Last Saturday we spent the afternoon with HIRO on the Havelock estate interviewing locals about their experiences of living there – the things they were positive about and the problems they face. The aim of the interviews is to produce a DVD of 'Havelock Voices' that presents a range of different people's stories and experiences. This can then be the touchstone for locals to record their own stories using the media resources (digital video camera, digital editing software etc) that are available at HIRO (including an iMac and WiFi Meshbox loaned by Proboscis). One avenue we're exploring for Havelock in particular is place-based audio streaming from Urban Tapestries that can be broadcast locally using AM or low-power FM. We think this way we might begin to address the key question of how people who are not part of the digital revolution can still be part of the knowledge mapping and sharing it envisages. Not everybody has a computer or internet access, but almost everyone has a radio.
Based on the interviews and the past year of discussions with residents we've also created two StoryCubes which aim to put the issues into the palm of people's hands and stimulate further discussion of their own experiences. We are planning a workshop this summer to encourage residents to make their own cubes with images of the good things about Havelock and the problems they face. By building up a set of StoryCubes made by different people, we hope we can start to connect many more of the stories and challenges experienced by residents, which can then become a trigger for mapping them using Urban Tapestries.
