Here are a few hand-picked documentaries to get your neurones flickering and contributing to The Internet Edition of Exetera. Deadline 28th October.
BBC Horizon, The Dark Web
If you can bear watching the same piece of footage over and over again but from varying angles, this is the doc for you. Educate yourself on TOR, anonymity and web-activism (and prepare to develop deep feelings for Edward Snowden).
Side effects may include: Making and wearing a tin hat, whispering when near your laptop, buying shares in Silkroad.
We Live in Public
In 1999 Josh Harris put lots of (willing) arty people in basement with hundreds of cameras linking not them only to Harris, but to one another. Think Big Brother but darker, more illegal, and with liberally applied eyeliner. What is both terrifying and fascinating is that Harris conceptualised this psychological experiment back in the 80’s – essentially predicting a mass scale loss of personal identity attained through the process of trying to establish one … what.
Side effects may include: A nudge to indulge further in 90’s paraphernalia, creation of a dystopian society where you rule over all, filming yourself wee.
The Internet’s Own Boy
The biography of Reddit creator and ‘hacktivist’ Aaron Swartz. Told by those closest to him, this is a more serious (although very American) watch and perhaps not one to undergo alone … or at least without the Kleenex.
Side effects may include: Weeping, ethically abstaining from using JSTOR, wondering why you weren’t a child genius.
Catfish
No, not the MTV series. This is Nev before he started quaffing his hair and making unfortunate people look even more unfortunate. Critiqued for its questionable authenticity, one might emerge feeling that they too have been Catfished. Such meta-commentary on the viewer.
Side effects may include: The resurfacing of old trust issues, siding with the Catfish, insisting your best friend film you via hand held camera at all times, becoming a Catfish.
This YouTube Video