LSBA 392-02 — Data Activism and Interactive Documentary
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Summer 2015, Capilano University, Instructor: Brian Ganter
Overview: “Data activism” refers to the broad or specific use of visual and other humanities technologies to analyze, critique, contribute to, measure, or assess the origins, processes, and impacts of social transformation (whether they be short- or long-term, structural or event-based). This course explores the contribution of humanities methodologies and digital humanities technologies to the overall project of data activism. The course particularly highlights recent developments in the digital (interactive or web) activist documentary, including Here at Home (see < https://www.nfb.ca/interactive/ > . How does the collection and presentation of visual data interact with the narrative forms, norms and procedures of the documentary genre in order to measure and assess the impact of movements for social change?
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Required Texts
Turnin, Svetla and Ezra Winton, Ed. Screening Truth to Power: A Reader on Documentary Activism. Montréal: Cinema Politica, 2014. Print.
Waugh, Thomas, et.al, Ed. Challenge For Change. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010. Print.
Other articles and readings TBA during the course of the tutorial.
Meetings: Three two-hour meetings throughout the term.
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WEEK ONE | May 4 | No Meeting | Big Data in the Humanities + Social Sciences
DISCUSS L. Manovich, “Trending: The Promises and Challenges of Big Data,” “The Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0,” HotDocs, “Documentary Impact: Social Change Through Storytelling,” and “Rise of Neurocinema” from Fast Company
SCREEN Here at Home and Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary (section on Planning & Preparation/Research in TOPICS)
WEEK TWO | May 11 | Meeting | Documenting Data: The Activist Documentary
DISCUSS Challenge for Change, Chap. 1, 2, 3, 10, 33; J. Downing, “Illuminating the Crimes of the Powerful, A Foreword” and S. Walsh, “Speak For Yourself: The Cultural Politics of Participatory Video” in Screening Truth to Power
SCREEN “Introduction to Fogo Island” and other shorts from NFB.ca
OPTIONAL READING K. Goldsmith, Soliloquy
OPTIONAL SCREENING D. Harvey, “RSA Animate: Crises of Capitalism”
WEEK THREE | May 18 | No Meeting | Films for Change/The Documentary Maker as Intellectual
SCREEN The Take (xxxxx ), “You Are On Indian Land” (Dir. M. Ransen, 1969)
READ Challenge for Change, “Forword, Putting Ideas into the World: A Conversation with Naomi Klein about Starting Conversations with Film” Chap. 5, 15, 16, 17, 36; Screening Truth to Power, E. Winton, “Identity and Resistance: An Interview with Abenaki Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin,” T. Deer and T. Hubbard, “Aboriginal Politics and Culture on Screen,” and E. Winton, “A Conceptual Intervention in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside: An Interview with Antoine Bourges”
OPTIONAL READING: Deleuze and Foucault
WEEK FOUR May 25 | Meeting | The Database Documentary
READ Soar, M. and M. Gagnon, Ed. D|N|A., Essays 1, 4, 5, 6, 7; L. Manovich, “Database as a Genre of New Media” ; and H. Cohen, “Database Documentary: From Authorship to Authoring in Remediated/Remixed Documentary” from Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
SCREEN/VIEW Blood Sugar and Public Secrets
OPTIONAL SCREENING DJ Spooky, Rebirth of A Nation and “DJ Spooky | Rebirth of a Nation | Higher Learning”
OPTIONAL READING N. Katherine Hayles, “The Digital Humanities” from How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technologies.
Big Networks and Visual Information
READ Branch, J. “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek” The New York Times and “The NSA Files: Decoded,” The Guardian
BROWSE Selfie City
SCREEN “The Art of Data Visualization,” Off Book | PBS Digital Studios
READ F. Lopez, “Anarchist Cinema,” F. Lopez, “Anarchist Films,” S. Christoff, “A Democratic Screening Space,” and S. Christoff, “Capturing a Militant (On Screen): An Interview with Lina Makboul” in Screening Truth to Power
OPTIONAL READING L. Manovich, “Cultural Analytics: Visualizing Cultural Patterns in the Era of ‘More Media’”
OPTIONAL SCREENING D. Harvey, “RSA Animate: Crises of Capitalism”
WEEK FIVE June 1 | No Meeting | Tools for Digital Analysis
SCREEN Far From Poland, (J. Godmilow, 1984) & The Interview (H. Farocki, 2006)
READ “How Real is the Reality in Documentary Film? Jill Godmilow in Conversation with Ann-Louise Shapiro”; J. Clarke, “A Doc-World in the Making,” M. Hays, “Documentary Disasters and Screening Serendipity,” K. Fitzpatrick, “Grassroots Across Borders,” and D. Varga, “Documentary and Actually Existing Utopias” in Screening Truth to Power
Software Assessment and Review: juxtapose, etc.
WEEK SIX | June 8 | Meeting | The Politics of the DIgital Big Networks & The Po
Alan Liu, Distant Reading, From Reading to Social Computing
WEEK SEVEN | June 15 | No Meeting | The Interactive (Web) Documentary: Assessing Social Impact
READ/BROWSE Hypercities & FortMcMoney
READ S. Gaudenzi, “Interactive Documentary” from The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media. (2014)
READ D. Licata, “The Up Films: The Speed of Life” in Filmmaker Magazine (2013); D. Barrett and S. Leddy, “Assessing Creative Media’s Social Impact” (2008)
ADDITIONAL READINGS
Berry, D (2011) “The computational turn: Thinking about the digital humanities.” Culture Machine 12. Part of Open Humanities Press.
Börner, K & D.E. Polley. Visual Insights: A Practical Guide to Making Sense of Data. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2014. Print.
Karlin, B. and J. Johnson. “Measuring Impact: The Importance of Evaluation for Documentary Film Campaigns.” M/C Journal 14.6. (2011).
Pentland, A. “Reinventing Society in the Wake of Big Data.” Edge. 30 Aug. 2012.
“Nettie Wild: The Language of the Lens” from B. Ganter, Ed. Wild at Heart: The Films of Nettie Wild
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
