What is transmedia?

In truth, the concepts and breadth associated with the word transmedia vary according to the scholar discussing it, so it is difficult to simply say, “Transmedia is this or that.”

However, if we summarise the unifying idea of definitions we could say that transmedia is “a phenomenon or system of different forms of media converging.” A perfect example is the smartphone.

When did transmedia take place?

Transmedia occurred through the digitalisation of media that had been reproduced through machinery. Mass media content, newspaper articles, and television broadcasts were transferred to a digital format and distributed through the Internet.

While the cross-hybridisation of various mediums consolidates the whole of media and culture into a single collection pool, it also divides media into various forms while giving life to new ones.

As different mediums coexist, transform, overlap, and converge, an evolving media environment is created. In this sense, transmedia refers to the interaction between different forms of media leading to convergence, as well as to the transfer of the contents of one form of media to another.

In other words, transmedia refers to the relationship between different forms of media.

Where is transmedia found?

Transmedia can be found in both old media’s mainstream conventions and new media’s online world. Transmedia phenomena have been already occurred in conventional media for some time. They include the act of broadcasting LP records over radio or feature films through a television network.

Another transmedia phenomenon is when songs on a CD are transferred to MP3 files, which are then shared on the Internet, where they duplicate.

Transmedia also applies to books and print media; the process of turning a story into a book that is then published can be described as transmedia.