Over the past 15 months Proboscis has been collaborating on a Social Tapestries project with the members and ex-members of St Marks Housing Co-op. The co-op is a small group of people brought together by a common need to rent affordable housing. St Marks is a co-operative – all the members work together to locate 'shortlife' (i.e. not permanent) housing in London from Housing Associations. St Marks represents a community of need rather than a geographic community – the impermanence and transience of this kind of housing means that there is both a frequent turnover of housing and of members (as some leave for permanent or other housing).
Proboscis has been collaborating with members and ex-members to re-capture the history of the co-op over the past twenty six years of its existence, creating both a visual timeline and a 'scavenged' Social Tapestry public authoring system for the co-op to continue this process in the future. Public Authoring has been explored as a critical technique for the community to preserve and continue to build on its previous successes and experience.
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A bound version is available to buy from the Proboscis Store for £5.00 plus postage and packing.
