BU Research Blog

An Amnesty International project, which received support from BU’s Dr Anna Feigenbaum, has won the 2021 People’s Voice award at The Webby Awards.

Tear Gas: An Investigation – an interactive explainer on what tear gas is, how it is abused and why you should care – won at the annual awards ceremony.

Dr Feigenbaum is an expert in the use of tear gas in policing and human rights, writing a book on the subject and contributed to the content of the Amnesty interactive.  Dr Feigenbaum consulted at the early stages of the project on digital storytelling strategy, visual graphics for representing protest policing, and how to weave in evidence and history, using her knowledge of the subject and media expertise.

As a featured expert, Dr Feigenbaum was also interviewed for the platform, with the interactive storytelling device informed by Dr Feigenbaum’s on-going consultancy with Amnesty as well as by her book Tear Gas.

Dr Feigenbaum is an Associate Professor in Bournemouth University’s Faculty of Media and Communication, with her expertise also extending to interactive media and storytelling, which also helped to inform the project.  Dr Feigenbaum’s previous RiotID.com ‘civic forensics’ project with Minute Works and Omega Research Foundation was instrumental in helping the team understand the use of infographics and interactive playable media to teach people about the harms and public health concerns surrounding tear gas and related police weapons.

On the subject of the Award win, Dr Feigenbaum said, “This platform was an incredible feat in the making that I got to play a part in. I am so proud of the Amnesty team, of the fight to protect protest as a fundamental right, and of the power that beautiful data storytelling can offer campaigns for social justice.”