An article on the conversation given to us as class reading for week #5A talks about Interactivity, particularly in video games, where the users, or gamers rather, interact with the computer programme to create an experience unique to one’s chain of decisions made with regards to the game.

The article explores how this mode of delivering a unique experience can be a mode of storytelling, when taken into greater lengths, another method of screen production or documentary making. Which is what Jon Dovey & Mandy Rose wrote about in the “We’re happy and we know it: Documentary, data, montage”, for week #5B’s reading.  The article explains the use of different interactive elements in documentary making, and exploring different media elements to be used in an online project. With still images, videos, audio, and texts, at the disposal of the filmmaker, they are now not limited or bounded to the limitations of traditional screen media in terms of formats, and method of distribution and delivery. This enables filmmakers and documentarians to reach out to a wider audience, on multiple platforms.

It is worth thinking how it could be reshaping the way we deliver information from an educational point of view. In another article on The Conversation, “How the internet is reshaping World Heritage and our experience of it”, people are more aware of historical events, landmarks, and occasion through the means of delivering them on the Internet, or Web 2.0 to be specific. This not only boosts people’s awareness of history, but enables content producers to think of innovative ways to present ideas, concepts, information outside of traditional media. I guess the key word from all of these readings is, “Interaction”, and with that comes with an experience to the user. People don’t want to just watch something and go home to have a cup of tea, they want to be immersed, to feel, to ignite their 5 sense, and I think what these readings have in common is that their end-users get to take home not only a virtual souvenir, but an experience unique to their own.

Looking into our next assignment, we will be exploring how we will be making or designing a project based on having modularity and variability properties, as defined in Manovich’s “The Language of New Media”. A good starting, I guess, would be sourcing for current documentaries that has been made purposely for online screen media. And the first that comes to mind would be the VR project I’ve blogged about in week #4, regarding the Indigenous culture and people. How does it differ from traditional documentaries? What makes it modular? How is it variable?