BESPOKE: Insight Journalism as a catalyst for community innovation and engagement
Innovative design and journalism project BESPOKE will showcase a new method for community-led innovation as part of the London Design Festival this September.
Housed at the V&A Museum between September 17th and 23rd, BESPOKE - a multi-partner collaboration between a community in Preston and journalism, social science and design researchers – will explore how a new method of 'Insight Journalism' can be used for social innovation and engagement.
We will demonstrate, through a collection of bespoke digital responses and an interactive presentation, how grass-roots communities can express themselves and ensure that their voices are incorporated into innovative designs that further communication, democracy and information access.
The collection includes the Digital Buskers, which are digitally enabled statues that celebrate and promote local hip-hop music producers Dub P and Shaks, Viewpoint, a digital product that collects community points of view in response to questions posed by their councillors; and Wayfinder, a digital signpost that displays community events and turns to point where the events are happening, the Talking Memory Box, a crafted device that allows people to record stories and associate them with physical artefacts
Justin Marshall, Associate Professor of Digital Craft at University College Falmouth, said: “For me this project has opened up an exciting new space. A space where the digital capabilities for creating individualised products and services have been re-orientated away from the burgeoning market for unique personalised goods, towards crafting responses to wider, and I would argue, more important community focused issues.”
Jon Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Product Design at the University of Dundee, said: "All of these design prototypes act as demonstrators for how a future could look if we engaged with our communities better. It is the first test and the first showcase of how Insight Journalism, a radically new method of community engagement, has been researched, implemented and tested. While we present a method that has led to a collection of community design responses, we think this has potential for any responsive way of working with people.”
On Tuesday 20th September between 16.15 and 17.30, project members will also present their work at the Hockhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre at the V&A. A range of perspectives will be represented, from a reflective overview of the project by two of the team members, through to the personal experiences of an ‘insight journalist’.
This a free event, but if you wish to book a ticket and guarantee a place, go to
http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/1348/
The BESPOKE project has been funded by the RCUK as part of the Digital Economy Programme and is a collaborative project between five UK research institutions with Paul Egglestone (University of Central Lancaster), David Frohlich (The Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey),
Justin Marshall (Autonomatic, University College Falmouth), Patrick Olivier (Culture Lab, Newcastle University) and Jon Rogers (University of Dundee).
