ABSTRACT
Google’s “Beyond the Map” and Sports Illustrated’s “Capturing Everest” interactive web documentaries exhibit how new technologies for longform storytelling have become immersive precisely insofar as they augment and enhance place-based journalism. These 360/VR web documentaries, along with Hunger in L.A., showcase the leading edge of interactive video, drawing from conventions and affordances common to open-world video games. These works demonstrate corporate synergies converging into promotional media. Google’s product is co-extensive with the company’s efforts to bridge the digital divide and Sports Illustrated leverages cross-platform immersive storytelling to promote its brand as an innovator of digital journalism.
