Dr Sandra Gaudenzi consults, researches, lectures and writes about interactive, immersive and transmedia narratives. She is Course Leader at the University of Westminster of disLAB, the first UK MA to be totally dedicated to interactive storytelling. She has played a leading role in the development of the DCRC's i-Docs Symposia and website and is part of its research group, with whom she has co-edited and published the book “i-docs: the Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary”.She is a fellow at the Interactive Narrative Studio, Lodz Film SchoolBetween 2015-18 she was Lead initiator and Head of Studies of IF Lab, a European development lab for digital storytellers.> Recent projects include Digital Me (2015) and Corona Haikus (2020).> Follow her @ www.i-docs.org, www.interactivefactual.net and docubase.mit.edu.
This course aims at introducing notions of user-centered design in the realm of interactive story... more This course aims at introducing notions of user-centered design in the realm of interactive storytelling. After reviewing how software methodologies like hacks and agile development have been used in the context of storytelling prototyping, the course will provide a hands-on workshop aimed at putting the user at the center of the story from day one of the production process.
A web-based portal originally created by myself and London-based colleague, Sandra Gaudenzi, whic... more A web-based portal originally created by myself and London-based colleague, Sandra Gaudenzi, which acts as a focal point for news, analysis and dialogue around the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary. It grew out of i-docs 2011, the first international symposium in the field, and has become an internationally recognised central hub for discussion and debate around evolving forms of documentary practice. The website has received over half a million views and is run on a community model. It benefits from curation from the expanded i-Docs team and guest contributions from within and beyond the community.
When I moved from linear documentary production to the newly emerging field of interactive storyt... more When I moved from linear documentary production to the newly emerging field of interactive storytelling in the early 2000, I was excited by the potentialities of the Web, especially the possibility of co-creation in factual storytelling. Looking back, I can clearly see that what attracted me was the exploration of how factual narratives could make use of two affordances that are unique to digital media: user agency and interactivity. More than twenty years later, I am still experimenting with ways to use interactivity to facilitate co-creation of reality and move away from simple representation in documentary making (Gaudenzi 2013). In this paper, I will use the Corona Haikus project (2020), to question the current understanding of user agency in participatory interactive narratives. I have chosen such project because I have personally been involved in it as a co-author, but also as a participant, and therefore I have both co-designed its user’s agency, and experienced it as a user....
During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documenta... more During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documentary, e.g. social media initiatives with a documentary impetus and collaborative web-projects. Apart from the participants’ urge to document and share their experiences in unprecedented times, these platforms were created to feel connected and to self-reflexively cope with a confined lifestyle. This article takes the Corona Haikus project as a case study to discuss co-creation as a form of care. As a way for ‘im/mediate/d caring and sharing’ the project goes beyond the mere act of documenting but combines creativity with connectivity and connectiveness.
During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documenta... more During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documentary, e.g. social media initiatives with a documentary impetus and collaborative web-projects. Apart from the participants’ urge to document and share their experiences in unprecedented times, these platforms were created to feel connected and to self-reflexively cope with a confined lifestyle. This article takes the Corona Haikus project as a case study to discuss co-creation as a form of care. As a way for ‘im/mediate/d caring and sharing’ the project goes beyond the mere act of documenting but combines creativity with connectivity and connectiveness.
This special edition presents a collection of articles that came out of i-Docs 2011, the first in... more This special edition presents a collection of articles that came out of i-Docs 2011, the first international symposium exclusively devoted to the rapidly evolving field of international documentary-making. The symposium was held at the Watershed Media Centre in Bristol, on behalf of the University of the West of England's Digital Cultures Research Centre. Its aim was to showcase recent projects and discuss the artistic, economic and political implications of new forms of factual representation. The articles, case study and interviews in this edition represent the range of themes and debates that that were raised and that can be seen as a unique snapshot of a complex and diverse field of study that is in its early stages of development.
ABSTRACT This article articulates the authors’ combined vision behind convening i-Docs, the first... more ABSTRACT This article articulates the authors’ combined vision behind convening i-Docs, the first international symposia to focus exclusively on the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary. In so doing, it provides a case study of practice-driven research, in which discussion around the act of developing and making interactive documentaries is seen as being a necessary prerequisite to subsequent theorizing in relation to their impact on the continuing evolution of the documentary genre. As an essentially interdisciplinary form of practice, the article provides a conceptual overview of what interactive documentaries (i-docs) are, where they come from and what they could become. The case is made that i-docs should not be seen as the uneventful evolution of documentaries in the digital realm but rather as a form of nonfiction narrative that uses action and choice, immersion and enacted perception as ways to construct the real, rather than to represent it. The relationship between authorship and agency within i-docs is also considered as being central to our understanding of possibilities within a rapidly evolving field of study.
