Towards a multimedia approach in geographical research and education. Reflections from the web-research “Al centro di Tunisi – Au centre de Tunis”

Web-based documentaries (web-docs) and interactive documentaries (i-docs) represent an innovative form of multimedia research and communication, consisting of a combination of multiple media such as videos, images, audios and texts within a unique, open and freely accessible web-platform. They are based on interactivity, trans-mediality and non-linearity; they do not impose a specific author’s perspective on the observed reality but allow visitors to explore the different media, voices and sources collected within the documentary and interact with them, developing their personal interpretation and points of view. Therefore, i-docs may become a resource for geographical education and research. Within the educational field, multimedia actually facilitates the individualization and personalization of training, stimulates discovery, interaction and problem solving, and favours an active approach to learning. As regards the research, multimedia may integrate the conventional tools during the fieldwork and offer new resources for the description and narration of the space, as well as a more effective circulation of the results. Starting from these broader reflections, the paper focuses on the particular case of the web-research “Al centro di Tunisi – Au centre de Tunis”, a multimedia experimental project upon the practice of the public space in Tunis two years after the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. Through the description of the project from the theoretical and methodological point of view, the paper ends by suggesting some possible applications of the webresearch in geographical education and didactics.