Ethical Challenges for Documentarians in a User-Centric Environment

Abstract

At the dawn of digital documentary, three technical approaches to the possibility of the form are emerging: web documentary, transmedia and interactive documentary (O’Flynn 2012). (All of them are sometimes referred to at film festivals as transmedia at this early stage of development; ‘immersive documentary’ is another all-purpose catch-phrase.) There are web documentaries, such as the series Black Folk Don’t1 that use the web as a distribution platform for typically static material, from which the viewer can select. Transmedia projects are construed across various platforms, as in the Exit Zero Project,2 which occurs across a book, a film and a web database, and Reinvention Stories3 featuring short films, a tour with audio and video stops, and a site for contributed knowledge. (Transmedia projects may also involve performances and geolocated games such as scavenger hunts.) While some of these applications may be interactive, some transmedia projects allow only for the selection of material rather than contributions. Finally, interactive documentaries have user participation built into their action, and typically feature databases as integral to their actions.KeywordsSocial MediumGood FaithEthical ChallengeCharter SchoolDigital EnvironmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.