Participation in interactive documentary is complex, multi-facetted – and certainly more than just 'clicking on the world' or contributing material. In a conversation with Kate Nash, we unpack participation as a highly political concept with both a long history in documentary theory and loaded with great expectations in emerging documentary practices.
| Participation in interactive documentary is complex – ranging from 'clicking on the world' to commenting on content, crowd-sourcing projects or contributing material. Foremost, however, participation is a concept that cannot be thought of without bearing in mind its social and political dimension. In a conversation with Kate Nash, we unpack participation as a concept with both a long history in documentary theory and loaded with great expectations in emerging documentary cultures; we fathom the significance of interactive documentary in the achievement of citizenship, convening publics and community building; we explore the delicate balance between process and product in participatory media making; we discuss the sensitive issue of power relations; and – revisiting paradigmatic i-docs – we relate theories to actual practices, to finally fathom the potential of i-docs beyond interactivity as a highly fragile, volatile but thus the more so experimental and inspirational phenomenon of our current media culture. “DiD” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the call for funding the small disciplines. |
