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Transmedia MPE Visual isat ion Tool V i s u a l i s i n g a n d M a n i p u l a t i n g M P E I m p a c t D a t a

Prepared  by:  Deb  Polson  and  Cassie  Selin  

+61  7  31385928  

Queensland  University  of  Technology  

Kelvin  Grove,  QLD,  4079  

 

For:  Anthony  Mullins  and  Lara  Murray  

+61  7  3871  2555  

Hoodlum  

6/19  Lang  Parade,  Milton  Qld  4064  Australia  

 

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Table of Contents

MPE  VISUALISATION  TOOL  DESIGN  CONCEPTS  ..............................................................................  3  

TIMELINE  CONCEPT  ........................................................................................................................  3  

SOLAR  SYSTEM  CONCEPT:  ..............................................................................................................  7  

Initial  Interface  Prototypes  ............................................................................................................  7  

SOLAR  SYSTEM  PROTOTYPE:  ........................................................................................................  10  

HISTORIC,  CURRENT  AND  PREDICTIVE  STATES  ..............................................................................  13  

POTENTIALS  OF  DATA  VISUALISATION  TOOLS  ..............................................................................  13  

LIMITATIONS  OF  EXISTING  DATA  ANALYTICS  TOOLS  ....................................................................  13  

Benefits  to  Hoodlum  and  the  wider  industry  ...............................................................................  14      

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We  estimate  that  a  retailer  embracing  big  data  has  the  potential  to  increase  its  operating  margin  by  more  than  60  percent.                                                                                                                Mckinsey  Global  Institute  Report,  2011.    

MPE Visualisation Tool Design Concepts

This  section  outlines  the  initial  interface  concepts  for  accessing  and  manipulating  an  MPE  project  data.  The  interfaces  

represent  the  organisation  of  data  based  on  the  analysis  of  Hoodlum  projects,  workflows,  media  components,  user  and  

platform  data  and  visualisation  best  practice  analysis.  

Two  main  concepts  were  realised:  

1. Timeline  Interface  

2. Solar  System  Interface    

 

Timeline Concept

This  visualisation  tool  concept  creates  a  big  picture  of  engagement  by  enabling  the  client  to  explore  relationships  

between  aspects  of  multiplatform  development  and  online  user  behaviour.  Aggregated  data  will  be  represented  on  

timelines  that  track  the  following  elements:  

− Absolute  unique  users  

− Acquisition  and  loyalty  

− Referrals  

− Engagement  (pages  per  visit,  dwell  time,  page  depth,  completion  of  activities)  

− Orbiting  fansites  

− Production  beats  (upload  schedules,  resource  investment,  goals,  backstories  of  production)  

− Narrative  beats  (relationship  between  show  content  and  site  content)  

− External  beats  (media  coverage,  advertising,  fan  motivation)  

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The  tool  is  designed  to  aid  comparative  analysis  by  highlighting  key  beats,  comparing  them  across  time,  identifying  

un/successful  content  and  statistical  layering.    

A  fully  customisable  interface  offers  the  options  to:    

− View  multiple  timelines  simultaneously  or  isolate  individual  tracks  

− Drag  timelines  up  or  down  to  illuminate  specific  relationships  

− Superimpose  timeslines  to  facilitate  comparison  

 

− Adjust  the  scale  and  scroll  through  the  timeline    

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− Add  new  timelines  for  content  types  (e.g.  videos,  graphic  novels),  content  items  (e.g.  one  video,  one  game)  

and  metrics  (views,  completes,  etc.)  

 

 

− Minimise  timelines  to  just  descriptors  

− Linking  between  models  for  visualisation  options  

− Isolate/manage  data  views  

o Slide-­‐and-­‐lock  timelines  

o Rollover  for  pop-­‐up  stats  

o Click  and  drag  to  highlight/soom  on  a  specific  section  of  the  timeline  

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o Toggle  on/off  indicators  of  broadcast  dates,  content  release  dates,  and  significant  marketing  events  

 

o Cross-­‐timeline  metric  comparisons  

 

o One-­‐click  data  summary  of  what  was  happening  across  all  the  platforms  was  happening  

simultaneously  on  a  specific  day  

 

 

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Solar System Concept:

The  visualisation  tool  concept  highlights  pathways  and  relationships  among  platforms,  people,  environments  and  

content  in  order  measure  different  types  of  engagement  and  assess  the  value  such  efforts.    

