Transfictionality, Extensions and Transmedia Journalism: Expanding the Storyworld of Slavery of The 1619 Project

Abstract

Transmedia storytelling combines various concepts and respective strategies that were originally intended for the expansion of fictional storyworlds. Gradually, technological convergence and the digitization of information facilitated their adoption by the field of journalism. This study examines if and how transfictionality and its extensions are incorporated into transmedia journalistic projects, with the aim of expanding non-fictional storyworlds. The research methodology follows the scheme of qualitative content analysis in a sample of six essays of the online special issue of The 1619 Project, a transmedia journalistic venture published by The New York Times. In this context, Scolari’s taxonomy of extensions (2009) was used as an objective research tool through which the research sample was analyzed and interpreted. The research findings reveal that the research sample includes various stories whose functions are similar to those of extensions while audience actively participates in the construction of the represented storyworld. Moreover, the whole project incorporates ‘expansion’, a form of transfictionality that extends fictional storyworlds, by using extensions (e.g., sequels, prequels). Therefore, it seems that the field of transmedia journalism adopts both transfictionality and extensions, with the aim of expanding non-fictional storyworlds, enhancing the development of collaborative transmedia journalistic efforts.