Third Digital Documentary: A Theory and Practice of Transmedia Arts Activism, Critical Design and Ethics

This book offers a theory and methodology of transmedia arts activism within the technocultural and sociopolitical landscape of expanded documentary production, distribution, reception and participation. Through a detailed analysis of the author’s transmedia project on indigenous and minority language endangerment and revival that consists of the feature-length documentary Tongues of Heaven and the companion web application Root Tongue: Sharing Stories of Language Identity and Revival, she reveals the layers and depths of a critical arts practice when confronted with complex sociopolitical issues while working with multiple communities across territorial/national boundaries. In the context of the growing field of transmedia documentaries, the author discusses the potentials and benefits of a critical design practice and production ethics that can transform this field to pilot new collaborations in documentary and digital media platforms towards a third digital documentary.

Anita Wen-Shin Chang is an artist–scholar who works with various media forms, including film, digital video, photography, installation and the web. Her works have been screened and broadcast internationally and have been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Walker Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and National Museum of Women. She has received awards from Creative Capital, the Fulbright Program, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and National Geographic All Roads. Her essays have appeared in Verge: Studies in Global Asias, positions: asia critique, Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, Taiwan Journal of Indigenous Studies and Teaching Transnational Cinema and Media: Politics and Pedagogy. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at California State University, East Bay.