Thinking with i-docs: cognitive tools for uncertain times

  As the field of i-docs (interactive and immersive documentary) has developed, it has become clear that key aspects of this ever growing field have a particular purchase on illuminating and intervening into crises. In this article, we examine why this is the case and argue that the processes involved in i-doc making open up valuable cognitive spaces  through which …

Virtual Futures: A Manifesto for Immersive Experiences

In her research conducted during a fellowship on immersion with the South West Creative Technology Network, Julia Scott-Stevenson explores: How can immersive media create shared experiences that imagine pathways towards a preferred future? This piece was originally published in Immerse: creative discussion of emerging nonfiction storytelling on March 8, 2019. Climate armageddon, the rise of the far right, the arrival …

Curating VR: Catherine Allen offers lessons learnt

Virtual Reality is increasingly ever-present at arts venues and other cultural events – but curating it isn’t always an easy task. A recently published report by Catherine Allen and commissioned by the Watershed (Bristol, UK) seeks to address what role cultural cinemas and independent arts venues play in the presentation of VR. Catherine curated ‘VR Sessions‘ in June, a season …

i-Docs: The Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary

Released earlier this year, i-Docs: The Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary looks at the creative practices, purposes and ethics that lie behind these emergent forms. The book is structured around three themes, with its editor introducing each section: ‘Co-Creation’, by Mandy Rose; ‘Methods’, by Sandra Gaudenzi; and ‘Horizons’, by Judith Aston. Some of the contributions were originally papers at i-Docs …

VR for News: The New Reality? | Reuters Institute Report

Reuters Institute have released a must-read report by Zillah Watson, who has led the editorial development of VR experimentation at the BBC. VR for News: The New Reality? examines ongoing developments in VR, the major challenges – both in terms of content and application, and technology – and what the future of VR might look like for news organisations around the world. “The …

The technologies behind modern i-docs | Guest post from Michael Geraci

In the two decades that I’ve worked as a multimedia professional and educator, I have experienced the constantly shifting sands of digital platforms used for interactive media. I’ve developed multimedia projects in HyperCard, Director, Flash, and all versions of HTML. A recent deep dive into the current state of the i-doc has not only renewed my passion for the digital …

Data as a Narrative Device – ‘A Means to an End and not the End itself’

An interview with Janine Steele and Loc Dao on data-driven story-telling and emotional engagement During his stay as a Fulbright Scholar in the Digital Studios of the NFB in Vancouver, Lomax Boyd, a scientist and documentary producer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, had the opportunity to work with Janine Steele and Loc Dao of NFB/Interactive. As Chief Digital Officer …

Precarious times and nonlinear thinking: Using i-docs to explore the temporary city

by Ella Harris Precarity seems to define the contemporary structure of feeling. From the migrant crisis, to climate change, to intensifying austerity, the precarity that has long been a recognised feature of labour economies is expanding into new arenas. This widespread precarity is impacting on the geographies we inhabit. In London there are some obvious ‘precarious urbanisms’ such as sites …

Do we need an i-doc sourcebook?

If you have worked in film/tv production you will know that the industry sourcebook is your bible: this is the place you go to to find where to hire your equipment, what is the date of the next film festival and how to get to the freelancers you need in your team. Now… we don’t have an i-doc sourcebook – is this a problem? …

Interactive documentary – what does it mean and why does it matter?

Having just convened our fourth i-Docs symposium, it feels like an opportune moment to reflect on what is meant by ‘interactive documentary’ and why we at i-Docs have always seen it as a way of framing a set of possibilities, as opposed to being a specific medium, genre or platform. This seems prescient in light of the ‘immersive turn’ with interactive …

COME/IN/DOC Documentary Series – Episode 1 – Part 2

In our previous post we explained the story behind the experimental project COME/IN/DOC, and last week, during the 4rth edition of the i-Docs Conference we launched the last part of the transmedia project: the Documentary Series. Very happy to say one week after the release that important people in the field said to me ‘thank you’ for this resource, which may …

Projects selected from the first interactive documentary call of Catalan Broadcasting Corporation

The Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CCMA) opened last year the first call to coproduce interactive documentary. The projects selected were published a few weeks ago. Of the 28 projects presented in this first call, the Department of Digital Media and Documentary of the CCMA and New Television Formats of Television of Catalonia (TV3) selected six projects, in accordance with their current …

Who tells what to whom and how: The Prison Memory Archive

Cahal McLaughlin, director of the the participatory storytelling project Prison Memory Archive, has recently published a paper addressing the issues of co-creation and co-ownership of documentary material within participatory projects. He also goes into some detail around the use of interactivity in the project: Our intention is to encourage users not to rush to judgment with their inevitable, and understandable, prior …

The tricky topic of impact & interactive documentary

There has been much attention given to impact within documentary over the last couple of years. While BritDoc have stated in their recently published impact guide; ‘the power of film to change the world has become impossible to ignore’ and the Puma prize has been established to reward impact, what is meant by impact is not self-evident and for some, …