28/01/2012 Click

the link, we are the bottom right hand of the screen.

Now on BBC News it is time for Click.

Once upon a time, there was an adventurous young hero who lived

happily ever after. But have you ever wondered what

happens to everyone else in the This week on Click, storytelling

leaps off the page and on to your phone or computer. We will see how

modern authors are using tech to spin and enhance their fictional

yarns. Baby, It's Cold Outside, it's cold inside two at the Swedish

hotel made from ice, and will meet the artists using computers to help

shape their frozen sculptures. All that plus the latest tech news,

and we keep fit with the help of Welcome to Click. IM Spencer Kelly.

There was a time when you could sit down in front of your TV and watch

a programme from beginning to end, and that would be that. And of

course long before that you were able to pick up a book and read a

story from beginning to end, and that would be that. But now, there

is a new generation of storytellers who are able to touch -- use more

than one medium to tell their tales. He is LJ Rich to take the story in

a completely new direction -- here is LJ Rich.

Once upon a time, there were real But now, it is all about touching

screens, where modern content creators compete from retention

across platforms. Their aim, to make the Web or Allah smartphones

at least, as compelling as ever. We treat into a second screens or chat

about reality shows, or even dress for the occasion. This is

transmedia, weaving many strands to the same story. And now it is

giving fiction attacking makeover. Allanson Morrison knows how it is

done. As well as studying this multiplatform discipline for six

years she is going through her 5th novel, a romcom with a transmedia

twist. As a writer you need to know your story world put so much more.

You need to know your characters really well. You cannot succeed,

perhaps, a 75 year-old elegant character who works in her garden

at on Facebook, perhaps, because that might not be the place she

would naturally Goto. Seeding is when authors use social networks to

ring fictional characters to life. So does this mean the pedal book is

dead? -- bring them to live. Michael Grant has written around 50

that is most proud of his latest which breaks out of its paper

chains. BZRK is billed as a ground- breaking transmedia excrete it --

experience including a website, and autumn but -- of so much reality

game for your computer, but he feels the story is the most

important. I don't feel challenged by the story, I don't think you're

so it was will screw things up between me and the reader. I kind

of look them -- look at them as a separate industry up to a point, so

kids can enjoy the website and the ARG, and the various different

transmedia aspects of this, but the purpose of what we are about here

is the book. I don't think the book is any danger -- in any danger of

being replaced. If anything this has taught me the superiority,

frankly, of storytelling in a book because I can tell little snippets

elsewhere but I can only tell the full story in the book, and the

book, to me, is still 80 per cent of the pie, and everything else

makes up 20 per cent. Michael's Publishers Egmont Press believe

multiplatform storytelling helps attract a wider audience. For them,

transmedia also offers readers a rare opportunity to express exactly

what they think of the books they read. I think this is the most

exciting time in publishing, certainly in my career in

publishing, because digital is opening up a whole new word and --

well done the new audience brass we haven't touched before. The whole

driver is to try to reach more readers. So for us to see a video

blog or a chatroom, to see them taking ownership of Michael's story,

for him and us this is very exciting. As publishers we were

keen to see what is the turn of as much as what is exciting people, so

I see that as great, that is great new information. Part of the fun of

storytelling this way is that you can be a bit creative about how you

engage your audience, and if you are the audience, you can choose

just how far into the story world you are prepared to venture, if you

dare. I am here to eat, I mean meat, the

people behind a transmedia project involving zombies chasing deal.

Come to think that, I have some were to be!

This lot successfully applied to star in the charmingly named

Zombies Ate My City, allocation based game due for release next

month on the Windows firm platform. -- firm platform.

Scientists from the future need your help to stop the invasion and

players are carefully guided along the way. The main thing is you are

trying to figure out what you Taylor to which platform. So for

example, zombies, with the app you have collecting things, checking

orbs, seen way you need to go, but we also have a web-based experience

later in the year, way users will be able to discover other locations

and reveal them to the phone users, and there will be atwitter feed

with clues, and we have a flow chart. -- eight were to feed. We

will say, are we are playing with a video? What is the second element

that comes up once to have made this choice of followed this path?

Transmedia is more than just stories investing websites and real

life. Good fiction these days flows in both directions, and with more

books based on original Hollywood screenplays and television series,

the digital platform isn't always the spin-off. There are some

campaigns and stories that are out which have had solid transmedia

strategy behind them. It could be that people have already engaged

with these without actually knowing it. One example is a HomeFront, and

Random House published the Voice Of Freedom, the book about the

character in the game, which is not heralded as transmedia, but that is

exactly what cities. Increasingly, audiences are excited about the

prospect of interacting more deeply with the stories they read, and in

a crowded marketplace, whoever engages us with the most fulfilling

experience will live happily ever after.

