Teaching transmedia practice in a design school. The Plug Social TV experience

Transmedia Design practice is usually seen as a response to the contemporary mediascape and as an important element of communication curricula. The development of transmedia practice and the planning process of narrative worlds and their distribution across multiple channels has followed a ‘learning by doing’ approach. The practical dimension has often anticipated the theoretical one. However, if we seek to apply the potential of this discipline to areas beyond entertainment, it is necessary to develop a design practice model that derives from the professional world. While acknowledging the paramount role of transmedia practice in communication design, this chapter will discuss the Plug Social TV experience as an example of design methodology for conceiving transmedia communication strategies. We will present a refined approach for teaching transmedia design that includes the theory, process, and tools for design courses and workshops. Action research and in-field education activities, on and off the School of Design’s campus of Politecnico di Milano, have included multiple participants and perspectives. Design students, design researchers, citizens, and local associations met each other in academic or urban contexts for developing social dialogue and collaboration, weaving factual and fictional worlds.