Divergente: A Review

Reviewed by: Cecilia Knaub

Review started: February 17, 2024

Review last updated: February 20, 2024

Site Link: https://divergente.pt/en/

Archive Link: https://archive.ph/77F8e

Data Sources

• National archives
• National and local statistics from Portugal and other EU member states
• Documentary videos
• Audio recordings
• Illustrations

Partners and Funding Sources

• Civitates
• Journalism Fund (Grant)
• Free Press Unlimited (Grant)
• FUNDAÇÃO CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN (Grant)
• Monte - Central Alentejo Development
• ISCTE-IUL
• Centre For Social Studies Coimbra University

Processes

The exact processes depend on the project. The project stakeholders do not provide any additional details about the methodology.

Presentation

Divergente presents a series of individual projects on the home page. Each project deploys unique components and multimedia content. Some examples include data visualization, interactive maps, audio recordings, documentary videos, and photography.

Digital Tools Used

The website is built with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Project specific tools vary.

Languages

• English
• Portugese

Review

Divergente is a digital magazine containing narrative journalism, data visualizations, documentary videos, and other multimedia projects about social and political topics in Portugal and the larger European continent. Operating as a non-profit, it was founded in Portugal in 2014 by a group of journalists with the belief that storytelling can scrutinize power structures and inspire active citizenry when centered on underrepresented subjects.

The project receives funding from a number of public interest projects, grants, non-governmental organizations, universities, and individual contributors. The magazine houses several collaborative, independently funded research projects that each merit in-depth analysis. What becomes evident upon a high level reading is that the overall project executes on the goals enumerated in its editorial statement through its coverage of underrepresented voices and its commitment to accurate, slow storytelling facilitated by multimedia assets and engaging front end design.

In particular, the multimedia reporting project For You Portugal, I Swear! exemplifies the commitment to untold stories and innovative, independent journalism. The piece provides a voice to the Guinean Commandos who fought alongside Portugal in the Portuguese Colonial War. Divided into four chapters, the project is a result of an investigation that ran from 2016 to 2021. It opens with a short video introduction of military footage to introduce the topic and subjects. Black and white footage depicting black African soldiers who were recruited by the Portuguese to fight in the civil war is accompanied by Portuguese language narration (English or Portuguese captions roll along with the footage). As the video concludes and fades, the webpage invites the reader to scroll through additional background information about the conflict. The text, infographics, and images overlay red and green backgrounds, representing two of the colors in Guinea’s flag. Ominous sounds of cannons firing play from the browser as users scroll. New elements appear dynamically as the user scrolls, culminating in links to four chapters: Blood and Sugar, Fighting Cocks, Cannon Fodder, and What Now, Portugal? In the subsequent pages, content loads dynamically on the page, creating an immersive experience. Each chapter intertwines history, biography, and personal testimony from former Portuguese Guinea soldiers in the form of text and embedded video interviews. In addition to the narrative, tabs in the top right hand corner provide additional content. While a Mural page remains under construction, the Figures tab displays a number of bar graphs with relevant statistics about the soldiers from Angola, Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea in the armed conflict. These statistics compliment the personal stories to create a full picture of the conflict’s toll. While innovative and immersive, the project can be overwhelming; the page is filled with image, infographics, text, and audiovisual components, often layered over one another. Once reading the piece, it becomes difficult to navigate to a previous chapter, or to skip ahead, or return to the menu. Overall, For You Portugal, I Swear! successfully presents untold stories of persecution in a compelling format.

How does this project address information?
For You Portugal, I Swear!, one of many projects gathered on Divergente, utelizes information in a number of formats: documentary video footage, photographs, infographics, narrative text, and data visualizations.

How well does this project handle information?
The project combines them with mixed results; the chapters can be overstimulating, as video clips, images, and text populate on a single page, often fighting for the user’s attention. It’s successful when one medium is emphasized, as with the dynamic data visualizations under the figures tab.