Data and documentaries: Methodological hybridizations in activism | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies
  4. Volume 12, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 12, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1757-1898
  • E-ISSN: 1757-1901

Abstract

Hybridization permeates all fields of communication: documentaries are no exception. One example is by Forensic Architecture (FA), an audio-visual account of how 63 refugees lost their lives in 2011 when their ship was adrift in the waters of Libya. combines documentary techniques with data analysis and visualizations to expose a tragedy, change migration policies and sustain court cases. Based on critical data and documentary studies, this article inspects the methodological hybridization proposed by FA in six documentaries. The questions are: how does FA hybridize? What are the outcomes of this hybridization? What is hybridization today? The analysis links these documentaries’ characteristics with functions and outcomes, offering a taxonomy that can be employed beyond this study. The findings indicate that activism is taking multidimensional forms, blurring the boundaries separating documentaries, data science and art in search of impact.

© 2020 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
2020-10-01
2024-04-20
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Archer, D.. ( 2017;), ‘ About. ’, Archcomix, http://www.archcomix.com/about/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Axinn, W. G.,, Ghimire, D., and Williams, N. E.. ( 2012;), ‘ Collecting survey data during armed conflict. ’, Journal of Official Statistics, 28:2, pp. 153–71.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. BBC ( 2012;), ‘ How Syrian activists have become citizen journalists. ’, BBC, 1 March, https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-17222163/how-syrian-activists-have-become-citizen-journalists. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Ben Zikri, A.. ( 2017;), ‘ Israeli public security minister backtracks on whether cop’s killing by Bedouin was terror. ’, Haaretz, 22 February, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-gilad-erdan-backtracks-on-whether-cop-s-killing-was-terror-1.5440064. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bort Gual, I.. ( 2010;), ‘ Hibridación ficción-documental en las series de televisión dramáticas norteamericanas contemporáneas: a propósito de Friday Night Lights. ’, Asociación Cinefórum L’Atalante, 9, pp. 11–16.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Burgos Risco, A., and Mayor Iborra, J.. ( 2012;), ‘ Procesos de hibridación en el cine documental. ’, DEFORMA Cultura Online, pp. 1–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Burke, J.,, Borger, J., and Lewis, P. G.. ( 2014;), ‘ Israel bombards Rafah after soldier disappears amid Gaza ceasefire collapse. ’, The Guardian, 1 August, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/01/israel-bombards-rafah-soldier-disappears-gaza-ceasefire-collapse. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Corkery, C.. ( 2018;), ‘ Turner Nominess Forensic Architecture build case for human rights. ’, N Arts & Culture, 25 September, https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/turner-nominees-forensic-architecture-build-case-for-human-rights-1.773543. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Dutton, D.. ( 2001;), ‘ Aesthetic universals. ’, in B. Gaut, and D. McIver Lopes. (eds), The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, Abington and New York:: Routledge;, pp. 279–92.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Forensic Architecture ( 2018a;), ‘ Project. ’, http://www.forensic-architecture.org/project/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  11. Forensic Architecture ( 2018b;), ‘ The seizure of The Iuventa. ’, https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-seizure-of-the-iuventa. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  12. Forensic Architecture ( 2019a;), ‘ About. ’, https://forensic-architecture.org/about/agency. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  13. Forensic Architecture ( 2019b;), ‘ Killing in Umm al-Hiran. ’, https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/killing-in-umm-al-hiran. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  14. Forensic Architecture ( 2020;), ‘ Image data complex. ’, https://forensic-architecture.org/methodology/image-data-complex. Accessed 1 June 2020.
  15. Garcia Giribet, A.. ( 2019;), ‘ Discovering human rights through documentaries. ’, Amnesty International, 1 April, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/education/2019/04/hong-kong-documentary-film-festival/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Garcia Rey, M., and Garrido, H.. ( 2016;), ‘ Datos sepultados bajo la ceniza (Metodologia). ’, Civio: España En Llamas, http://espanaenllamas.es/datos-sepultados-bajo-la-ceniza-metodologia/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Garton Ash, T.. ( 2010;), ‘ The foreign correspondent is dead: Long live the foreign correspondent. ’, The Guardian, 8 December, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/08/long-live-the-foreign-correspondent. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gunia, A.. ( 2019;), ‘ 164 environmental activists were killed while protecting their homes last year, watchdog says. ’, Time, 30 July, https://time.com/5638438/global-witness-environmental-activists-murdered/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Gutiérrez, M.. ( 2018a), Data Activism and Social Change, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Gutiérrez, M.. ( 2018b;), ‘ Maputopias: Cartographies of knowledge, communication and action in the big data society – The cases of Ushahidi and InfoAmazonia. ’, GeoJournal, 84:1, pp. 1–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Gutiérrez, M.. ( 2019;), ‘ The good, the bad and the beauty of “good enough data”. ’, in A. Daly,, K. Devitt, and M. Mann. (eds), Good Data, Amsterdam:: Institute of Network Cultures;, pp. 54–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Harel, A.. ( 2018;), ‘ IDF closes probe into 2014 Gaza War’s deadly “Black Friday”. ’, Haaretz, 15 August, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-idf-closes-probe-into-2014-gaza-war-s-deadly-black-friday-1.6384662. