engagingly different

Steve Thompson

Institute of Digital Innovation

Teesside University

Engagingly Different

An alternative perspective on inclusion

Teesside – A Place of Former Industries

The ERDF Resider Project in 2000 – Tees Valley Communities Online

To engage 7 former steel communities

Digital technologies afford new and different approaches to old problems such as anti-social behavior, post-industrial decline and regeneration.

To achieve digital inclusion we have to:

• consider digital relevance.• promote digital enthusiasm.

Democracy works best when communities engage their elected representatives, not just the other way round.

(Middlebrough 2002)

In the early days I thought e-democracy was about e-debates and e-voting

Engagement is a two way street

1.Engage communities2.Engage decision makers and authority figures

I hope the following slides and stories will show different (and hopefully innovative) ways to achieve this two-way engagement process.

A Digital Village is a space where a community expresses their identity though ICT and Digital Media. This may be from an artistic, heritage, or economic perspective or a mixture of all three. This can be done through poetry, digital stories, community newspapers online, image collections (old and new), audio (Internet radio, oral history), animations, video, and text.

(Steve Thompson – Institute of Digital Innovation, Teesside University)

The misappropriation of tools e.g. the head-cam

The misappropriation of tools e.g. the head-cam

The humble webcam as a Community Media tool

Sometimes withSurprising results

Way back in 2001 – The first ever online pub quiz

The Trimdon Team

Coming right up to date

Charltons – A Digital Evening

Charltons – A Digital Evening

Charltons – A Digital Evening

Charltons – A Digital Evening - Tom Belenkinsop MP

His predecessor – the late Dr Ashok Kumar MP

A derelict Jetty over 100 years old

A derelict Jetty over 100 years old

The community wanted to vision the future so we refurbished it in Second Life

And asked Ashok Kumar MP to launch it

Dr Ashok Kumar MP

Children attended the matinee screening of the film we made of the Jetty re-launch

And the Mayor of Redcar & Cleveland presided over the evening screening

Australia

London

Tuscanny

Sunderland

Open University Brighton

Italy

The Mayor invites us to Council Chambers

Australia

London

Tuscanny

Sunderland

Open University Brighton

Italy

60 Elected Members attend

Australia

London

Tuscanny

Sunderland

Open University Brighton

Italy

And we are able to present our vision for the future

Australia

London

Tuscanny

Sunderland

Open University Brighton

Italy

And make our pitch for their support

Australia

London

Tuscanny

Sunderland

Open University Brighton

Italy

The Mayor Visits the real Jetty

The Mayor Visits The SL Jetty

II wI wan

“I Want to be in a movie too”

Cleveland Police wished to make stronger ties with their communities

Another Film was suggested

We worked with a variety of agencies

To produce “The Force is With You”

What Next ? – Looks like Cleveland Police left a time machine lying about !

Involved The School, The Community, The Police, The Mining Museum, The History Society

A new production

Involved are: The School, The Community, The Police, The Mining Museum, The History Society

Re-enactment of a scene from the past

Whitecliffe Primary School, Cleveland Police,East Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum

Featuring Inspector Bell as you’ve never seen him before

The event has helped Loftus Town Council to develop and strengthen links with community groups in the area, which can only bode well for inclusive partnership working in the future.  

A Load Of Wastepipe from B&Q

Loftus Town Hall Delivery

This is NOT in the Clarke to the Town Council’s job description

Explaining - The Theory

Test Builds in Loftus

East Cleveland Ironstone Mine

Now A Museum

Goes Back Into Production

Production

The “Elected Volunteers” of Loftus Town Council

Top Secret

This is what they did

They built an “Octorama”

The top “brass” came

As well as schools, the public, politicians, local dignitries

www.tvcm.co.uk/ironage/

This is what it looked like: On a Schools Visit

And these were some of the effects…………………….

Thank You

s.d.thompson@tees.ac.uk