Gutiérrez Almazor, Miren2025-11-052025-11-052020-10-01Gutiérrez Almazor, M. (2020). Data and documentaries: methodological hybridizations in activism. Catalan journal of communication & cultural studies, 12(2), 315-332. https://doi.org/10.1386/CJCS_00035_11757-189810.1386/CJCS_00035_1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/4283Hybridization permeates all fields of communication: documentaries are no exception. One example is The Left-to-Die Boat by Forensic Architecture (FA), an audio-visual account of how 63 refugees lost their lives in 2011 when their ship was adrift in the waters of Libya. The Left-to-Die Boat combines documentary techniques with data analysis and visualizations to expose a tragedy, change migration policies and sustain court cases. Based on critical data and documentary studies, this article inspects the methodological hybridization proposed by FA in six documentaries. The questions are: how does FA hybridize? What are the outcomes of this hybridization? What is hybridization today? The analysis links these documentaries’ characteristics with functions and outcomes, offering a taxonomy that can be employed beyond this study. The findings indicate that activism is taking multidimensional forms, blurring the boundaries separating documentaries, data science and art in search of impact.eng© 2020 Intellect LtdActivismBig dataDocumentaryHuman rightsHybridizationMethodologiesjournal article2025-11-05