LJ Rich. She has seen the film, read the book and warned the T-

shirt. If you have enjoyed any flick -- fiction split across

multiple platforms, even us and we will recommend it.

Next up, a look at this week's test -- tech news.

European lawmakers want to give web users the right to be forgotten.

The he wants us to be able to delete all traces of our past from

social network sites and other service providers if we decide to

stop using them, and to make it easier to shift data between

services. Some tech firms complain it will be costly and may stunt

innovation. The new Bill will need the approval of all 27 member

states, which is likely to take around two years.

Google will collate all uses data across its services to create one

mega Profile for each user. The change in the privacy policy could

see search terms recommended on your browsing or global class

activity, for example. Meanwhile the storm over global's social

search tool and apply to its own social network has attracted

criticism. The work around Proms results including Twitter, Facebook

and Flickr amongst others -- Google Plus. File sharing sides have

adapted their services following the arrest of the founder of one of

the world's largest file searing websites. He was arrested last week

in New Zealand and faces possible extradition charges to the US.

Other sides have disabled show -- sharing functions or blocked access

from America. It has been nearly three years in

the making but this week the full length crowd sourced version of

Star Wars: A New Hope became the latest YouTube hit. The cheeky shot

for shot copy his stick together from hundreds of 15 seconds clips

from users around the world. A preview project won an Emmy in 2010.

Last week, we were in Nevada in the US to look at new types of personal

computers threatening to put the traditional desktop tower PC out of

business. From tablet accessories to the apparently brand new

category of ultrabooks, there seem to be plenty of new devices

portable and convenient enough to consign the dust octet -- PC to a

dusty silicon grave. You guys, however, had other data -

You guys, however, had other data - - ideas. This user says gamers and

anyone else who enjoys treating hardware will always preferred

And that is the common theme with most of your comments, but it is

easier to swap, add bits and mess around inside a big roomy tower PC

vanities inside a laptop. And of course tablets are even more locked

down. Mr T Davey also loves the massive monitor you can attach to

his tower PC and the fact that parts, replacements and upgrades

are easy. Paul Sanderson also points out that

there -- desktops are cheaper compared light -- like-for-like on

processing power and storage and so on and the keyboard and mouse are

often better than the laptop, and they are harder to steal.

Not least because your desktop should be locked in your house.

Finally on this, Des Thompson. He is a self confessed -- confessed

geek who likes to ticket inside his machine, but he says, PS, can you

let me know the dubious position of the desktop you buried? It may have

bits on it I can use -- a dubious position.

I can assure you we didn't leave it buried there, but he is the

location. If you go there, you will find a whole, some tyre tracks, and

rather worryingly, quite a few shotgun cartridges.

Anyway, another story we covered this week on our Twitter stream was

the news that the iPhone 4 S and iPad are now fully jail breakable,

meaning it you can get code which allows you to download unauthorised

apps and tweets the workings of the device. We asked if Apple would

ever be able to prevent its devices Malcolm Bruce hopes that jail

Please do keep your comments coming in. They make us laugh and they

in. They make us laugh and they One question we ask quite often on

this programme is, can technology replace the artist? Could I be

replaced by a robot, for example? Do not answer that. Our next piece

comes was Sweden where computers are being used to create beautiful

ice sculptures? Will the warmth of the human touch always speaking? --

Each winter, as the sun 0 climate a rise high in the Arctic Circle, --

the sun 0 climate, crystal-clear blocks of ice harvested from a

local river are crafted into an extraordinary feat of engineering.

The work is underway to build this Packed snow is given a helping hand

with supports, to create a huge igloo that is to become the outer

But it is the ice sculptures and the unique lighting, designed and

created by the highly skilled artists, that transform this place

from a simple arctic dwelling to a But even here, where once the ice

sculptor relied on his own manual dexterity and vision, today their

creations are helped by some high- Hidden from view in a small corner

of a warehouse, Mats Persson pores over a PC running CAD, computer-

After loading his designs into a format the machine can understand,

Mats Persson chooses the right size of drill bit for the right size of

the job and sets them to work. It takes hours to careve each piece of

work. -- tic harbour each piece Of Art. The 3D effect is only achieved

by melding together two separate bits of hollowed-out ice.

