Judith Aston, Sandra Guadenzi, Interactive Documentary:Setting the Field, Studies in Documentary Film, Volume 6 Number 2, 2012,  pp125-139

This article discusses what an interactive documentary is and how the emergence of digital technology has allowed different types of interactive documentary to be created.  It also explains the different modes that these documentaries are made and why they play an important part for the consumers of the new media.  There is also reference to how the narrative of interactive documentaries is formed and how this form of storytelling continues to evolve with developing technology.  The narrative is usually controlled through the use of action and choice, which in turn creates a non-linear structure.  It also articulates the importance of capturing the audience and letting them have control the interactive process.

There is also information on issues and debates raised by the first symposium on Interactive Documentaries.  The key themes that were discussed included ethics and the nature of participation, transmedia storytelling and multi platform production.  Media practitioners from large media organisations gathered to share their ideas and experiences on creating interactive content.  The overall general consensus suggested that interactive documentaries are flourishing and they are here to stay.  But the formula is not rigid and will continue to redevelop and change.  Overall I thought this article was informative in describing the genre of interactive documentary.  But it doesn’t really delve into the issue of monetising this digital content.  Would consumers be willing to pay for this sort of content?  Or would they only view these type of documentaries through the websites of large media organisations?

Nay Kim, Sangheon Kim, Interactive Documentary on Perspective of New Media, International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering Vol. 9, No. 12 (2014), pp. 117-128

<http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijmue.2014.9.12.11>

This article discusses the framework of how to create an effective interactive documentary.  It explains some of the concepts of new media when creating this form of narrative.  Lev Manovich’s theory regarding the five principals of new media are briefly summarised and his name is mentioned throughout the reading.  Lev Manovich has written a few books on the subject and is a professor of Computer Science at the City University of New York.  There is also quite an amount of discussion on some of the challenges faced when creating this format.  This includes the duration of the documentary, the variety of media to use, the amount of clicks on a mouse to include and avoiding a linear structure.

The reading also addresses the important issue that confronts everyone making this format.  What type of authoring tool should be used to create interactive documentaries?  There are four different modes of interactivity discussed and each mode names an example of that particular method used.  I found this article helpful in explaining the issues that are confronted when producing this type of new media.  There is no set formula for non-linear storytelling but reading this article helps the reader understand the pitfalls to avoid when creating this type of content.  There are some quality examples of interactive documentaries named in the reading to help research what makes the interactivity successful.  These examples highlight the differing ways on how the audience can interact with the new media.

The reading for this week discussed the opportunities of future growth for Entertainment and Media Companies.  The report written by media experts Chris Lederer and Megan Brownlow discuss the threats and opportunities in the media industry and have corolated statistics and data showing the current trends on a global scale.  They are positive about continual growth in this industry with statistics showing that E&M spending is growing more rapid than GDP in most countries.  The report makes the claim that there is a growing shift from publishing businesses to internet and video businesses.  With traditional media slowly in decline the shift is highly inevitable if companies want to continue making a profit.

The report also discusses how the youth are driving the change on how people consume media.  “Young people consume more media than older people and are more open to adopt digital changes.”  Older people are more likely to view media through traditional channels like television, radio and newspapers.  My father can’t even send a message on a smart phone.  Although in some countries some traditional forms of media are growing in popularity again like physical form of music in Norway and Italy.  Newspapers also remains a popular form of media consumption in Japan.

But the statistics show that media is being viewed on multiple platforms and companies are offering bundles for these type of services.  The rise of subscription has grown highly for services like Netflix and Stan.  These streaming services can be viewed on multiple devices including smart phones, tablets and computers.  In Australia the price has considerably dropped for pay tv services such as Foxtel and Optus.  The new competition from these streaming services has become problematic for Foxtel.  These streaming services are free from advertisments and appeal more to consumers that like to watch tv shows with no interruption.  Foxtel have to be careful now to not frighten off their customers with too much advertising.

In our Media 6 tutorial class we were divided into groups to discuss  topics related to media.  The group I was in talked about media as a force of change and how the media landscape is evolving.  Our group recognised a number of factors regarding the continual change in media, which included:

• Social Media
• Government legislation
• Campaigning
• Media diversity
• Multiple platform communications
• 24 hour coverage and access
• Decline of traditional media
• Monetising the media industry

We all had a general consensus that the media is currently in a form of transition and that society is changing their behaviour on how they access material like news and entertainment.  We also discussed circumstances where new media created political change like the recent Arab Spring uprise.  Ethics was also a talking point when referring to the rise of social media.  There was a precedent set recently when a man was recently charged for posting offensive comments on Facebook.  He was posting racially abusive messages to recently retired Senator Nova Peris.  A petition was signed by over 7000 Facebook users for the police to investigate the posts.  Now under Australian law Facebook users can be held accountable and charged if their comments are deemed to be discriminative, threatening or racially abusive.

The abusive post Senator Nova Peris made public.

The reading for this week was “The 4th Industrial Revolution” written by Klaus Schwag.  It discusses the topic of a new revolution that will change the way we live, work, think and communicate.  He also outlines the challenges for growth in innovation when it comes to ethics and legislation.

I am quite concerned for the future of workers with many industries making the move to replacing humans with robotics to make businesses more effective.  How will truck drivers make a living once transport is capable of driving itself autonomously?  How will journalists make a living if Artificial Intelligence does the writing instead?  There is already a trend in the employment market with full-time work being replaced by casual, part-time and contract labor hire.  It could get to the point where technology and robotics create too much unemployment, which in turn creates social turmoil and chaos in an economic sphere.

We also see on the digital platform where corporations feel free to violate government legislation and avoid paying taxes.  Uber has caused major disruption throughout the world using technology to distribute their sharing service.  They provide a service that requires using infrastructure payed by the taxpayers.  But on the same token they refuse to pay taxes which in turn keeps this infrastructure maintained.  Governments are faced with the difficult challenge of collecting taxes on these type of businesses.  Tax havens will eventually have to be eradicated and loopholes closed to create an even playing field.  Similar online services are rapidly growing and creating new sharing facilities.  But employment from these services are usually contracted and free from the protections that trade unions have been fighting for over the past century.

The reliance on the internet also plays a factor on equality within a society.  Those that have no internet connection will basically be left behind.  The gap between rich and poor could be even more divided if internet services aren’t provided to everyone across the globe.  I fear that more people will be underemployed in the future and the gap will just keep growing.  It could be similar to the first industrial revolution where workers are gathering outside factories with their hands in the air hoping to be employed for the day.  Oh how I wish I was born a baby boomer instead.  Life was so much more uncomplicated.