Collaborative I-Docs Beyond the Screens: Face-to-Face Participation Processes in Interactive Non-Fiction

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate the face-to-face participation processes included in the design of collaborative interactive documentaries. The transmedia expansion of these initiatives favors a hybrid approach that keeps the online perspective but also reclaims the link between creative collaboration and territory, thus generating collective processes with the participants. This article presents an analysis of four projects developed in both physical and virtual spaces. We apply an original characterization model to each of the initiatives to draw conclusions about face-to-face participation, its different formulas depending on the creative approach, and the influence that onsite participation has on the results. We detected a series of productive connections that occur because of the spatial conception of the initiatives and that have consequences for the development of the works, either increasing the participants’ involvement or improving the collaboration results.