Fragment of the text published in www.inter-doc.org
“Interdocs: Observer of  interactive documentary “. September 2013.

 WebDOCC: webdocumentaries and commons. Traveling to other technological, artistic and even political opportunities for the documentary.

We opened this virtual space www.webdoc.cat to cross-discipline documentary with other technical and creative possibilities.  WebDOCC “webdocumentary and commons” was created in Barcelona to mix “web and documentary, television and narrative, knowledge and free culture”.

The initial idea of webDOCC was to be the starting point to learn and share our experiences with new narratives and Creative Commons. Influenced by the pionner webdocumentary projects of France and Canada, and also by the work done in community TVs in Latin America, Europe and Catalonia we started webDOCC without knowing where we were going, willing to enjoy the journey and cyberspace we could work within,

webDOCC was also a way to contextualize our projects. Basically, it was impossible to present the Groove BCN project –a social network and collaborative documentary about the funk and soul scene in Barcelona- if nobody around us knew what webdocumentary  was. Or it was impossible to explain our CCurly idea – a storytelling tool to remix web-audiovisual content- if just a minority already knew about Popcorn Maker (an editor to remix online content) or have read the indispensable texts of Maria Yáñez.

Creators Meeting

As part of our self produced path of learning and experimentation process, we organized in May 2013, the First Webdoc Creators Meeting in Barcelona. This meeting,  like our virtual space webDOCC, was born from the same necessity of  gathering with people interested in new audiovisual narratives.

The meeting was a success (in all levels and for everyone who participated). A part from our insistence in holding this event, basically it was the virtual word of mouth about the event which led to a gathering of more than 60 creators (journalist, professors, photojournalist, artists…) listening to the presentation of  many  embryonic projects (in our website you can check some of the video-presentations). We can say it was a really exciting moment for all of us, although we felt the cruelty of our cultural and economic environment.

We organized all this with only the backing of the journalist Lali Sandiumenge, who lent us her space Pas 9 Nou, Nani Miras -a survival audiovisual artist and cook- who prepared delicious catering that we payed for from a common cash pot, and a well known beer label that sponsored webDOCC with 75 beers.

From there we had the idea to keep meeting and organizing more events, inviting more people from other disciplines to discuss together. Copying the cross of disciplines that create projects like Prison Valley or Highrise, we wanted to mix ourselves with other disciplines, with horizontal (peer to peer) transformative events.

Blowing out our first candle

WebDOCC celebrates its first year (it is difficult to figure out precise times in this kind of process). From our side, we keep searching for sponsors and financial support for Groove BCN, a webdoc that, like our soul and funk musicians, tries to survive in the city.  The CCurly tool waits to be developed and in front of us we see more  labs such as hackatons or popathon mushroom in Europe. If the webdocumentary, like Eva Dominguez says, has awaked in Barcelona don’t hesitated to come and surf the waves with us…!