Impressive though it is, the machine can only make sculptures up

to a certain size. For bigger jobs, an artist's dextrous hands are

still needed. It helps us a lot. Because we can

make the drawings in a 3D programme, we can see how it looks before we

continue with the work. Because it is a lot of work to build this. If

you do something wrong, you have to do it over and over again. We don't

have the time for that because the schedule is really tight and the

It might be a practical aid but the artists are in no doubt that

technology is simply a tool to be used. No matter how advanced the

technology is, someone still has to tell the computer what to do. And

that is the hard thing, I think, for me personally. What to

do. If I stand in front of a piece of ice like this, the biggest

challenge is what should I do with it? Then, if you know what to do,

the technology may help you. But still, the idea has to be there.

As for more mundane matters like power and lighting, the snow helps

to bounce around what little light there is. But here too, high-tech

developments abound, albeit behind the scenes.

Here is the projector for the fibre-optics. You have an LED in

here. You get out more. They are more powerful than four years ago,

when I was here the first time. From the beginning, we used hellite.

Also, fluorescent lamp light bulbs. And now, all the light and

This is nature, nurtured. With the help of a little technology, each

room takes several days to complete. But when the erasing warmth of

spring comes, all the hard work melts away, and the hotel must wait

If you are the type of person who finds it difficult to step away

from technology and switch off for a while, literally as well as

figuratively, I think you are going to like Kate Russell's first

suggestion this week. It is time to get serious about those new year's

It can be hard, working up the enthusiasm for a healthy jog. If

you have a GPS-enabled smartphone, you can turn it into a personal

trainer and motivator, with a free download from EndoMondo. Log in

with Facebook and download the app from an impressive list of

supported handsets, and you are off and running, quite literally if

that is your fitness activity of choice. This is a kind of fitness

social network, rather than just an application. The app tracks and

records your activity using GPS but what is really nice is the way it

hooks you into a social community where you can share and compare

results, giving a much-needed boost with a little friendly competition.

As well as being able to challenge friends or participate in site-wide

challenges, there are analysis tools to find better ways of

If you have a large file to deliver, you are probably better doing it

online than running it there yourself. WeTransfer.com is my new

favourite file transfer friend. It looks good, it does exactly what it

needs to do, and no more. And it looks pretty nice while it is

This site doesn't need to set up a direct link, like one that we

looked at a few weeks ago. So your recipient doesn't have to be there

when you're trying to send the file. And you avoid any issues with over-

sensitive firewalls. And it can handle more double file transfers

of up to two gigabytes in total without the need to register or log

on, so it is in the top spot for me. If you are sharing images, rather

than sending a file itself, Imagevat is an interesting newcomer

They offer unlimited Web space and bandwidth, something you will be

glad of if you get a lot of views. At the moment you can only upload

images anonymously, as they seem to have teething problems with the

registration link. Sharing with Imagevat is a really quick and

For a great education tool, check out wondermind.tate.org.uk.

Hello. Welcome to... In parallel with an exhibition, the

gallery has brought together art and science to craft a beautiful

and creative learning experience about the science of the brain. The

website uses Alice In Wonderland as inspiration and a backdrop for the

games and interactive videos. It is a brilliantly cunning way of

delivering an education. This game is all about moving around spaces.

Hats off to the Tate, who have really delivered on this count. The

videos are well-produced, and whilst my schooldays are admittedly

long gone, I don't think they were too patronising. Although they did

teeter on the edge occasionally. Altogether, a great contribution to

the school of the World Wide Web. Isn't it amazing how much more you

can learn, when you really go A word of warning for infrequent

Facebook users. It is time to clean up your act. Facebook timeline

became mandatory this week, so you have just a few days left to make

sure your social skeletons are locked safely away, before it all

There's no easy way to tell you this, but I'm seeing someone else.

Breaking up is never easy. I don't know what you mean. It is something

that app's virtual assistant, Siri, might have to learn to accept with

the launch of Evi this week. It is free on Android and costs 69p on

Apple devices and it is not limited to the iPhone4S, like Siri. There

has been some excitement around the launch. The vital statistics look

good. AI from a team in Cambridge giving her UK knowledge and

language nuances, and voice recognition from the people who

make Dragon Dictate, a first-class speech-to-text application. For the

moment, host servers have been so overloaded with early adopters that

it is hard to see if she will be giving Siri a run for his money.

For the time being, I am standing by my man.

You are the wind beneath My Wings. If you missed any of the links,

they are at our website. You will also find many of our previous