ABSTRACT
This chapter posits transmedia action research as a new methodological construct fusing transmedia storytelling with action research theory and practice. Transmedia action research can provide a coherent engagement strategy in which stakeholders and researchers share in the translation, composition, production, and distribution of storyworlds that bolster social change. The author explores three case studies from Albania, Greece and New Zealand where STEM students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute acted as ‘transmediary’ agents of change, co-generating transmedia action storyworlds with communities affected by climate change. Each case features facilitated climate games and other multi-modal approaches to support climate resilience. Fieldwork was assisted by WPI’s Global Lab, a center for creative scholarship in service of global engagement, where each year hundreds of students receive training in transmedia storytelling principles and practices. This progressive pedagogy involves developing participatory practices that support community engagement informed by a transmedia action research logic.
