Presentation by arts organisation, independent company and charity Knowle West Media Centre, which uses digital media as a tool for supporting change and development both individually and collectively. Presented by Penny Evans, Assistant Director, at the Hot Topic event on Building Digital Capability in Bristol on 2 October 2014.
18. • Tech moves faster than the skills we have
• Need have a more agile approach to
developing skills
• Be aware of how Citizens are using and where
they are engaging with technology
• Public sector working with other organisations
to understand how technolgy is being used
19. Thank you
Knowle West Media Centre
Penny Evans, Assistant Director
penny@kwmc.org.uk
@pennyjevans
knowlewestmedia
www.knowlewestmedia
20. Curating Activism
Curating Activism aims to explore and develop a better understanding of the way data and
technology can be used within the arts – to enable young people to play an active role,
through creative projects, in contributing ideas that have an impact in their community.
Notes de l'éditeur
We have been a charity since 2002, but have been working here since 1995, grass roots up project by project. We have always used digital media as a tool for supporting change and development both individually and collectively.
Arts organisation, independent company and charity.
Work closely with Bristol City Council – Bristol Futures Team- Smart and Green Cities.
this straw bale building that we moved into 5 years ago.
The building of KWMC usefully demonstrate our processes the way we work.
A Bit about us –our main aims this year
Building tools, informal but responsive space to learn. Learning by doing.
Shaping the future – with people – testing out products and ideas with people.
Making visible creative wealth in communities- young people as the key asset in communities – helping to realize potential
Local Community focus, citywide reach and international impact – for example we are an effective member of Enoll,
Well net worked.
Community focus
Community engagement – whilst Bristol a wealthy and successful city, like many EU cities there are communities that face more challenges – health, education, unemployment. our focus is too build on the assets, strengths and issues that are particular and relevant to these communities.
Describe a few projects we have been working on over the last year, particularly with young people
To set the scene, as we are all aware there have been severe cuts in our Publicly funded sector youth services but we are seeing a trend towards far more businesses and other cultural orgs engaging with young people in relation to creative digital projects e.g. Festival of Code – Young Rewired State., Mozilla festival, organisations like Freeformers, Little Miss Geek, Stemettes.
So there is a move to more Co -design of projects and partnership working.
Our challenge is to engage young women, and to reach those who are socially or digitally excluded and where unemployment is a particular challenge.
Young Rewired State – national programme but we have been running for last two years.
It’s a week long hack for young people supported by industry and university mentors,
They are introduced to Open data and supported to create their own apps. They compete nationally through pitching their ideas and their coding.
Mayor talked last year about planting a tree for every primary school child in Bristol –this Inspired one group to design an app that enabled citizens to crowd source tree planting.
Ahck ended taken up by UoB
Was taken up by UOB computing science students who time and skills to improve on the code and refine the ideas as part of their college work
Brief description of app functionality
Allows you to propose a site for a tree, choose the type of tree, give a reason why it should be there (in memorium or for environmental reasons) and then recruit your friends to vote for it.
At the same time we were involved in a EU collaborative projects - with Zaragossa, and 2 other cities.
We have further developed this app for IES Cities and this animation describes this project.
Girls making History is a project co-designing wearable technology and a game to challenge and highlight the cultural normalisation of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in teen relationships and to recoginse the signs. They believe there needs to be a much greater awareness of the coercive control and the consistent and systematic signs of emotional, financial, and physical abuse that appears very early on in an abusive relationship.
During the project, the young women have identified these tech solutions that might help young women acknowledge that something was wrong- recognize the signs, and prevent from entering a potentially abusive relationship
As part of the process we organised a design fiction workshop which brought together creative technologists, inventors, designers, engineers and the young women to explore the ways in which wearable technology might respond to these issues.
Also Created facebook page,
WE distilled the best elements & themes emerging from the Design Fiction Workshop, and distilled them in to a workable concept.
By the end of the year we hope to have Created a working prototype
Developed the healthy relationship game And test itin local schools
Start an awareness campaign to show teenagers the signs.
6 month programme In depth vocational training and support 18-25 preparing for employment in creative and digital industries, coding, visualising data website, work with community, broad range of media skils – use social meida
How to teach young people to develop data and actvism within commuites
Links data
Trtrusting and usitng data
Naomi
Data Patchwork survey and data visualisation
Data toolkit.
Interactive survey collecting information about lifestyle choices
Data Toolkit a step-by-step guide to gathering and visualising information – or ‘data’ – in creative ways, and involving interns and trainees in the process.
We are hoping it will support arts organisations to venture into new and perhaps unfamiliar territories: working with data and young people.
What is the Toolkit?
The website www.datatoolkit.org.uk includes templates, case studies, ethics guidance, technical assistance, and animations based on the experiences of our first cohort of JDP’s, who worked on data projects at KWMC over six months in 2013-2014.
Finally Digital Manufacturing and prototyping public access making space. featuring hand tools, and large and small scale digital manufacturing machines such as laser cutters, CNC mills and 3D printers.
BML has come out of the Do What You Love green and digital business programme. We identified a growing need for digital manufacturing skills in the wider local area
EHPUFF is a pilot project for the BML idea - we are going to test some of our assumptions about how it might work and explore ways of involving the community in digital making.
We will be creating high quality furniture for the green Business Park and up cycling old council furniture
So What Did KWMC do in Response to Research?
We set up Curating Activism Project for 1 year funded by NESTA, AHRC and Arts Council
Worked with 17 yp aged 18- 23 f/t between 8 weeks – 6 months and a further 15 on weeks summer tech camp.
Work with young people, teach them new skills and build a data toolkit for other arts organisations.
Use data as a tool to reach new audiences and create active citizens – an ambitious and demanding brief
9 young people – 8 week programme – partners Trinity and Ujima. Well being website and event
1 week Camp Kinnect – making with arduino and raspberry pi’s.
Then 6 month programme taking all the learning from previous 2 elements and taking best to deliver a programme for 8 young people.
Paid for through CEP
Employees – learn work skills
Focus on real briefs
Built relationships with companies-
Delivery – Carbon Visuals – thanks to Adam etc. – checking that what we are teaching is relevant and what companies want – teaching how to learn independently.
Horstmann – worked to a real brief and presented to the company.
Roomful of Talent
Continue to work YP –
Further cohort of JDP’s and another 6 support juniors – social media, evaluation, green caretaking.
AGENCY – to support freelancing, support emergence of new enterprises
Develop further links with busines