I-Docs: The Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary

by Judith Aston (Editor), Sandra Gaudenzi (Editor), Mandy Rose (Editor)

Overview

The history of documentary has been one of adaptation and change, as docu-mentarists have harnessed the affordances of emerging technology. In the last decade interactive documentaries (i-docs) have become established as a new field of practice within non-fiction storytelling. Their various incarnations are now a focus at leading film festivals (IDFA DocLab, Tribeca Storyscapes, Sheffield DocFest), major international awards have been won, and they are increasingly the subject of academic study. This anthology looks at the creative practices, purposes and ethics that lie behind these emergent forms. Expert contributions, case studies and interviews with major figures in the field address the production processes that lie behind interactive documentary, as well as the political, cultural and geographic contexts in which they are emerging and the media ecology that supports them. Taking a broad view of interactive documentary as any work which engages with 'the real' by employing digital interactive technology, this volume addresses a range of platforms and environments, from web-docs and virtual reality to mobile media and live performance. It thus explores the challenges that face interactive documentary practitioners and scholars, and proposes new ways of producing and engaging with interactive factual content.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231851077
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2017
Series:	Nonfictions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Judith Aston is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England. Sandra Gaudenzi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. Mandy Rose is an Associate Professor at the University of the West of England. All three have published widely in the field of digital documentary theory and practice, and are co-directors of the i-Docs bi-annual symposium.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Foreword, by Brian Winston
Introduction, by Judith Aston, Sandra Gaudenzi, Mandy Rose
Part 1. Co-Creation
Preface, by Mandy Rose
1. I-docs and the documentary tradition: exploring questions of engagement, by Kate Nash
2. Co-creation as talkback: using the collaborative and interactive docu-forms to (re)imagine the 'rape-city', by Anandana Kapur
3. Documentary as co-creative practice: From Challenge for Change to Highrise – Kat Cizek in conversation with Mandy Rose, edited by Anna Wiehl
4. Not media about, but media with: co-creation for activism, by Mandy Rose
5. Living collaborations in Los Sures, Brooklyn: 1984 and today, by Christopher Allen
6. Software as co-creator in interactive documentary, by Craig Hight
Part 2. Methods
Preface, by Sandra Gaudenzi
7. Evaluating users' experiences: a case study approach to improving i-doc UX Design, by Samuel Gantier and Michel Labour
8. User experience versus author experience: lessons learned from the UX Series, by Sandra Gaudenzi
9. Pushing the craft forward: the POV Hackathon as a collaborative approach to making an interactive documentary, by Jess Linington
10. The Learn Do Share design methodology: Lance Weiler in conversation, by Sandra Gaudenzi
11. Testing and evaluating design prototypes: the case study of Avatar Secrets, by Ramona Pringle
12. Look who's watching: what storytellers can learn from privacy and personalisation, by Ben Moskowitz
Part 3. Horizons
Preface, by Judith Aston
13. Things to come: the possible futures of documentary … from a historical perspective, by William Uricchio
14. Towards behavioural realism: experiments in immersive journalism, by Nonny de la Peña
15. Interactive documentary and live performance: from embodied to emplaced interaction, by Judith Aston
16. The travelling i-doc: reflections on the meaning of interactive documentary-based image-making practices in contemporary India, by Paolo Favero
17. Interactive documentary aquí y ahora – here & now: themes and directions in South America, by Arnau Gifreu-Castells
18. Who wants to become banal?: the i-doc from experiment to industry, by Jon Dovey
Index

Editorial Reviews

i-Docs, web docs, interactive docs, database docs, nonlinear stories, procedural narratives; the sheer variety of neologisms in circulation right now is indicative of an exciting, if turbulent, economy of documentary-oriented new media forms. This timely, original collection captures much of this uncertainty and excitement, with contributions from some of the key thinkers in what we might call 'new documentary studies.'

Professor Matt Soar

In a welcome recentering on people and politics in the digital hurricane engulfing us all, the essays in this thoughtful volume underscore context, engagement, place, and participants as significant - and urgent

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