Applied Media Research

Today in Applied Media Research, we had a little twist....

We are getting set 3 questions by certain companies that we will be answering using Quantative and Qualitative research techniques.
As it is only early days, I cannot yet let you know which out of the three questions I will be answering and creating a case study on however, I can tell you that the first one does sound rather interesting.
A man named Ian came in to give us a presentation on the company he works for named Digital Fiction Factory. I find this company very interesting as they have a different approach to production. They are only a 10 man/women team and are in creative partnership with the BBC and Channel 4. Something that stood out to me more than most was the fact that they work with new talent in the North, new directors and writers and they are always exploring news ways in which to tell a story.

Heres a link to the website for The Digital Fiction Factory.

The presentation was mainly based on how audiences participate within programmes. This is called multi national platform interaction. The main aim for Digital Fiction Factory is to involve the audience as much as they can using different platforms such as online gaming, social media and live events. They have done this in many ways but the one I found most fascinating was that of a programme created for fourteen - seventeen year olds called 'The Well'. It is a multi platform interactive drama based on a story about 4 friends who discover a Well, within that Well they uncover a story dating back many years ago an what looks to be horrifying. The interesting fact I thought was the audience can actually go online through the particular website and play a game. The game involves the audience being able to walk around a 3D environment which is an exact replica of the house in said drama. In this they can find out what will happen in the next episode amongst many other things. The craziest thing is that in doing this, the audience is then one step ahead of the characters thus one step ahead of the entire programme.

Our question from Digital Fiction Factory is: 
The internet, social media and other open systems have allowed for User Generated Content (UGC), crowd sourcing and other forms of audience participation to prevail in digital media, but how do we translate these features in story telling experiences without treading on the toes of the author?

I feel this seems to be an exiting question to answer for the company and for them to see our data and findings, therefore if the other questions don't live up to expectations then I will be choosing this one.