Data and documentariesMethodological hybridizations in activism

  1. Miren Gutiérrez 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Deusto
    info

    Universidad de Deusto

    Bilbao, España

    ROR https://ror.org/00ne6sr39

Revue:
Catalan journal of communication & cultural studies

ISSN: 1757-1898

Année de publication: 2020

Volumen: 12

Número: 2

Pages: 315-332

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1386/CJCS_00035_1 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR

D'autres publications dans: Catalan journal of communication & cultural studies

Objectifs de Développement Durable

Résumé

Hybridization permeates all fields of communication: documentaries are no exception. One example is The Left-to-Die Boat 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. The Left-to-Die Boat 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.

Références bibliographiques

  • Archer, D. (2017), ‘About’, Archcomix, http://www.archcomix.com/about/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Burgos Risco, A. and Mayor Iborra, J. (2012), ‘Procesos de hibridación en el cine documental’, DEFORMA Cultura Online, pp. 1–13.
  • 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.
  • Corkery, C. (2018), ‘Turner Nominess Forensic Architecture build case for human rights’, N Arts & Culture, 25 September, https://www.thenatio- nal.ae/arts-culture/turner-nominees-forensic-architecture-build-case-for- human-rights-1.773543. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • Forensic Architecture (2018a), ‘Project’, http://www.forensic-architecture.org/ project/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Forensic Architecture (2018b), ‘The seizure of The Iuventa’, https://forensic- architecture.org/investigation/the-seizure-of-the-iuventa. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Forensic Architecture (2019a), ‘About’, https://forensic-architecture.org/about/ agency. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Forensic Architecture (2019b), ‘Killing in Umm al-Hiran’, https://foren- sic-architecture.org/investigation/killing-in-umm-al-hiran. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Forensic Architecture (2020), ‘Image data complex’, https://forensic-architec- ture.org/methodology/image-data-complex. Accessed 1 June 2020.
  • Garcia Giribet, A. (2019), ‘Discovering human rights through documenta- ries’, Amnesty International, 1 April, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ education/2019/04/hong-kong-documentary-film-festival/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • Garton Ash, T. (2010), ‘The foreign correspondent is dead: Long live the fore- ign correspondent’, The Guardian, 8 December, https://www.theguardian. com/commentisfree/2010/dec/08/long-live-the-foreign-correspondent. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • Gutiérrez, M. (2018a), Data Activism and Social Change, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Gutiérrez, M. (2018b), ‘Maputopias: Cartographies of knowledge, commu- nication and action in the big data society – The cases of Ushahidi and InfoAmazonia’, GeoJournal, 84:1, pp. 1–20.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Izod, J., Kilborn, R. and Hibberd, M. (eds) (2000), From Grierson to the Docu- Soap: Breaking the Boundaries, Luton: University of Luton Press.
  • Jugend Rettet (2018), ‘Iuventa: Press kit’, https://jugendrettet.org/f/files/ Press%20Kit_long_EN.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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/b532/7e285f5f9a3d27263210e b81f7672ca202ce.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • McNair, B. (2009), ‘Journalism in the 21st century: Evolution, not extinction’, Journalism, 10:3, pp. 347–49.
  • Nichols, B. (2001), Introduction to Documentary, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
  • PBS (2002), ‘Lance loud’, https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Siminiani, L. (2019), ‘El caso Alcàsser’, Bambú Producciones, https://bambu- producciones.com/work/el-caso-alcasser/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • 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.
  • Treré, E. (2019), Hybrid Media Activism: Ecologies, Imaginaries, Algorithms, London and NewYork: Routledge.
  • 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.
  • Weizman, E. (2016), ‘Before and after images: Eyal Weizman’s the image complex’, The Photographers’ Gallery Blog, 22 May, https://thesand- pitdotorg1.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/the-image-complex/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Weizman, E. (2017), Forensic Architecture: Violence at the Threshold of Detectability, New York: Zone Books, https://calamitousannunciation. memoryoftheworld.org/Eyal%20Weizman/Forensic%20Architecture_%20 Violence%20at%20(10719)/Forensic%20Architecture_%20Violence%20 -%20Eyal%20Weizman.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Weizman, E. (2019), ‘Open verification’, E-Flux Architecture, https://www.e- flux.com/architecture/becoming-digital/248062/open-verification/. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Wiese, M. (2012), Camp 14: Total Control Zone. Press Booklet, https://ff.hrw.org/ sites/default/files/Camp14PressKit_0.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2020.
  • Winston, B. (1995), Claiming the Real: The Documentary Film Revisited, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Zeng, J. (2017), ‘Visualising truth-telling in Ai Xiaoming’s documentary acti- vism’, Studies in Documentary Film, 11:3, pp. 184–99.
  • Zimmermann, P. R. (2019), Documentary across Platforms: Reverse Engineering Media, Place, and Politics, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
  • Gutiérrez, Miren (2020), ‘Data and documentaries: Methodological hybridiza- tions in activism’, Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 12:2, pp. 315–332, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs_00035_1
La source de données: Dialnet