New Documentary Ecologies : Emerging Platforms, Practices and Discourses

Providing a unique collection of perspectives on the persistence of documentary as a vital and dynamic media form within a digital world, New Documentary Ecologies traces this form through new opportunities of creating media, new platforms of distribution and new ways for audiences to engage with the real. Documentary remains a vital and dynamic media form, one that has persisted through decades of change in patterns of media production, distribution and reception, from its early conception in silent filmmaking, through 'new' media such as television, to the current explosion of digital platforms. New generations of documentary filmmakers, multimedia designers, online curators and social media aggregators are exploring the challenges and opportunities of a digital environment characterised as collaborative, participatory, and interactive. This book provides a unique collection of recent research into the ways in which these digital producers are adopting the 'documentary project' across digital platforms, developing new documentary practices and providing distinctive new ways for audiences to engage with reality Documentary Remains A Viral And Dynamic Media Form. It Has Persisted Through Decades Of Change In Patterns Of Media Production, Distribution And Reception, From Its Early Conception In Silent Filmmaking, Through 'new' Media Such As Television, To The Current Explosion Of Digital Platforms. Documentary Ecosystems: Collaboration And Exploitation / Jon Dovey -- Ceding The Activist Digital Documentary / Alexandra Juhasz -- Clicking On The World: Documentary Representation And Interactivity / Kate Nash -- Interactive Documentary And Affective Ecologies / Adrian Miles -- Web-weaving: The Affective Movement Of Documentary Imaging / Catherine Summerhayes -- Spinning A Collaborative Web: Documentary Projects In The Digital Arena / Elizabeth Coffman -- An Interview With Ingrid Kopp, Director Of Digital Initiative Tribeca Film Institute / Kate Nash -- R Strategies Of Participation: The Who, What And When Of Collaborative Documentaries / Sandra Gaudenzi -- An Interview With Jigar Mehta, Director Of Operations, Matter / Kate Nash -- Making (with) The Korsakow System: Database Documentaries As Articulation And Assemblage / Matt Soar -- The Evolution Of Animated Documentary / Annabelle Honess Roe -- An Interview With Florian Thalhoffer, Media Artist And Documentary Maker / Kate Nash -- Digital Diffusion Of Delusions: A World Wide Web Of Conspiracy Documentaries / Bjørn Sørenssen -- Shoot, Edit, Share: Cultural Software And User-generated Documentary Practice / Craig Hight -- Ethical Challenges For Documentarians In A User-centric Environment / Patricia Aufderheide. Edited By Kate Nash, Craig Hight, And Catherine Summerhayes. Includes Bibliographical References. Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Notes on Contributors 10 Introduction: New Documentary Ecologies: Emerging Platforms, Practices and Discourses 14 Part I: Expanding Documentary 22 1 Documentary Ecosystems: Collaboration and Exploitation 24 2 Ceding the Activist Digital Documentary 46 3 Clicking on the World: Documentary Representation and Interactivity 63 4 Interactive Documentary and Affective Ecologies 80 5 Web-Weaving: The Affective Movement of Documentary Imaging 96 Part II: Production Practices 116 6 Spinning a Collaborative Web: Documentary Projects in the Digital Arena 118 7 An Interview with Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives Tribeca Film Institute 137 8 Strategies of Participation: The Who, What and When of Collaborative Documentaries 142 9 An Interview with Jigar Mehta, Director of Operations, Matter 162 10 Making (with) the Korsakow System: Database Documentaries as Articulation and Assemblage 167 11 The Evolution of Animated Documentary 187 12 An Interview with Florian Thalhoffer, Media Artist and Documentary Maker 205 Part III: Inter/Action: Rethinking Documentary Engagement 212 13 Digital Diffusion of Delusions: A World Wide Web of Conspiracy Documentaries 214 14 Shoot, Edit, Share: Cultural Software and User-Generated Documentary Practice 232 15 Ethical Challenges for Documentarians in a User-Centric Environment 250 Index 264 Review: "New Documentary Ecologies has the potential to be a landmark publication. In this articulation of the revolution in both the documentary form and documentary studies, the buzzwords 'proliferation' 'sharing' and 'access' are invoked in such a way as to demand attention from scholars from adjacent fields such as media studies, journalism, new media studies and cinema studies." - Deane Williams, Monash University, Australia