Convergence media and the digital vernacular - towards the auto-documentary: 24-hours.in revisited

Over the past year the authors have been developing an interactive documentary project entitled 24-hours.in (www.24-hours.in), exploring new opportunities for participation, collaboration and the potential democratization of documentary production. Utilizing user-generated video captured on mobile phones and available devices, the project is participatory whereby the audience contribute documentary videos, around the theme of 24 hours in a city or location; for example 24hours.in Tampere.With reference to Dziga Vertov’s seminal 1929 documentary film ‘Man with a Movie Camera’, the aim is for the videos to document the cities, the people that live there and their daily lives. Moving beyond the user-generated content model, the project will build up a database of location specific documentary material and aim to create a new system for collaborative documentary production and user-curated content. The project was demonstrated at MINDTREK 2011 and is revisited this year to discuss how the project has progressed and discuss the research themes of convergence media, participation culture and the auto-documentary.