In this project Bites and Bytes United works together with the Amsterdam Museum, Waag Society, University of Amsterdam, the Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision and the NCDD.

The prestigious ‘Digital Preservation Awards’, awarded by the Digital Preservation Coalition, is a world-wide celebration of the achievements of those people and organisations who have made significant and innovative contributions to ensuring our generation’s digital legacy will be available tomorrow.

Read more about:

• our nomination
• our project

Go to:

• my portfolio and read more about the project

There are so many descriptions and such a varied examples we’ve found: webdocs, i-docs, new media documentaries, docu-games, cross-platform documentaries, interactive documentaries and more. Where to start?

What really helped and inspired us to take-off and create our concept was in selecting the type of interactivity and narrative perspective. We considered the following after research:

Types of interactivity:

• ‘Hitchhiking’ (semi-closed): the viewer can follow different paths and can move through the content, but can not add.
• ‘Participative’ (semi-open): the viewer can make a contribution (user-generated content) but has no effect on the structure.
• ‘Experiential’ (fully open): The maker designs ‘experiences’ in a dynamic environment and the user and the web documentary are always in motion and change in relation to each other.

Types of narrative perspective:

• Poetic: translate the material into an abstract, lyrical form.
• Argumentative: tells a story (from the perspective of the producer).
• Observational: show spontaneous situations without strong presence of the producer. The camera is a fly on the wall.
• Participating: the creator actively participates in the documentary, asks questions and shares his experiences with the viewer.
• Executive: personal stories are central, not just the facts.
• Choice: offer varying perspectives.

Sources for research and inspiration 
My eternal thanks go to great pioneers and visionaries in the field!

I will start (and dwell) with Dr. Sandra Gaudenzi. She is one of the co-directors of i-Docs.org. She wrote the incredible “The Living Documentary: from representing reality to co-creating reality in digital interactive documentary”. Check out: the http://i-docs.org/ (and the great resources) and the Interactive Documentary Archive.

Other great sources of inspiration:

• Docubase.mit.edu: An interactive curated database of the people, projects, and technologies transforming documentary in the digital age.
• Doctoronto.ca: docSHIFT Index, an archive library of sortable, searchable interactive and digital documentaries.
• NFB.ca, the Interactive section: the National Film Board of Canada’s award-winning online Screening Room, featuring over 3,000 productions
• IDFA DocLab: a festival program for new media within the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam(IDFA). The mission of IDFA DocLab is to showcase interactive documentaries and other new digital artforms that succesfully push the boundaries of documentary storytelling in the age of the interface.
• A great inspiration was: The Spirit of ’45. The Spirit of ‘45 is a film based on a particular thesis from filmmaker Ken Loach. Read how they did it.

Read more on the outcome a co-creation between creative teams in our portfolio: 100 years Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: browse, share and upload your story/ies!

Webregisseur and webarchaeologist
In my wild years I studied contemporary history in Amsterdam and Berlin. Next I worked -with great fun and joy- in a book center and volunteered at a local radio station in Amsterdam. Worked for several (new) media companies. Started at the internet pioneer and playground De Digitale Stad, the first virtual city in the world. Then worked for ICATT, Anno, Het Parool, Creative Cities Amsterdam Area (at the Amsterdam Innovation Motor), Amsterdam Economic Board and started to freelance for Europeana, Duitslandweb and Amsterdam Museum. Now my work varies from being a ‘webregisseur’ (webmaster and project/content/community manager), trainer, (international) lecturer to a guest e-curator and webarchaeologist.

Getting a identity
I got a great gift from a colleague and kindred spirit Arnoud van den Heuvel. He offered to help me to create my logo and identity. Arnoud is an inspiring graphic designer who studied at the Sandberg Institute in the Netherlands. A designer who -ceaseless- challenges his discipline and himself. With humor, given his slogan ‘Fronti nulla fides’ (no reliance can be placed on appearance; op het uiterlijk kan men niet afgaan). He contributes to NextNature.net, a website that radically shift ones notion of nature. And he co-founded Don’t Do It Yourself (watch the movie) with designer and programmer Marcel van der Drift (watch one of his projects Andereachterhuizen.nl). DDIY is a platform enabling people to get together with other professionals, exchanging ideas, skills, drinks and helping eachother.

Next to Arnoud I got inspired by the Brand Personality Spectrum (a quiz to ‘Uncover Your Brand Personality in 10 Minutes’, ha!) and so many logo’s you see at this page.

After designsessions and walks in the woods we combined my endorsements, skills and future dreams in… Bits and Bytes United, your reboot agency.

Thanks Arnoud for a inspiring journey into indentifying my unknown knows!

The logo’s that inspired me:

• “The Urban Sound Of Amsterdam” by JoseDesign
• The Guild of Food Writers
• French Property Exhibition
• Hershel Farms Rooster Logo by Grigoriou
• Kommunicat Apartmentless. Found on: http://estudioka.es/tendencias-logos-2015/
• Vertrokken gezichten and all the logo’s of Arnoud van den Heuvel
• Prince Claus Fund
• UCP. Found on: http://bashooka.com/inspiration/210-creatively-awesome-logo-designs/

and so many more…

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Bits and Bytes United
Kamer van Koophandel nummer: 60902221
BTW nummer: NL188505635B0
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