New Documentary Ecologies ― Emerging Platforms, Practices and Discourses

Documentary remains a vital and dynamic media form, one that has persisted through decades of change in patterns of media production, distribution and reception, from its early conception in silent filmmaking, through 'new' media such as television, to the current explosion of digital platforms. New generations of documentary filmmakers, multimedia designers, online curators and social media aggregators are exploring the challenges and opportunities of a digital environment characterised as collaborative, participatory, and interactive. This book provides a unique collection of recent research into the ways in which these digital producers are adopting the 'documentary project' across digital platforms, developing new documentary practices and providing distinctive new ways for audiences to engage with reality.

Kate Nash is Lecturer in Media and Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. Having formally worked as a documentary maker, she is currently studying how audiences interact with and interpret interactive documentary. She has also published on documentary ethics, particularly the relationship between documentary makers and participants.

Craig Hight is Associate Professor in Screen and Media Studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. His current research focuses on the relationships between digital media technologies and documentary practice, especially the variety of factors shaping online documentary cultures.

Catherine Summerhayes is a Lecturer in Film and New Media Studies at the Australian National University. She is the author of Google Earth: Outreach and Activism and The Moving Images of Tracey Moffatt. Her work has been published widely in national and international journals and anthologies, and in 2012 she convened the Visible Evidence Conference in Documentary Studies.