Converging Universes and Media Niches in Serial Narratives: An Approach Through Information Architecture

Our paper deals with models of convergence pertaining to audiovisual media production, with specific reference to serial narratives. The peculiar features of this kind of audiovisual products, such as expansion and persistence over space and time, allow for a privileged point of view on convergence phenomena. The paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, using conceptual tools from several disciplinary fields, namely film and media studies, as well as media economics and information architecture. Our ultimate purpose is to offer a cross-disciplinary perspective that can profit from the combination of all these fields together. In order to do so, we apply information architecture and cross-channel user experience principles to the media field, adopting an overall ecosystemic perspective, and focusing on the bias between local experience (the single product) and global design (the whole ecosystem) and vice-versa. Furthermore, we focus on three different production strategies—which we have named respectively derivation, cross-media and ecosystem—mainly concentrating on the latter, since contemporary TV series often show an ecosystemic narrative and productive structure. Our purpose is to highlight the misalignments between project and practice, as well as possible forms of conflict and adverse reactions to planning. We account for divergence models that lead to the building of “media niches”, which often remain external or peripheral to the circulation and delivery of media contents—for instance, the case of fans using and re-appropriating of media content linked to specific gender practices and identities.