Here’s some news of funding that may benefit digital storytellers in the UK. A pilot grant scheme for Connections though Culture: India - UK is now open and arts producers or representatives from an arts organisations in the UK are eligible to apply.
Connections through Culture is the British Council’s new programme for collaborative exchanges between the UK and India in the arts, aimed at generating long-term partnerships between arts organisations and producers in the UK and their counterparts in India. The funding may be for bespoke visits, development support and showcasing collaborative work.
Information about the scheme and how to apply is here in English and in Welsh.
There’s a link on the page to the new Connections through Culture website with a how-to guide to working in India. Although the web page says the closing date is Monday 11 January, the email I just received from British Council’s Louise Wright says the deadline’s extended until 8 March 2010.
Two of the people I worked with while digital storytelling with the Capture Wales team had joined the BBC via Cyfle training courses. Cyfle is now looking for eight people to take part in their Multiplatform Production Scheme for TV Creatives course in Cardiff, Wales, leading to a Post Graduate Certificate - Professional Practice in the Creative Industries. This isn’t a free course; it costs £1,000. It’s a four-month course with industry placement guaranteed. As Cyfle say in their email:
“This is an intensive, hands-on, immersion into the Multiplatform World. In the intensely competitive world of The Media, this course will give you the skills to put you at the head of the pack!”
The cost of the course will cost £1000
Closing date for applications: 24 February 2010
Interviews will be held during the week of 8 March 2010
Scheme start date: 12 April 2010
‘Same Place; Different Routes’ digital stories are being screened by Breaking Barriers at Llanhilleth Institute on Thursday 28th January 2010 at 7pm.
‘Same Place; Different Routes’ has three strands examining the experiences of:
recent migrants to Wales and people who moved here some years ago,
different generations living together in the Valleys
people with a range of mental health issues.
Also being screened on the night are stories made as part of the centenary celebrations at Christchurch Aberbeeg and from Breaking Barriers’ recent Training the Trainers courses.
Ruth Garnault of Breaking Barriers says:
“We believe that everybody has a story to tell and these stories are touching, funny and moving. Each story lasts about two minutes and gives a fascinating glimpse into other people’s lives.”
It’s an invitation-only screening and if you’re interested in attending info@breakingbarriers.org.uk by 18 January. The full address for the Institute is: Llanhilleth Institute, Meadow Street, Llanhilleth, Nr Abertillery, NP13 2JT. There are local bus services and the new train station is very close to the Institute.
These stories were made with grant support from Arts Council of Wales and from Communities First Trust Fund, as well as partnerships with Inside Out (promoting mental health) and VALREC, Valleys Regional Equalities Council.
You can watch Breaking Barriers digital stories at http://www.breakingbarriers.org.uk/
Thanks to Sarah Goodey who sent me news of this call for submissions:
“In celebration of International Women’s Day, Women’s Arts Association is hosting an evening of short films by contemporary female filmmakers. This will be held in Pontardawe Arts Centre on Saturday 6th March 7-9pm. We are planning a short Q&A session after the screening of films.
“Please let me know if you would like to submit one of your films for screening, and whether you would be able to attend the evening – Saturday 6th March.
If you’d like to talk further about this, please feel free to phone me on 02920 487850 or email me on admin@womensarts.co.uk. The final selection of films will be made by February 26th.
“Please send your films on a disc to:
Emily Hinshelwood
Women’s Arts Association
54a Bute Street
Cardiff Bay
CF10 5AF “
Hela Dryw - Hunting the Wren is a Welsh Christmas tradition enacted on Twelfth Night. Villagers hunted and killed the wren and carried its body in a decorated ‘house’. They called from door to door and people paid money to peep at the dead bird:
The wren is no longer killed today for Hela Dryw (or Hela’r Dryw as it’s sometimes called). Using a Nokia N93, I filmed this re-enactment at the National Welsh Folk Museum’s Nadolig festival last week.
Digital storytellers will be interested to hear that one £500 award per week is available between now and March 2010. That’s what Community Voices has to offer those in England using digital media to help empower disadvantaged communities:
“Media Trust is always looking to celebrate the varied and inspiring ways you are using digital media to help empower disadvantaged communities. And now Community Voices has 20 x £500 awards to give away before the end of March 2010 - that’s one every week. If you’re helping to give your community a voice through digital media we’d like to hear from you, and so would many other communities seeking help. Projects selected will be showcased on this website, plus each project will receive a bursary for a place at one of our training events, and a wealth of additional communications support.”
More info: http://www.mediatrust.org/communityvoices/inspiring-voices/
Thanks to Alyson Fielding for letting me know about this. She said: “Community Voices covers English Regions only, not Wales as far as I know, but might be useful for your contacts working across both England and Wales”.
Inform, educate and entertain was the old Reithian view of the BBC. Whilst continuing to be a worthwhile mission, it does sound a little ‘paternal’ or top-down for today’s world. It was refreshing to hear a new personal view of what the BBC needs to do today from Seetha Kumar - online access champion and controller BBC Online - in a presentation at BBC Wales I attended yesterday. In response to a question, she repeated this paragraph from her presentation to the Skills for Life conference on 3 November:
“The Reithian tradition of inform, educate and entertain is as true today as it was over 80 years ago. In the world of the internet, and e-skills, the skills for life we all need are the abilities to understand, participate in and influence the world around us. How else do you make sense of it?” - Seetha Kumar (my bold)
What I like about the second and third elements of this definition is that they throw the light of activity, not passivity, on the people the BBC has traditionally thought of as its ‘audience’. It’s a definition that draws its influence from principles of media literacy. My personal opinion is that by facilitating participation and the ability to influence, the BBC will make an important strategic change that will benefit the UK’s citizens.
This is a site by BBC Wales with personal stories by 14-25 year olds. In PS, you can submit and watch videos categorized Health, Entertainment, Education, Religion, News & Politics, Environment, Love & Sex, Animals, Race & Culture, Crime & Violence, Business & Economy, Sports, Life, Drugs & Alcohol, