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All Outputs (40)

Interactive documentary (streaming video) (2015)
Other
Aston, J. (2015). Interactive documentary (streaming video)

Professor Judith Aston discusses the genesis of her "i-doc" interactive documentary concept and its potential applications.

Interactive documentary (2014)
Book Chapter
Aston, J. (2014). Interactive documentary. In K. Harvey (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Politics and Social Media (704-704). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452244723.n288

Interactive documentary is a term used to describe the new possibilities for both the construction and representation of reality brought about by the human–computer interface. For a documentary to be interactive in this context, a physical action nee... Read More about Interactive documentary.

Database narrative, spatial montage, and the cultural transmission of memory: An anthropological perspective (2013)
Book Chapter
Aston, J. (2013). Database narrative, spatial montage, and the cultural transmission of memory: An anthropological perspective. In D. Harrison (Ed.), Digital Media and Technologies for Virtual Artistic Spaces (150-158). Hershey PA: Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2961-5.ch011

This chapter discusses ways in which the database narrative techniques of virtual media can be used to explore the relationship between real-world oral storytelling and embodied performance in the cultural transmission of memory. It is based on an on... Read More about Database narrative, spatial montage, and the cultural transmission of memory: An anthropological perspective.

Teaching multiplatform documentary (2013)
Presentation / Conference
Oldham, A., & Aston, J. (2013, July). Teaching multiplatform documentary. Paper presented at NAHEMI, Talking Shop, BFI

Interactive multimedia ethnography: Archiving workflow, interface aesthetics and metadata (2012)
Journal Article
Matthews, P., & Aston, J. (2012). Interactive multimedia ethnography: Archiving workflow, interface aesthetics and metadata. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 5(4), Article 14. https://doi.org/10.1145/2399180.2399182

Digital heritage archives often lack engaging user interfaces that strike a balance between providing narrative context and affording user interaction and exploration. It seems nevertheless feasible for metadata tagging and a "joined up" workflow to... Read More about Interactive multimedia ethnography: Archiving workflow, interface aesthetics and metadata.

Memories of a blue nile home: The photographic moment and multimedia linkage (2012)
Book Chapter
Aston, J., & James, W. (2012). Memories of a blue nile home: The photographic moment and multimedia linkage. In R. Vokes (Ed.), Photography in Africa: Ethnographic Perspectives (104-123). Woodbridge, Suffolk. Rochester, New York.: James Currey, Boydell and Brewer Inc

This chapter is based on an ongoing collaboration between the authors. We first explore the role of photographs within what became a long-term, though intermittent, anthropological engagement by Wendy James in the turbulent regions of the Sudan/Ethio... Read More about Memories of a blue nile home: The photographic moment and multimedia linkage.

Interactive documentary: Setting the field (2012)
Journal Article
Aston, J., & Gaudenzi, S. (2012). Interactive documentary: Setting the field. Studies in Documentary Film, 6(2), 125-139. https://doi.org/10.1386/sdf.6.2.125_1

This article articulates the authors’ combined vision behind convening i-Docs, the first international symposia to focus exclusively on the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary. In so doing, it provides a case study of practice-driven re... Read More about Interactive documentary: Setting the field.

I-docs special edition (2012)
Journal Article
Aston, J., Dovey, J., & Gaudenzi, S. (2012). I-docs special edition. Studies in Documentary Film, 6(2), 123-124. https://doi.org/10.1386/sdf.6.2.123_2

This special edition presents a collection of articles that came out of i-Docs 2011, the first international symposium exclusively devoted to the rapidly evolving field of international documentary-making. The symposium was held at the Watershed Medi... Read More about I-docs special edition.

Transliteracy and polyphonic narrative: a case study (2010)
Presentation / Conference
Aston, J. (2010, February). Transliteracy and polyphonic narrative: a case study. Paper presented at Transliteracy Conference, Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, Leicester, UK

This paper will look at the role of transliteracy in the creation of a series of texts relating to a long-term ethnographic study of displacement in the Sudan/Ethiopian borderlands. It will draw on a rich audiovisual archive recorded by the anthropol... Read More about Transliteracy and polyphonic narrative: a case study.

Spatial montage and the enchantment of everyday life: towards the development of fluid interfaces for interactive documentary (2010)
Presentation / Conference
Aston, J. (2010, January). Spatial montage and the enchantment of everyday life: towards the development of fluid interfaces for interactive documentary. Paper presented at Documentary Now! 2010, Birkbeck College, London

Building on Lev Manovich’s ideas about spatial montage and interactive cinema, this paper will provide examples of the author’s approach to interactive documentary based on an ongoing collaboration between the author and the anthropologist, Wendy Jam... Read More about Spatial montage and the enchantment of everyday life: towards the development of fluid interfaces for interactive documentary.

Spatial montage and multimedia ethnography: Using computers to visualise aspects of migration and social division among a displaced community (2010)
Journal Article
Aston, J. (2010). Spatial montage and multimedia ethnography: Using computers to visualise aspects of migration and social division among a displaced community. Forum: Qualitative Social Research / Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 11(2), Art. 36

Peer reviewed journal article based on contribution to international conference on Visualising Migration ad Divided Societies, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, June 2008.

Direct cinema and a making of the ‘real’: polyphonic narrative, spatial montage and cinema-sincerity (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Aston, J. (2009, November). Direct cinema and a making of the ‘real’: polyphonic narrative, spatial montage and cinema-sincerity. Paper presented at International Jean Rouch Symposum, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris

Building on Rouch’s thoughts on cinema-sincerity, this paper will interrogate new possibilities for the creation of polyphonic narratives brought about by the multiple windows environment of 21st century computing. Drawing on material recorded in the... Read More about Direct cinema and a making of the ‘real’: polyphonic narrative, spatial montage and cinema-sincerity.

Still pictures, moving contexts (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Aston, J., & James, W. (2009, November). Still pictures, moving contexts. Paper presented at The Image Relation: Towards an Anthropology of Photography, Wolfson College, Oxford, UK

This presentation will highlight ways of presenting still photographs, both black and white and colour, as well as colour slides, using multimedia methods which add fresh resonance to archival materials. Examples will be drawn from James’s ethnogra... Read More about Still pictures, moving contexts.

Database narrative, spatial montage and the cultural transmission of memory: A case study from the Sudan/Ethiopian borderlands (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Aston, J. (2009, August). Database narrative, spatial montage and the cultural transmission of memory: A case study from the Sudan/Ethiopian borderlands. Paper presented at ISEA2009, The 15th International Symposium on Electronic Art, University of Ulster, Belfast

A peer reviewed paper presented within the Interactive Storytelling theme of an international conference on Engaged Creativity and Mobile Environments.

Voices from the blue nile: Using digital media to create a multilayered associative narrative (2008)
Journal Article
Aston, J. (2008). Voices from the blue nile: Using digital media to create a multilayered associative narrative. Journal of Media Practice, 9(1), 43-51. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.9.1.43_1

This article outlines work in progress in relation to a collaborative project between me as a multimedia designer and Oxford anthropologist, Professor Wendy James. The aim of the collaboration is to explore new possibilities for using digital media t... Read More about Voices from the blue nile: Using digital media to create a multilayered associative narrative.

Theatre within a theatre
Digital Artefact
Aston, J. Theatre within a theatre

Evoking the magic of Britain’s oldest working theatre – a scale model of the Bristol Old Vic, complete with peepholes and projections. The piece plays on a one-hour loop, revealing the set-up, take-down and performance of four shows from the theatre’... Read More about Theatre within a theatre.

www.voicesfromthebluenile.org
Digital Artefact
Aston, J., & James, W. (2007). www.voicesfromthebluenile.org

Welcome to our portrait, in imagery and sound, of a refugee community. This presentation accompanies Wendy James’ study of how Sudan’s civil wars have affected just one among many minority groups who have lived through loss and displacement. You are... Read More about www.voicesfromthebluenile.org.