Journalism 392W: Writing for the Web

At the ContentNext conference in New York recently, some sports media guys were talking about the “two-screen experience,” (no kidding) and the idea that more and more sports fans will be watching the game on one big screen, with a laptop, blogging, twittering or responding in some fashion to what’s going on on the big screen. Jeesh. Too much for me, although I have to confess to having a “two-screen experience” on election night myself.

But it’s not just about watching the action, it’s about manipulating the action–and viewers have come to expect a role in the process. What does that mean for creators of works?

Here’s a recent New York Times story: “Becoming Screen Literate.” 

In fact, the movie industry is so concerned about this that someone has put the money up for a new Center for the Future for Future Storytelling at MIT.

What do you think? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that we can mashup/rewrite/change the beginning/middle/end of works?