Media Fabrics:

Imagine the stories we would tell if we could construct media experiences as easily and playfully as we now use spoken language. Today, storytelling approaches are transitioning due in part to the abilities of small, mobile networked devices to capture, manipulate, share, exchange and publish visual and sound sequences. This paper explores a new paradigm we call the ‘media fabric’ -a vast collection of small media elements that we navigate, sequence and render, in ways that support us in meaningful real-time dialogs and larger social interactions. The media fabric can be characterized as: synergistic; integral to everyday life; mindful; improvisational; selfreflective; connected. As an ever-increasing population becomes empowered to record, reshape, and share aspects of the world that interest them, we become immersed in an evolving landscape of story potential. In order to participate meaningfully in this space, we need to engage transparently in a range of roles, acting at one moment as improvisational creator and at another as audience engaged in consumption, reflection, exchange and meta-commentary. In this paper, we explore fundamental characteristics of the media fabric and introduce three complimentary research frameworks -Us++, Mindful Documentary, and Emonic Interaction -that extend our control over and participation in this dynamically evolving and co-creative media space.