The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, Hyperion Books, 2008.
DeMarle, A., Let Us Entertain You: Entertainment industries propel technologies that engage our seven senses and blur the barriers of work and play,
Computer Magazine, 8/17
DeMarle, A., How do we keep the virtual world from being infected with real world biases?, Philadelphia Enquirer, 10/3/17
Gibson, J., The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Psychology Press & Routledge Class Editions, 1979
Murray, J., Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, MIT Press, 1998
Murray, J., Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice, MIT Press, 2011
LaPore, J., The Party Crashers: Is the new populism about the message or the medium?, The New Yorker, 02/22/2016
Hacksteiner, M., How Luther went viral: Social media in the 16th Century, The Economist, 12/17/11
Wang, H., Wu, Y. C., & Choi, J. H. BREAKAWAY Research Brief for Emergent Media Center at Champlain College in Vermont, USA and the UNDP in El
Salvador, 12/16. Available at https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu/wp-content/uploads/ sites/33/2014/03/BREAKAWAY_Research_Brief_Final-1.pdf
Wang, H., Choi, J. H., Wu., Y., & DeMarle, A., BREAKAWAY: Combating violence against women and girls through soccer video game and youth camps.
Health & New Media Research, 2(4), available at http://healthmedia.hallym.ac.kr/
Wang, H., Wu, Y., Choi, J. H., & DeMarle, A., Players as transitional characters: How youth can “BREAKAWAY” from gender-based violence, Well
Played, 8, 27-40. 2019. Available at http://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/product/well-played-vol-8-no-1/
Wang, H., Choi, J. H., Wu, Y. C., & DeMarle, A. (in press). BREAKAWAY: A narrative-based digital game to educate youth about gender-based
discrimination and violence. In K. Schrier (Ed.), Learning, education, and games (Volume 3): 100 Games to Use in the classroom and beyond. ETC Press.
Resources - Publications:
Ann DeMarle — demarle@champlain.edu , anndemarle@gmail.com — @anndemarle
Sarah Jerger — sjerger@champlain.edu — @sarahjerger

41. Al Jazeera America, “Pirate Fishing”, 2014,
http://www.aljazeera.com/piratefishing
Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Upper One Games, “Never Alone
Game”, 2016 http://neveralonegame.com
Emergent Media Center, “BREAKAWAY Mobile, 2019,
http://bit.ly/breakawaymobile
Kaiser Permanente, “Every Body Walk”, 2011,
EveryBodyWalk.org
New York Times, “The Antartica Series”, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/climate/antarctica-
virtual-reality.html
UN, “Clouds Over Sidra”, 2015
http://unvr.sdgactioncampaign.org/cloudsoversidra/#.XQZZti3
Mwcg
This presentation & others by Ann DeMarle:
https://www.slideshare.net/anndemarle
Resources - Media:

42. • BREAKAWAY Partnership: PMC and EMC
• EMC: Who We Are Today
• How We Work
• Project Examples
• Emergent Media: What Is It?
• Forms
• Affordances
• Types of Interactions
• Story Experiences
• Emergent Storytelling
• Active Learning & Examples
• Participatory Storytelling
• Cycle of Mastery Towards Goals
• Connectivity & Amplification
Questions?
Ann DeMarle — demarle@champlain.edu , anndemarle@gmail.com — @anndemarle
Sarah Jerger — sjerger@champlain.edu — @sarahjerger