Introduction: Transmedia narratives

Abstract

Ever since Henry Jenkins published his oft-cited article on “Transmedia Storytelling” in Technology Review (2003), transmediality has become a crossroads and a meeting place for researchers from different disciplines (Media Studies, Narratology, Visual Arts, Marketing, Comparative Literature, Semiotics, Theatre and Performance Studies, Game Studies, Sociology, etc.) as well as authors and the public that are involved in the emerging forms of multiplatform and distributed story creation, production and participation that such transmediality involves. Likewise, intermediality, with the phenomenon of adaptations at its core, crossmedia franchises and new theories on storyworlds, also form part of the space for reflection, discussion and the intersection of digital arts, communication media and interactive technologies that are put forward in this volume of Artnodes. The articles that make up this edition convey the complexity and variety of perspectives and objects of study and the need to revise or rebuild the methods and theoretical and critical tools that are used to construct cultural practice in the digital paradigm.