There are two separate but twinned approaches to building interactive media with humanitarian aims. One stems from the belief that verisimilitude breeds empathy: walk a mile in her (literal) shoes without being told what to believe, and you’re more likely to form a personal connection. Here, the idea is that the thinner the membrane between viewer and viewed—the less mediated the experience feels—the more emotionally resonant it will be. Of course, the less mediated the story feels, the more technology is actually required to mediate it; creating the illusion of total transparency requires a lot of work.