While the production of interactive narratives has been steadily developing for the last 10 years... more While the production of interactive narratives has been steadily developing for the last 10 years, no methodological study on the interactive story development process has been done to date. This paper shares the results of a three years action research where existing Storytelling and Design Thinking have been mixed to create a unique development methodology, the WHAT IF IT process. This paper first discloses the history, and steps, of the WHAT IF IT methodology and then shares the results of its evaluation. It also opens up to future developments that would take experiential design into account. The aim is to start formalizing a framework for interactive narrative development.
This Chapter first dwells on the multi-vocal and polyphonic nature of interactive narratives and ... more This Chapter first dwells on the multi-vocal and polyphonic nature of interactive narratives and questions how a non-linear vision of the world might change our understanding of it. The ontological opportunities of the digital shift are offered to storytellers as creative forces to start their future projects. What sort of digital narratives can we build to embrace, and take a stand on the profound changes in our society? How is interactivity and agency the crucial tool for this new type of narratives? The second part of the Chapter is more practical and enumerates a series of mind shifts that are necessary for linear storytellers when conceiving interactive projects. The methodology that is proposed draws on the WHAT IF IT process - an ideation methodology that was researched and developed by Sandra Gaudenzi in the last four years through the EU training programme IF Lab (Interactive Factual Lab).
In 2014, I started an online research project that I called the i-doc UX Series. My assumption wa... more In 2014, I started an online research project that I called the i-doc UX Series. My assumption was that for as much as i-doc makers understood the importance of putting the user at the center of their creative process (UCD) , they were actually not really doing it thoroughly because they lacked a design methodology. Therefore, the idea behind the UX Series was to interview interactive design specialists and to ask them if, and how, their methodology could be applied to the production of interactive narratives. Since my intention was to start a dialogue between two types of production practices, I asked seven renowned i-doc specialists to comment on each design interview, and also to invite a colleague of their choice to extend the debate through a series of Google Hangouts . I wanted to check if, and how much, i-doc makers were incorporating design practices in their work. In this chapter, the UX Series interviews will serve as substantive evidence to sustain my argument. Although t...
This book is one of the outputs of The BUG Exhibition: Interactive and Immersive Narratives, held... more This book is one of the outputs of The BUG Exhibition: Interactive and Immersive Narratives, held in the Oi Futuro Flamengo Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 11th to October 9th, 2018. The aim of the exhibition was to expose the Brazilian public to the growing field of digital interactive narratives. A conference and workshop where organised in conjunction to the exhibition. This book is therefore much more than a catalogue: it summarises all the work that was exposed to constitute an anthology of interactive narratives, but it also offers three full chapters to help Brazilian audiovisual producers to navigate this new space. Mixing new articles, interviews, case studies and a brief anthology of seminal interactive works, this book is an introduction to the field which we hope will inspire new projects in the production or research of interactive and immersive narratives. The book is devised in two parts as it contains a Portuguese and an English version.
This practical booklet is a field guide that can be used by any student, or audiovisual producer.... more This practical booklet is a field guide that can be used by any student, or audiovisual producer. wishing to conceive a digital interactive story. It contains the main phases of the WHAT IT IT process - a methodology of digital ideation created through 4 years of research and practice at IF Lab, a professional workshop funded by the EU. You will find hands-on canvases and "how to" explanations that will help you in your ideation process.
espanolLos documentales interactivos son narraciones digitales no lineales que utilizan los nuevo... more espanolLos documentales interactivos son narraciones digitales no lineales que utilizan los nuevos medios para relacionar y describir la realidad. Dado que esta forma de narracion factual solo se ha consolidado en los ultimos diez anos (su emergencia puede rastrearse a traves de la evolucion de la Web 2.0), podemos afirmar que se encuentra todavia en su infancia. En consecuencia, es flagrante la ausencia de terminologia y comprension de las caracteristicas especificas de dicha forma. Este articulo pretende situar los documentales interactivos como una forma en si misma (y no como una continuacion de los documentales lineales). Introduce asimismo el concepto de “Documental Vivo”, en el cual los documentales interactivos son encarados como “formas vivas”. Partiendo de la nocion de “autopoiesis” de Maturana y Varela, asi como de la teoria del ensamblaje de Deleuze, la definicion de “Documental Vivo” quiere hacer hincapie en el caracter relacional de los documentales interactivos y en s...
