The D-Word

The D-Word is a worldwide online community for professionals in the documentary film industry. Discussions include creative, business, technical, and social topics related to documentary filmmaking.

The name "D-Word" is ironically defined as "industry euphemism for documentary", as in: "We love your film but we don't know how to sell it. It's a d-word." [http://www.d-word.com The D-Word] official website]

History

The D-Word is the longest-running online platform in the documentary industry. It was founded in 1999 in New York by filmmaker Doug Block as a result of his feature documentary, "Home Page", and encouraged by protagonists of this film, Justin Hall and Howard Rheingold. [cite web
author = Hudson, David
title = A Search for Ourselves and the Future
publisher = Spiegel Online 32/1998
url = http://www.spiegel.de/international
date = 1998
accessdate = 1998-08-04]

Block continues to be a co-host of The D-Word, together with documentary makers Ben Kempas in Munich (from 2001) and John Burgan in Denmark (from 2005).

Members of The D-Word engaged in two collaborative projects, comprising of short films themed around "Essays on Docs", a reflection on filmmaking, as well as "War and Peace", the community's reaction to the September 11, 2001 attacks. A novelty at the time, these films were streamed online and presented at industry events like the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam.

As of August 2007, according to the website's database, The D-Word has more than 2000 members in 80 countries.

Characteristics

For her dissertation on the success of an online community, Lara Celini chose The D-Word as the case study: "The D-Word Community provides an interesting example of an online community that harnesses the power of the technology to help meet the demands of today’s fast-paced, international media environment, connecting documentary professionals on a level that was never previously possible without huge expenses and co-ordination."cite paper
author = Celini, Lara
title = What makes an online community successful? A Case Study of The D-Word Community
publisher = University of Stirling
date = 2005
version = Dissertation
accessdate = 2005-08-04
location = Stirling]

Celini found the facilitation of moderated ongoing conversations to be a key factor for the success of The D-Word, making it unique in comparison to simple bulletin boards or email lists.

Membership

Members of The D-Word are professionals in various fields of the documentary film industry. Some are very experienced filmmakers, including nominees for the Academy Awards, such as James Longley for "Iraq in Fragments". [ [http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearch?action=searchLink&displayType=3&BSFilmID=38864 Academy Awards database] James Longley]

Membership in The D-Word is free but not automatic. Applicants submit a request to the hosts who will consider each application based on the applicant's track record, references, and location.

The D-Word has been criticized for this restrictive approach and for the use of an outdated conferencing platform. The hosts reacted to this by adding public discussions and building their own internet forum software tailored to the needs of the membership.

Public discussions

In addition to the private community, The D-Word hosts week-long public discussions, moderated by the hosts, featuring guest experts from the documentary world. Past guests include Anand Patwardhan, Albert Maysles, Sandi Simcha DuBowski, Ross McElwee. These discussions remain archived on the public part of the site. [http://newcafe.org/partners/guest/motet.cgi?enter+The_D-Word The D-Word Forum] public discussions]

In 2007, The D-Word presented a series of discussions themed around "Reaching a Wider Audience", including an examination of self-distribution with Lance Weiler, a conference on the use of social networks like MySpace by filmmakers, a panel on new online distribution platforms for documentaries, and reactions by broadcasters to the broadband developments.

The terms The D-Word Forum (public) and The D-Word Community (members-only) have been used to separate public and private areas. This has generally been perceived as too confusing and will be given up as part of the relaunch.

Partnerships

The D-Word works closely with documentary organisations like the European Documentary Network. In the past, public discussions were supported by the Independent Feature Project in New York.

Members organised International Face 2 Face meetings at industry events such as the Sheffield International Documentary Festival or Silverdocs.

Footnotes

Other sources

* [http://www.indiewire.com/cgi-bin/content_site_search-old.cgi?section=all&keyword=d-word indiewire.com] various articles referring to discussions at The D-Word
* [http://edn.dk/art.lasso?nn=7 DOX magazine] various articles based on discussions at The D-Word
* [http://edn.dk European Documentary Network]
* [http://docsinprogress.blogspot.com/search?q=d.word Docs in Progress] blog references to discussions at The D-Word