Data activism and meta-documentary in six films by Forensic Architecture

ABSTRACT

Data activism –or data-centered campaigning, mobilization, and research– is a hybrid, shifting endeavor. Data activist organizations are currently exploring new tools and languages to communicate findings and influence judicial and political processes. However, it is the method of turning data into a film that sets Forensic Architecture (FA) apart from other data activist endeavors. This article employs ideas from social movement and documentary studies to examine six films produced and disseminated by FA. These documentaries expose official corruption relating to abuse and killings in Burundi, Israel and Palestine, Syria, and the Mediterranean. The analysis employs the lenses of data activism and the meta-documentary to think about how FA uses participatory strategies, involves victims and human rights organizations, places science and technology at the center of its narratives, generates counter-stories implicating new data agents and methods, and uses a new fora to influence court cases and change the status quo. Ultimately, it illustrates the potential for impact offered by hybrid forms of data activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Data activism
• activist documentary
• meta-documentary
• witnessing

Acknowledgments

The illustrations are published with Forensic Architecture’s and Forensic Oceanography’s permission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The translation is mine. ‘As articulações com a cognição social nos deram pistas para pensar no metadocumentário, como narrativa que problematiza os acoplamentos tecnológicos e as produções de sentido participativas do processo inerente a qualquer ação cognitiva’ (da Silva 2019, 9).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miren Gutierrez

Miren Gutierrez Ph.D. in Communication (University of Deusto) and master's in information sciences (University of Navarra). At the University of Deusto, she heads the program ‘Data analysis, research, and communication’ and is a researcher in the Communication team, recognized by the Basque Government with the highest category (A). She is also an Associate Researcher at Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, and Datactive, University of Amsterdam. Her research is focused on data activism or how people and organizations use data infrastructure for social change and equality. She has published thirty articles and chapters and two books, and five peer-reviewed technical reports based on computerized data analysis. She is a regular columnist, writing on gender, technology, and development issues (https://www.eldiario.es/autores/miren_gutierrez/). WIKIPEDIA: https://wikitia.com/wiki/Miren_Guti%C3%A9rrez_Almazor.