Animus. Revista Interamericana de Comunicação Midiática
O artigo descreve o processo de pesquisa-ação voltado para concepção, implementação e experimenta... more O artigo descreve o processo de pesquisa-ação voltado para concepção, implementação e experimentação reiterativas do programa de treinamento !F Lab e sua metodologia WHAT IF IT entre 2015 e 2018. Ambos são voltados para o desenvolvimento de projetos de narrativas digitais interativas e imersivas, orientados pela abordagem de Desing Thinking. O texto apresenta os resultados de questionários aplicados aos participantes do programa em 2017 na Europa. Também analisa os dados de entrevistas e questionários aplicados em 2018 aos participantes na Europa e aos participantes do !F Bug Lab, versão do treinamento concebida e realizada no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
This course aims at introducing notions of user-centered design in the realm of interactive story... more This course aims at introducing notions of user-centered design in the realm of interactive storytelling. After reviewing how software methodologies like hacks and agile development have been used in the context of storytelling prototyping, the course will provide a hands-on workshop aimed at putting the user at the center of the story from day one of the production process.
A web-based portal originally created by myself and London-based colleague, Sandra Gaudenzi, whic... more A web-based portal originally created by myself and London-based colleague, Sandra Gaudenzi, which acts as a focal point for news, analysis and dialogue around the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary. It grew out of i-docs 2011, the first international symposium in the field, and has become an internationally recognised central hub for discussion and debate around evolving forms of documentary practice. The website has received over half a million views and is run on a community model. It benefits from curation from the expanded i-Docs team and guest contributions from within and beyond the community.
When I moved from linear documentary production to the newly emerging field of interactive storyt... more When I moved from linear documentary production to the newly emerging field of interactive storytelling in the early 2000, I was excited by the potentialities of the Web, especially the possibility of co-creation in factual storytelling. Looking back, I can clearly see that what attracted me was the exploration of how factual narratives could make use of two affordances that are unique to digital media: user agency and interactivity. More than twenty years later, I am still experimenting with ways to use interactivity to facilitate co-creation of reality and move away from simple representation in documentary making (Gaudenzi 2013). In this paper, I will use the Corona Haikus project (2020), to question the current understanding of user agency in participatory interactive narratives. I have chosen such project because I have personally been involved in it as a co-author, but also as a participant, and therefore I have both co-designed its user’s agency, and experienced it as a user....
During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documenta... more During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documentary, e.g. social media initiatives with a documentary impetus and collaborative web-projects. Apart from the participants’ urge to document and share their experiences in unprecedented times, these platforms were created to feel connected and to self-reflexively cope with a confined lifestyle. This article takes the Corona Haikus project as a case study to discuss co-creation as a form of care. As a way for ‘im/mediate/d caring and sharing’ the project goes beyond the mere act of documenting but combines creativity with connectivity and connectiveness.
During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documenta... more During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documentary, e.g. social media initiatives with a documentary impetus and collaborative web-projects. Apart from the participants’ urge to document and share their experiences in unprecedented times, these platforms were created to feel connected and to self-reflexively cope with a confined lifestyle. This article takes the Corona Haikus project as a case study to discuss co-creation as a form of care. As a way for ‘im/mediate/d caring and sharing’ the project goes beyond the mere act of documenting but combines creativity with connectivity and connectiveness.
This special edition presents a collection of articles that came out of i-Docs 2011, the first in... more This special edition presents a collection of articles that came out of i-Docs 2011, the first international symposium exclusively devoted to the rapidly evolving field of international documentary-making. The symposium was held at the Watershed Media Centre in Bristol, on behalf of the University of the West of England's Digital Cultures Research Centre. Its aim was to showcase recent projects and discuss the artistic, economic and political implications of new forms of factual representation. The articles, case study and interviews in this edition represent the range of themes and debates that that were raised and that can be seen as a unique snapshot of a complex and diverse field of study that is in its early stages of development.
