orchestra21

When I work on creating relevant, insightful and exciting orchestra concerts much of my effort is spent considering how to conceive of repertoire [content] and presentation [container] as one seamless unit. Turns out I’m not the only one preoccupied with this approach …

Robin Sloan, via Frank Chimero, on what it means to be a Media Inventor: It’s somebody primarily interested in content who also experiments with new technology, new processes, and new formats. Fundamentally, I think, a media inventor is someone who isn’t satisfied with the suite of formats that have been handed down to him by his culture (and economy). Novel, novella, short story; album, EP, single; RPG, RTS, FPS—a media inventor doesn’t like those choices. It turns out a media inventor feels compelled to make the content and the container.

Followed up by Frank’s excellent gloss on the subject: The best part of Robin’s definition is the clarity of the first sentence. Media inventors aren’t making format changes for change’s sake. While it may be fun to tinker on a meta level, Media Inventors champion content. [Emphasis is Frank’s, but it could just as well be mine.] It’s the foundation, and every decision that leads to any sort of invention is done in an attempt to tell a better story, sing a better song, or make a more profound or fulfilling experience for an audience.

Typically broad-minded and inspirational thinking about media and the arts from designer Frank Chimero, whose blog I could happily recommend each Tumblr Tuesday.