REWRITE is a collaborative storytelling project that combines handwritten submissions with an evolving narrative. Users submit photos of their handwriting on quotes or to continue the story. The project organizers promote REWRITE across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. Over time, the story shifted to focus on quotes as Instagram became the primary platform, where users frequently engage through likes and comments. The project aims to transform the collaborative story into an interactive digital film.

1. Thao Luong • Wennie Chung • Glenda Chin • Zanardy Teorista • Linbei Li

2. What is REWRITE?
REWRITE combines handwriting and storytelling.
We want to revive the lost art of handwriting (hence
REWRITE), and combine the individuality of handwriting
with the excitement and unpredictability of
collaborative storytelling.
All users have to do is to just send us a picture of their
handwriting – a sentence on quotes, random words, or
just continue the story.

3. The Plan: Production Plan
Steps taken to launch the campaign include setting up
accounts on suitable social media sites to promote the
campaign and generate views and likes. The main sites are:
Facebook
Largest platform; users ‘like’ and contribute; take advantage of
our existing strong ties.
Instagram (Mobile based casual photo sharing site)
Convenient for those who are on-the-go.
Tumblr
Compile contributions with a format that’s easy to view;
receive submissions and questions.

4. The Plan: Gantt Chart

5. The Plan: Gantt Chart

6. The Map
Feed
Tumblr Twitter
Feed Feed
Flavors.me Feed
Feed
Feed
Link
ABC Pool Feed Facebook
Instagram

7. The Process
Each group member has been assigned a day(s) in which
they are in charge of handling submissions and updates for
REWRITE. It’s expected that all platforms are up to date and
organised consistently.
The days are:
Sunday/Monday – Thao
Tuesday – Wennie
Wednesday – Linbei
Thursday – Zanardy
Friday/Saturday - Glenda

8. The Beginning
The first night of the launch, we gained:
• Continuous ‘likes’ (highest recorded in one night)
• People started to contribute on Facebook and continued
the story
• Word was starting to spread among friends and families
It was the craziest night ever!

9. The Marketing Strategy
Seeding
Make the posts as outlandish as we can to attract attention
and interests.
Posting it to the right channel
Promote the campaign on sites with heavy traffic.
Monitor
Monitor our project and constantly updates to trigger
contributions.
Print Advertising
Posters with our project’s logo, catch line, and links around
RMIT to grab students attention.

10. The Evolution
REWRITE evolved from story to quotes following the change in
audience from Facebook to Instagram.
Most Instagram users know REWRITE as a handwriting project and
not as a storytelling one. Therefore they only submitted quotes.
While Facebook users know about the story, they do not contribute
enough.
Why? Instagram is more convenient/user friendly.
Users on Instagram respond better to direct comments asking them to
contribute; on Facebook, on the other hand, despite ‘nagging’
(updates etc), often not much will happen.
Because of this, the flow of our project swayed much towards the
crowd on Instagram and Facebook users weren’t happy about it. They
prefer how it started as a story and wants the project to stay that way.

11. The Evolution (continuation)
We would like to continue the story but we agreed that we
should place our priorities on the larger audience.
Even though some users want the story to continue, they
do not continue contributing to continue the story. They
expect us to continue the story so that they can read on –
which loses the purpose of a collaborative story.
Users on Instagram however, constantly updates and
contributes.
This is why we decided to tend to the larger audience.

12. The Audience We’ve Encountered
Hardcore DJFunkyDog
Via Instagram
- On average posts 2 posts a week
on Instagram
- Loves calligraphy and tags us on
every picture
- Likes other pictures on our
Instagram feed
- Responds to our updates and
comments
- A constant user on Instagram

13. The Audience We’ve Encountered
Casual Tengku Marina Badlishah
Via Facebook
- Contributed once
- Constantly ‘like’ other
submissions and sometimes
comments on them
- Frequently reply to our updates
and questions
- Helped up spread the word on
her Facebook wall
- Casual Facebook user

14. The Audience We’ve Encountered
Deric Hii the Observer
Via Facebook
- Frequently online on Facebook
but almost never interacts
- Only likes our project page and
liked a few pictures
- Never contributed or commented
- Lurks around Facebook often
- Attempted to approach him and
make him contribute but failed

15. The Outcome
At this point in time, the intended outcome for REWRITE is
a dynamic k-film produced in the program Korsakow.
After using it in the previous semester in Integrated Media 1, we’ve realised
its storytelling potential. There are a number of ways in which it will enrich
our project:
• Variety of media – audio/video/image
• Textures/layers – interface/click sounds, background music, subtitles,
thumbnails, rollover
• Easily shared – share links to k-film and to individual parts of the film,
published online (RAWS)
• Storytelling-wise – interactive, choose your own way through the story,
audience finds their own meaning, we also help them in the process of
discovery (by programming keywords etc), making connections that
might not have been apparent before

16. Screenshots – REWRITE layouts
Clockwise (starting from top left): Twitter,
Instagram, Instagram hashtag, Tumblr, Facebook

17. Screenshots – example REWRITE submissions

18. Screenshots – example REWRITE activity