Initial Interface Prototypes

The  elements  of  the  model  are  broken  down  into  the  categories  of  People,  Platforms  and  Content:  

 

At  the  centre  of  this  solar  system  is  the  collection  of  core  platforms  developed  by  Hoodlum.  Beyond  the  core  is  the  

matrix  of  fan-­‐created  content.  Mousing  over/clicking  an  element  will  illuminate  lines  of  connection  to  other  elements,  

which  can  be  clicked  upon  to  bring  up  snapshots  of  information  about  traffic,  dwell  time,  unique  users  and  other  

metrics.    

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The  relationship  among  all  of  these  elements  can  be  presented  as  either  a  system-­‐wide  overview  (above)  or  a  closeup  of  

a  specific  orbit  (below).    

 

The  control  interface  creates  custom  reporting  that  has  the  capability  to:  

− Isolate  and  track  relationships  between  specific  elements  of  interest  (e.g.  user  activity  around  a  specific  

character  and  their  webisodes  on  the  main  site  and  You  Tube)  

− Show  at  a  glance  the  directions  and  frequency  of  traffic  and  the  most  popular  content  

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− Assess  the  impact  of  a  particular  element  by  modeling  how  its  elimination  would  affect  the  whole  system  

− Display  and  share  data    

 

 

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Solar System Prototype:

The  solar  System  visualisation  allows  users  to  explore  the  relationship  between  entitities  in  a  transmedia  campaign.  

Entities  fall  into  three  categories  –  people  (characters,  actors,  developers),  content  (videos,  posts,  comics)  and  

platforms  (Television,  Facebok,  tumblr).    

Users  can  select  from  these  entities  to  visualise  their  relatinoships.  A  central  entity  can  be  selected  as  the  basis  of  the  

visualisation  (in  this  example,  the  character,  Scarlett.)    

The  following  are  screen  images  of  the  final  interface  prototype  that  offer  a  simple  example  of  the  interaction  

possibilities  of  such  a  system,  though  the  interface  design  is  only  a  rough  rendering  to  describe  the  concept.  

 

Users  can  select  which  people,  platforms  and  content  they  would  like  to  be  displayed.  In  this  example,  they  have  

selected  the  Twitter  and  Tumblr  platforms,  and  te  character,  Scarlett,  as  their  focal  point.    

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The  system  will  then  display  the  relationships  between  these  entities.  In  this  example,  Scarlett  has  both  a  Tumblr  and  a  

Twitter,  and  so  those  are  shown,  along  with  relevant  information  about  people  (in  red)  and  content  (in  blue).  

 

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Users  can  use  a  drop  down  interface  to  additionally  filter  information,  only  showing  selected  entities.  In  this  example,  

the  user  has  unchecked  Tumblr  to  display  only  twitter.    

 

Users  can  also  use  the  prediction  mechanism  to  view  potential  changes  if  additional  people,  platforms  or  content  were  

added.  In  this  example,  the  user  has  selected  Facebook  to  be  added  to  the  simulation.  This  visualises  the  changes  that  

would  occur  if  Facebook  were  to  be  added  for  the  transmedia  campaign  in  association  with  this  particular  character.    

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Historic, Current and Predictive States

As  a  repository  of  data  that  can  visualise  custom  data  sets  on  demand,  this  tool  will  enable    

− Historic  views  of  user  behaviour  around  previous  shows  

− Current  views  of  user  engagement  with  shows  being  broadcast    

− Predictive  views  that  forecast  how  users  might  interact  with  new  multiplatform  that  producers  may  wish  

to  develop  in  the  future  

− Curatorial  interface  to  facilitate  data  sharing  across  projects  and  creative  teams  

Potentials Of Data Visualisation Tools

Mckinsey  Global  Institute  (2011)  identified  five  broadly  applicable  ways  to  leverage  data  that  offer  transformational  

potential  to  create  value  for  organisations:  

− Creating  transparency:  making  relevant  data  more  readily  accessible  

− Enabling  experimentation  to  discover  needs,  expose  variability,  and  improve  performance:  IT  enables  

organisations  to  instrument  processes  and  then  set  up  controlled  experiments.  

