ABSTRACT
Under the new media regime of the twenty-first century, which is governed by the extra-cinematic documentary seems to have preserved if not increased its popularity, redefining itself as a type of connector or creative hub among vast fields of media activity. The growing number of monographs, edited volumes, conferences, and journal issues dedicated exclusively to the field, and work undertaken in documentary-specific new media research labs as well as graduate academic and production programs, are testament to its coming-of-age. The anthology aims to provide paths to follow while readers delve into this open field of possibility, and induce curiosity about contemporary documentary in its various incarnations, changing forms, and latent capacities. Documentary media studies has reached a certain level of maturity since its inception in the 1960s and disciplinary growth in the 1990s, allowing scholars and historians to respond to the accelerated transformations in the form at a faster, more propitious rate.
