Where Truth Lies: Digital Culture and Documentary Media after 9/11

Abstract

Illustrations 2.1. A soldier scans the horizon in The Fog of War 24 2.2. "Overeager" sonar men 28 2.3. The domino theory in action 28 2.4. The observed and the observer in The Fog of War 29 2.5. The "number cruncher" becomes the bomber 31 2.6. Graphic superimpositions of the percentage of devastation caused by the firebombing of Tokyo in World War II 33 2.7. The database of images rendered in different aesthetic configurations 46 3.1. Robert Greenwald's "Un" Trilogy 53 3.2. MoveOn's remake of the "Daisy" ad 60 3.3. The MoveOn home page circa January 2004 61 3.4. The FoxAttacks home page circa October 2007 71 3.5. Elinor from Host an Event! 75 4.1. The Gone Gitmo space in Second Life 90 4.2. America's Army everywhere: public version and the arcade game 103 4.3. The "Medic Training" section in America's Army, version 2.5 106 5.1. The initial recovery.gov home page 131 5.2. Recovery.gov circa 2011 132 5.3. Data visualization in The River and on recovery.gov 135 5.4. Edward Tufte's "Lights-On Map" 137 5.5. Interactive IED visualization tool on The Guardian's website 152 xi Acknowled gmentsLike many books, this one may have a single author's name on the cover but owes its existence to many others. While the final form of the book took shape over the last two years, the questions that it seeks to address have been with me in one form or another across many years, countless conversations, and four institutions.My thinking on documentary aesthetics and the capacity of moving-image media and digital technology to explore the world has been indelibly shaped by many of the wonderful teachers and mentors with whom I have been fortunate enough to work over the years, including