The Geo-Doc
Dr. Mark Terry authored the critically-acclaimed book called The Geo-Doc: Geomedia, Documentary Film, and Social Change, published by Palgrave Macmillan in February 2020. The book focuses on how GIS maps can be used to create a new form of documentary film in the form of a multilinear, database delivery system used to inform and educate.
On their page entitled ’52 Best Documentary Film eBooks of All Time’, the Book Authority writes: “This book introduces a new form of documentary film: the Geo-Doc, designed to maximize the influential power of the documentary film as an agent of social change. By combining the proven methods and approaches as evidenced through historical, theoretical, digital, and ecocritical investigations with the unique affordances of Geographic Information System technology, a dynamic new documentary form emerges, one tested in the field with the United Nations. This book begins with an overview of the history of the documentary film with attention given to how it evolved as an instrument of social change.
It examines theories surrounding mobilizing the documentary film as a communication tool between filmmakers and policymakers. Ecocinema and its semiotic storytelling techniques are also explored for their unique approaches in audience engagement. The proven methods identified throughout the book are combined with the spatial and temporal affordances provided by GIS technology to create the Geo-Doc, a new tool for the activist documentarian.“
Dr. Terry created The Youth Climate Report, a temporal, locative, multilinear, interactive, evolving database which is a new form of a documentary film. Students from around the world are invited to submit 3-minute videos that examine climate change and other environmental issues. Dr. Terry’s book, The Geo-Doc, explains how this data delivery system was adopted by the UNEP to inform policymakers of issues through the GIS map platform which houses videos, reports, photographs, metadata, location, and more.
If you are a student between the ages of 19 and 30 and wish to submit a 3-minute video to be added to The Youth Climate Report GIS map visit https://futurecinemaproject.com/the-world-in-film/. Each year students two aspects of Climate change and the environment are available from which students may base their film. Once submitted, videos are juried by map creator Dr. Mark Terry and members of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change before being pinned to the evolving documentary project that has become The Geo-Doc.