Abstract
The broad focus of this article is the examination of the relationship between recent television documentary forms and online factual forms. This relationship is shaped by a wider acceptance of factual media as a cultural form, and is marked by negotiation and appropriation from both sides. Webcam sites are discussed as key online sites where there is an appropriation of documentary aesthetics as part of an apparent development of distinctive digital factual forms. These online factual forms are notable partly for their replication of early photographic discourse, but especially for an acknowledgment of various forms of pleasure and performance within their exploration of the interactive and participatory possibilities of hypertext narrative. This emphasis on pleasure, performance and participation is a continuation of the marked changes in audience engagement that characterise documentary hybrids such as docu-soap.
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