The New York transmedia community is growing quickly. None of us should be surprised, as New York is well known for its independent film community thanks to numerous festivals, schools and independent theatres.

However, many people may not realize that New York is also fast becoming a mecca for the technology crowd. According to meetup.com, New York is ranked as the second largest technology hub in the US, just being beat out by the (no surprise) San Francisco Bay Area. Trends indicate, however, that New York’s tech community could surpass the West Coast as early as the end of this year, which would be a first ever in the historic battle between Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley.

I receive daily e-mails listing new tech meetup groups forming in New York, and though the official NY Tech Meetup continues to hold the top place (at last count over 22,000 members), these new niche groups provide intimate arenas for like minded technologists to gather and share ideas, concepts, designs and talent. This combination of talent, discussion and ideas is also growing within the transmedia community and it is now providing a new space for creative development.

In its most basic form, transmedia is the place where technology and storytelling meet. As cross-platform storytelling becomes more prevalent in mainstream media, the demand for creators who can straddle both worlds grows as well.

The largest hurdle creators face, however, is bridging the gap between the two worlds. Many storytellers find that they lack the basic concepts of technology (from web design to coding). Likewise technologists have difficulty developing engaging narratives for their projects. Connecting the two groups is the primary focus of the New York transmedia community. This is how it began.

Founded in February 2010 by Mike Knowlton and Aina Abiodun the Transmedia NYC meetup group has quickly become the largest meetup group of its kind in the United States. Starting out with a few enthusiasts meeting at a local bar, the community has quickly grown to over 650 active members, whose event space is currently sponsored by The Film Society at Lincoln Center.

As Transmedia NYC expanded and developed, the need for a more robust and focused hub was foreseen, and in June of 2011 Mike, Aina and two other members, myself and Rachel Fairbanks came together to build a not-for-profit arm focused on the creation aspect of cross-platform storytelling. It is called, StoryCode.

StoryCode is designed to be an incubator, a place where technologists and storytellers come to develop and share creative content across media and technology platforms. It is modeled on Power to the Pixel, a company based in the U.K. that helps international filmmakers create, finance and distribute their projects across the growing cross-media entertainment industry.

StoryCode looks to provide an ongoing place where independent creators can come to learn, network, create and fund their projects. Since its inception, the focus of Transmedia NYC and StoryCode has been to exhibit projects that have had some commercial success. The presenters have come from around the world to showcase their works. These projects have included stories on human rights such as America 2049, the National Parks of Canada and the interactive narrative campaign launched for the premiere of Game Of Thrones on HBO.

This year, StoryCode will push the boundaries of the innovation one step further and launch a new endeavor, the first ever story-hack.

The story-hack concept comes from the traditional technology hackathon. A technology hackathon is an event in which computer programmers collaborate intensively on software-related projects. Hackathons typically last between a day and a week in length. Some hackathons are intended simply for educational or social purposes, while others are designed to create new software or improvements upon existing software. Hackathons tend to have a specific focus which can include the use of an application or a defined subject matter.

The story-hack will go one step farther and will include a narrative component. A few months ago, Mike Knowlton wrote a compelling piece, titled StoryHacks for the Future of Film Blog where he asked if the hackathon concept could be applied to storytelling.

We are about to try and answer that question.

The challenge of the story-hack is very clear. Design a cohesive narrative project spanning three or more technology platforms and execute it over the course of 48 hours.

The weekend long event, begins on the morning of April 28th and concludes the evening of April 29th. It is open to writers, designers, filmmakers, and developers. Current university students, recent grads and working professionals are welcome to participate.

The story-hack is being hosted by StoryCode event partner The Film Society at Lincoln Center, open-source video community Kaltura, social networking tool Social Samba, and SMS technology service Twilio.

The story-hack will be judged by a jury of notable creatives, technologists and sponsors who will evaluate each project and presentation based on creativity, originality as well as the innovation of the idea and presentation. Prizes and the chance to present each project will conclude the weekend's events on the evening of the 29th with a cash grant being awarded to the winners

We want to provide a collaborative atmosphere, a place where storytellers and technologists come together to build projects showcasing their talent and bridge the gap between the two communities. This is the first of many events to come out of StoryCode that will support creators and better connect storytelling and technology.

For more information or to sign-up for this event please check out our Story Hack webpage.