ABSTRACT This article articulates the authors’ combined vision behind convening i-Docs, the first... more ABSTRACT This article articulates the authors’ combined vision behind convening i-Docs, the first international symposia to focus exclusively on the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary. In so doing, it provides a case study of practice-driven research, in which discussion around the act of developing and making interactive documentaries is seen as being a necessary prerequisite to subsequent theorizing in relation to their impact on the continuing evolution of the documentary genre. As an essentially interdisciplinary form of practice, the article provides a conceptual overview of what interactive documentaries (i-docs) are, where they come from and what they could become. The case is made that i-docs should not be seen as the uneventful evolution of documentaries in the digital realm but rather as a form of nonfiction narrative that uses action and choice, immersion and enacted perception as ways to construct the real, rather than to represent it. The relationship between authorship and agency within i-docs is also considered as being central to our understanding of possibilities within a rapidly evolving field of study.
While the production of interactive narratives has been steadily developing for the last 10 years... more While the production of interactive narratives has been steadily developing for the last 10 years, no methodological study on the interactive story development process has been done to date. This paper shares the results of a three years action research where existing Storytelling and Design Thinking have been mixed to create a unique development methodology, the WHAT IF IT process. This paper first discloses the history, and steps, of the WHAT IF IT methodology and then shares the results of its evaluation. It also opens up to future developments that would take experiential design into account. The aim is to start formalizing a framework for interactive narrative development.
This Chapter first dwells on the multi-vocal and polyphonic nature of interactive narratives and ... more This Chapter first dwells on the multi-vocal and polyphonic nature of interactive narratives and questions how a non-linear vision of the world might change our understanding of it. The ontological opportunities of the digital shift are offered to storytellers as creative forces to start their future projects. What sort of digital narratives can we build to embrace, and take a stand on the profound changes in our society? How is interactivity and agency the crucial tool for this new type of narratives? The second part of the Chapter is more practical and enumerates a series of mind shifts that are necessary for linear storytellers when conceiving interactive projects. The methodology that is proposed draws on the WHAT IF IT process - an ideation methodology that was researched and developed by Sandra Gaudenzi in the last four years through the EU training programme IF Lab (Interactive Factual Lab).
In 2014, I started an online research project that I called the i-doc UX Series. My assumption wa... more In 2014, I started an online research project that I called the i-doc UX Series. My assumption was that for as much as i-doc makers understood the importance of putting the user at the center of their creative process (UCD) , they were actually not really doing it thoroughly because they lacked a design methodology. Therefore, the idea behind the UX Series was to interview interactive design specialists and to ask them if, and how, their methodology could be applied to the production of interactive narratives. Since my intention was to start a dialogue between two types of production practices, I asked seven renowned i-doc specialists to comment on each design interview, and also to invite a colleague of their choice to extend the debate through a series of Google Hangouts . I wanted to check if, and how much, i-doc makers were incorporating design practices in their work. In this chapter, the UX Series interviews will serve as substantive evidence to sustain my argument. Although t...
This book is one of the outputs of The BUG Exhibition: Interactive and Immersive Narratives, held... more This book is one of the outputs of The BUG Exhibition: Interactive and Immersive Narratives, held in the Oi Futuro Flamengo Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 11th to October 9th, 2018. The aim of the exhibition was to expose the Brazilian public to the growing field of digital interactive narratives. A conference and workshop where organised in conjunction to the exhibition. This book is therefore much more than a catalogue: it summarises all the work that was exposed to constitute an anthology of interactive narratives, but it also offers three full chapters to help Brazilian audiovisual producers to navigate this new space. Mixing new articles, interviews, case studies and a brief anthology of seminal interactive works, this book is an introduction to the field which we hope will inspire new projects in the production or research of interactive and immersive narratives. The book is devised in two parts as it contains a Portuguese and an English version.
This practical booklet is a field guide that can be used by any student, or audiovisual producer.... more This practical booklet is a field guide that can be used by any student, or audiovisual producer. wishing to conceive a digital interactive story. It contains the main phases of the WHAT IT IT process - a methodology of digital ideation created through 4 years of research and practice at IF Lab, a professional workshop funded by the EU. You will find hands-on canvases and "how to" explanations that will help you in your ideation process.
espanolLos documentales interactivos son narraciones digitales no lineales que utilizan los nuevo... more espanolLos documentales interactivos son narraciones digitales no lineales que utilizan los nuevos medios para relacionar y describir la realidad. Dado que esta forma de narracion factual solo se ha consolidado en los ultimos diez anos (su emergencia puede rastrearse a traves de la evolucion de la Web 2.0), podemos afirmar que se encuentra todavia en su infancia. En consecuencia, es flagrante la ausencia de terminologia y comprension de las caracteristicas especificas de dicha forma. Este articulo pretende situar los documentales interactivos como una forma en si misma (y no como una continuacion de los documentales lineales). Introduce asimismo el concepto de “Documental Vivo”, en el cual los documentales interactivos son encarados como “formas vivas”. Partiendo de la nocion de “autopoiesis” de Maturana y Varela, asi como de la teoria del ensamblaje de Deleuze, la definicion de “Documental Vivo” quiere hacer hincapie en el caracter relacional de los documentales interactivos y en s...
