Transmedia Storytelling for the Digital Generation: A Guide for Self-Publication with the Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite.

• Main Author: Minihan, Mikaela
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2012
• Subjects: Digital Generation; transmedia storytelling ecosystem; Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite; reading proficiency; digital singularity; neuroplasticity162; Arts and Humanities; Fine Arts
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/48; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=honors

Despite educational reforms, the annual results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress continue to indicate that the majority of American fourth-graders struggle to master the crucial skill of reading. In the last decade, the percentage of students who read at or above a proficient level hovers around 30 percent, which draws attention to the fact that the academic institutions may not be fully to blame for the decline of reading competency (NAEP, 2011). The real reason for the incompetency could be attributed to the amount of time that children spend reading as average fourth-graders spend less than two hours a week reading (Juster, Ono, & Stafford, 2004, p. 11). This Digital Generation lives in a world full of distractions in which reading cannot compete. Although the American educational system is stressing reading instruction, children are not putting what they are learning into practice outside of school. Instead of reading, children immerse themselves into the world of interactive digital media and electronic devices. If children do not increase the time they spend reading, their proficiency will not improve. To revive reading within the Digital Generation, authors of children’s literature may need to reevaluate their role in the literacy problem because their traditional print-form content appears to be unsuccessful in reaching their young audience. To create reading material that children are eager to read, authors need to produce content in a format that will entice a response from the newest generation. One way children’s authors can accomplish this is by publishing transmedia storytelling ecosystems. By combining storytelling with digital media to meet the modern literary needs of today's children reading proficiency should begin to improve, along with a renewed interest in literature. This research provides insight into today’s “digital children” and suggests a methodology for creating transmedia literature using the Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite.