playing on the edge: facilitating the emergence of a local digital grassroots
DESCRIPTION
This paper by Axel Bruns and Sal Humphreys for the Association of Internet Researchers conference in Vancouver, 17-20 Oct. 2007,describes the first phase of the Emergent Digital Grassroots eXpo (edgeX) project – a research and application project centred on mapping grassroots and amateur content creation, community engagement with new media, and strengthening local identity. Developed in conjunction with the City Council of Ipswich, a city of some 150,000 residents in regional Queensland, the edgeX project provides a site for local residents to upload creative content, to participate in competitions, to comment on each other’s work, and to develop new skills. Research goals associated with edgeX arise from a broader project of mapping the creative industries and their role in the knowledge economy, and a growing understanding of the significant part user-led content creation plays in these processes, especially including the role of amateur creatives.TRANSCRIPT
Playing on the Edge:Facilitating the Emergence of Local Digital Grassroots
Dr Axel Bruns
Dr Sal Humphreys
Creative Industries Faculty
Creative Industries mapping
The “missing middle” in content creation policy - the role of independent SME commercial production sector. Leadbeater and Oakley (1999)
The “missing grassroots” – the need to map the contributions of DIY amateur content creation to the knowledge economy
Importance of local content
Local culture in a globalised medium
Communities of interest and local geographic communities
The AUS-US Free Trade Agreement
Who makes local content in new media environments?
Commercial
Amateur
Pathways between the two?
The edgeX project
Project partners
Queensland University of Technology
University of Queensland
Ipswich City Council
Australian Research Council
Research strategies and goals
Mapping current local amateur content creation
Developing website
Community engagement – training sessions – enabling participation
Tracking the uploading and use of content
Monitoring the use of CC licences
Research strategies and goals
Observing community management strategies
Can integrating this kind of new media technology into people’s communication ecologies strengthen their sense of local identity?
Website design
Mapping interface – reinforcing the sense of local geography and community
Upload video, photos, podcasts, text, etc
Exhibition/competition space
Commenting and tagging
Website design
Creative Commons licensing available (plus training in CC use)
Individual, group and public spaces
Community engagement
Working with ICC and with a variety of local community groups
Focus on existing communities of interest within the geographical area
Run training sessions, provide support, follow-up work
Achieve a critical mass for sustainability
Ethnographic Action Research
Taken from the Ethnographic Action Research handbook by Jo Tacchi, Don Slater and Greg Hearn, UNESCO 2003
Ethnographic Action Research
Maintain a reflective engagement with community members and adapt project to meet their needs
Attending group meetings, P/O, interviews and focus groups, consultation, mapping ecologies
