Interpreting the gaps – lecture notes

• Documentary wants to engage with the world and change our understanding of something. It is never just art for art’s sake. Documentary changes how we notice and experience our place in the world.
• Art can be for itself: eg, ballet for ballet, music for music: not every song has to be a political commentary, etc.
• Adrian mentioned a bot sending a news story, and more information can be found here.

This morning, two minutes after the earthquake struck, the USGS Earthquake Notification Service sent out the details of the earthquake and its location and strength to anyone listening. At that same moment, Schwencke got an email: a story on the earthquake was ready to be published. Though Schwencke gets the official byline, the Quakebot does the dirty work. Indeed, the biggest delay in the story going live was the time taken for Schwencke to roll out of bed, turn on his computer, double check the Quakebot’s accuracy, and press publish.

• Designs change. We used to think we’d always need journalists, but do we? Based on the bot, maybe not.
• Learn by doing –> By trying things out, as Anna said, we learn what we like: we learn what kind of filmmakers we want to be by making films.
• Media specific criticism matters. TV has been defined by advertising = four ad breaks = a very specific structure.
• Experience design –> eg the wedding example from last year.