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Izod, J.,, Kilborn, R., and Hibberd, M.. (eds) ( 2000), From Grierson to the Docu-Soap: Breaking the Boundaries, Luton:: University of Luton Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Jugend Rettet ( 2018;), ‘ Iuventa: Press kit. ’, https://jugendrettet.org/f/files/Press%20Kit_long_EN.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  25. Kennedy, H., and Hill, R. L.. ( 2017;), ‘ The feeling of numbers: Emotions in everyday engagements with data and their visualisation. ’, Sociology, 52:4, doi: 10.1177/0038038516674675.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Kurban, C.,, Peña-Lopez, I., and Haberer, M.. ( 2016;), ‘ What is technopolitics? A conceptual scheme for understanding politics in the digital age. ’, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics, Barcelona, 7–8 July, pp. 499–519, http://ictlogy.net/presentations/20160707_can_kurban_ismael_pena-lopez_maria_haberer_-_what_is_technopolitics_conceptual_scheme.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Lünenborg, M.. ( 2002;), ‘ Journalism as popular culture docu-soap: A new genre crossing the border of fact and fiction. ’, IAMCR Conference 2002, Barcelona, 22–26 July, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b532/7e285f5f9a3d27263210eb81f7672ca202ce.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. McNair, B.. ( 2009;), ‘ Journalism in the 21st century: Evolution, not extinction. ’, Journalism, 10:3, pp. 347–49.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Nichols, B.. ( 2001), Introduction to Documentary, Bloomington, IN:: Indiana University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. PBS ( 2002;), ‘ Lance loud. ’, https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  31. Pezzani, L., and Heller, C.. ( 2011;), ‘ Case: “Left-to-Die Boat”. ’, SITU Research, pp. 638–55, https://www.academia.edu/12771942/Case_Left_to_die_boat_. Accessed 15 October 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Rodriguez, P., and Bayon, F.. ( 2018;), ‘ Immunitarian fictions in contemporary European film: A reading of immigration social frames through Welcome and Le Havre. ’, Papeles Del CEIC. International Journal on Collective Identity Research, 187, http://dx.doi.org/10.1387/pceic.17673. Accessed 15 October 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Sacristán, A.. ( 2017;), ‘ Realidad Virtual y Empatía Aumentada en ArtFutura 2017. ’, Retina, 30 November, https://retina.elpais.com/retina/2017/11/30/tendencias/1512025938_360911.html. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Siminiani, L.. ( 2019;), ‘ El caso Alcàsser. ’, Bambú Producciones, https://bambuproducciones.com/work/el-caso-alcasser/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Simpson, V.. ( 2018;), ‘ Meet forensic architecture: The first “architectural detective agency”. ’, Design Curial, 31 August, http://www.designcurial.com/news/meet-forensic-architecture-6725606/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Treré, E.. ( 2019), Hybrid Media Activism: Ecologies, Imaginaries, Algorithms, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Vidal, A.. ( 2011;), ‘ Nuevas tendencias formales del cine documental en el siglo XXI. ’, El Ojo Que Piensa. Revista de Cine Iberoamericano, 4, 1 July, http://www.elojoquepiensa.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/elojoquepiensa/article/view/65/65. Accessed 10 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Weizman, E.. ( 2016;), ‘ Before and after images: Eyal Weizman’s the image complex. ’, The Photographers’ Gallery Blog, 22 May, https://thesandpitdotorg1.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/the-image-complex/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Weizman, E.. ( 2017), Forensic Architecture: Violence at the Threshold of Detectability, New York:: Zone Books;, https://calamitousannunciation.memoryoftheworld.org/Eyal%20Weizman/Forensic%20Architecture_%20Violence%20at%20(10719)/Forensic%20Architecture_%20Violence%20-%20Eyal%20Weizman.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Weizman, E.. ( 2019;), ‘ Open verification. ’, E-Flux Architecture, https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/becoming-digital/248062/open-verification/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Wiese, M.. ( 2012), Camp 14: Total Control Zone. Press Booklet, https://ff.hrw.org/sites/default/files/Camp14PressKit_0.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Winston, B.. ( 1995), Claiming the Real: The Documentary Film Revisited, London:: Bloomsbury Academic;.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Zeng, J.. ( 2017;), ‘ Visualising truth-telling in Ai Xiaoming’s documentary activism. ’, Studies in Documentary Film, 11:3, pp. 184–99.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Zimmermann, P. R.. ( 2019), Documentary across Platforms: Reverse Engineering Media, Place, and Politics, Bloomington, IN:: Indiana University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Gutiérrez, Miren. ( 2020;), ‘ Data and documentaries: Methodological hybridizations in activism. ’, Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 12:2, pp. 315–332, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
Loading
Data and documentaries: Methodological hybridizations in activism
Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies 12, 315 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
/content/journals/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
/content/journals/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): activism; big data; documentary; human rights; hybridization; methodologies

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error