− Segmenting  populations  to  customise  actions:  allows  organisations  to  create  highly  specific  segmentations  

and  to  tailor  products  and  services  precisely  to  meet  those  needs.  

− Replacing/supporting  human  decision  making  with  automated  algorithms:  sophisticated  analytics  can  

substantially  improve  decision-­‐making,  minimise  risks,  and  unearth  valuable  insights  that  would  otherwise  

remain  hidden.    

− Innovating  new  business  models,  products,  and  services:  intelligently  processed  data  enables  companies  to  

create  new  products  and  services,  enhance  existing  ones,  and  invent  entirely  new  business  models  

 

Several  issues  will  have  to  be  addressed  to  capture  the  full  potential  for  Data  Visualisation    

− Technology  and  techniques:    To  capture  value  from  data,  organisations  will  have  to  deploy  new  

technologies  and  techniques  for  accessing,  processing  and  communicating  the  data.  

− Organisational  change  and  talent:  Many  organisations  do  not  have  the  talent  in  place  to  derive  insights  

from  the  data  they  may  or  may  not  already  be  collecting.  

− Access  to  data:  To  enable  transformative  opportunities,  companies  will  increasingly  need  to  integrate  

information  from  multiple  data  sources.  

Limitations of Existing Data Analytics Tools

Working  with  SLiDE  data  to  produce  the  report  has  exposed  the  limitations  of  existing  analytic  tools.  Moving  between  

multiple  tools  that  are  not  ideally  suited  to  the  job,  assessing  the  accuracy  of  data  and  collating  it  into  a  useful  

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visualisation  model  is  a  difficult,  time-­‐intensive  and  costly  exercise—especially  if  it  needs  to  be  repeated  for  each  new  

project  Hoodlum  undertakes.    

Google  Analytics  has  the  capacity  to  collect  important  information  about  user  and  their  behaviour  in  terms  of:  

− Demographics  (location,  language)  

− Users  (unique,  new,  returning)  

− Page  views  

− Frequency  and  recency  of  usage  

− Dwell  time  and  page  depth  

− Technology  (browser,  network,  mobile  device)  

− Visitor  flows  

Google  Analytics  cannot  offer  a  complete  picture  of  multiplatform  user  engagement:    

− Single  platform  focus  prevents  cross-­‐platform  comparative  analysis  without  running  multiple  reports  and  

manually  crunching  the  numbers  

− No  visualisation  of  pathways  and  volume  of  traffic  between  platforms  

− No  basis  for  measuring  qualitative  data  and  its  relationship  to  quantitative  stats  

− No  explanatory  powers  to  shed  light  on  factors  that  influence  viewer  behaviour  

− Limited  customisation  capabilities  for  tracking  discrete  components  of  the  multiplatform  experience  

(characters,  actors,  platforms,  etc.)  

− Data  is  historic  or  current;  no  capacity  to  predict  future  user  behaviour  

− Limited  options  for  visualisation  models  (pie  charts,  line  charts,  pivot  tables,  bar  graphs)  

 

Benefits to Hoodlum and the wider industry

− Provides  a  more  accurate  and  comprehensive  representation  of  data  and  its  implications  

− Moves  beyond  metric  of  simple  exposure  to  measure  actual  weight/impact  and  reach  of  user  engagement  

across  core  and  orbiting  platforms  

− Identifies  most  strategic  use  of  resources  by  highlighting  impact  and  performance  of  each  component  of  the  

online  experience  

− Customisation  capability  gives  Hoodlum  agency  over  the  manipulation  and  presentation  of  data  

− Offers  a  presentation  tool  for  communicating  the  value  of  multiplatform  production  and  user  engagement  

to  stakeholders  

− Predicts  the  potential  for  success  of  future  projects    

Establishes  a  framework  for  sharing  data  in  a  way  that  allows  production  companies  to  reap  the  rewards  of  knowledge-­‐

exchange  without  sacrificing  competitive  edge