In this paper we introduce the concept of transmedial worlds, relating it to genre and adaptation theory, and presenting a framework for how to look for transmedial traits in a world. Through some examples, we argue that applying this concept to the analysis of cyberworlds can reveal interesting results, as well as being a useful tool for designers of cyberworlds to plan their content.
This article examines the use of six Danish "Rest in Peace" or (RIP) memorial pages. The article focuses on the relation between news media and RIP page use, in relation to general communicative practices on these pages. Based on an analysis of press coverage of the deaths of six young people and a close analysis of 1,015 comments extracted from the RIP pages created to memorialize them, it is shown that their deaths attracted considerable media attention, as did the RIP pages themselves. Comment activity seem to reflect the news stories in the way the commenters refer to the context of death and the emotional distress they experience, but mainly comments on the RIP pages are conventional expressions of sympathy and "RIP" wishes. The article concludes that public RIP pages might be understood as virtual spontaneous shrines, affording an emerging practice of "RIP-ing."
This article presents results from a research project investigating young cancer patients’ general use of social media and their lived experience of the choices and dilemmas involved in using social media in relation to moments of existential crisis. This article’s key finding—based on an extensive survey with 205 young cancer patients and 25 qualitative interviews—is that social media becomes increasingly important for young people after a cancer diagnosis and that these young people engage with social media as—what we will call— vital media. The analysis in this article focuses on affective and temporal media experiences in the empirical material collected and argues that three dimensions of “media vitality” are salient: (1) that young people engage with social media to actively produce vitality in terms of generating a sense of wellbeing or balance by sharing, seeking out, or avoiding particular types of cancer-related content; (2) that young people experience social media as a vital or “lively” technology that introduces unpredictable and sometimes unwanted material into their lives; and (3) that young people feel they are expected to perform or share vital approaches to illness on social media, such as positive or life-affirming—as opposed to negative or pessimistic—accounts of their illness. In this way, the concept of “vital media” addresses strategic, ecological, and cultural aspects of young cancer patients’ social media engagements.
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