I am truly taken aback by the websites that we had to look at this week. The amount of work and dedication that must go into their creation and upkeep must be a huge undertaking. But beyond that, they truly have the ability to pull you in to look at everything that they have to offer. With Bear 71 I knew it was on the site for over 20 minutes, but it didn’t feel like that. The fact that I always felt like there was something else to look at and discover kept me on the site for the entire duration. Bear 71 was just such a unique way of delivering a documentary’s information, I never felt like I was being preached at despite the message of natural conservation. I was left to discover the information on my own, not only keeping my interest for the entirety of the documentary, but also helping my retention of the facts.
Bear 71 in my opinion is what should be shown to someone when they are what participatory is. It requires the viewer to constantly be involved in the exchange of information. Yes if they just stand in one place they will still get the core information, but they would be missing out on so much more. The additional cameras with different animals, pictures of the trees and plants. Also using the viewer’s webcam to put themselves into the documentary was a master stroke by the creators. By seeing yourself in the piece as well as being able to control where your avatar goes is honestly one of the most unique things I have seen done in digital media.
This is we have to drive for when we are talking about participatory media. Something that is both interactive and informative. Now I’m not saying that we should all go out and create clones of Bear 71, but I think we need to look at it as inspiration for the future. We need to be able to rise above the regular noise of the internet and find a way to capture the audience’s attention. With everything else that we would be competing with on the internet for someone’s attention we have to come up with creative ways of getting attention and encourage active participation.
I agree, Bear 71 is a very good example of participatory media and I think this is the first interactive documentary i’ve ever viewed. Did you read the piece about the bear named “Mary?” It sounded like she was killed by hunters who cut off her ears in order to cover up the poach. I thought that part was really sad.
What I found interesting about Bear 71 was that it could be any bear, or rabbit or deer in any national park. The wild really has become less wild, with cell phone towers disguised as pine trees providing 3G service wherever you go. I guess that’s the reality of our digital culture, though. We can’t really escape it so we might as well embrace it.
Our newly dawning awareness of the panopticon surveillance society…
And Bear 71 is still using all the tricks of the narrative trade, no? And incorporating a few new options that actually are successful interactivities…But it really always gets down to how amazingly heartfelt and emotional this story was rendered rather than “showcasing” new apps.