Animus. Revista Interamericana de Comunicação Midiática
O artigo descreve o processo de pesquisa-ação voltado para concepção, implementação e experimenta... more O artigo descreve o processo de pesquisa-ação voltado para concepção, implementação e experimentação reiterativas do programa de treinamento !F Lab e sua metodologia WHAT IF IT entre 2015 e 2018. Ambos são voltados para o desenvolvimento de projetos de narrativas digitais interativas e imersivas, orientados pela abordagem de Desing Thinking. O texto apresenta os resultados de questionários aplicados aos participantes do programa em 2017 na Europa. Também analisa os dados de entrevistas e questionários aplicados em 2018 aos participantes na Europa e aos participantes do !F Bug Lab, versão do treinamento concebida e realizada no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Expert contributions, case studies and interviews with major figures in the field address the pro... more Expert contributions, case studies and interviews with major figures in the field address the production processes that lie behind interactive documentary, as well as the political, cultural and geographic contexts in which they are emerging and the media ecology that supports them. Taking a broad view of interactive documentary as any work which engages with 'the real' by employing digital interactive technology, this volume addresses a range of platforms and environments, from web-docs and virtual reality to mobile media and live performance. It thus explores the challenges that face interactive documentary practitioners and scholars, and proposes new ways of producing and engaging with interactive factual content.
During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documenta... more During the COVID-19 lockdown the community experimented with alternative forms of doing documentary, e.g. social media initiatives with a documentary impetus and collaborative web-projects. Apart from the participants’ urge to document and share their experiences in unprecedented times, these platforms were created to feel connected and to self-reflexively cope with a confined lifestyle. This article takes the Corona Haikus project as a case study to discuss co-creation as a form of care. As a way for ‘im/mediate/d caring and sharing’ the project goes beyond the mere act of documenting but combines creativity with connectivity and connectiveness.
This special issue of the Interactive Film and Media Journal constitutes the first of two issues ... more This special issue of the Interactive Film and Media Journal constitutes the first of two issues dedicated to the IV International Interactive Film and Media Conference, held online in June 2022 and co-organized by Hudson Moura (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada), Heidi Rae Cooley (University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Anna Wiehl (University of Bayreuth, Germany) and Stefano Odorico (Technological University of the Shannon, Ireland / Leeds Trinity University, UK). As tangential as it may seem, the IFM conferences are an opportunity to reflect on the scholarly field of interactivity, offering a platform for academics and practitioners to broaden the field across disciplines. The conference titled: Interactive Epistemology, Listening, and Ecomedia clearly demonstrated that interactivity does not just have a newly rediscovered popularity in film and media, but it is also omnipresent in a multidisciplinary context, from cultural productions such as games, films and books to audience perception such as streaming, virtual reality and real-time; from intellectual publications such as news, hypertexts, social media to virtual world economy such as cryptocurrencies.
Based on the conference’s call for papers, we “are witnessing a shift in all levels of cultural production. As a result, interactivity gains more space and conceptual independence with specific terminology, questions, promises, and challenges. Moreover, interactivity is growing as an academic discipline, a field of study, and an area of research in several spheres.” In a post-pandemic society, we feel that now is an excellent time to be returning to these debates, as the computer-based aesthetic of the multiple such as that of the Zoom interface and similar (which we have all mastered during periods of isolation) have become a newly established fixture of working life.
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Papers by sandra gaudenzi
Based on the conference’s call for papers, we “are witnessing a shift in all levels of cultural production. As a result, interactivity gains more space and conceptual independence with specific terminology, questions, promises, and challenges. Moreover, interactivity is growing as an academic discipline, a field of study, and an area of research in several spheres.” In a post-pandemic society, we feel that now is an excellent time to be returning to these debates, as the computer-based aesthetic of the multiple such as that of the Zoom interface and similar (which we have all mastered during periods of isolation) have become a newly established fixture of working life.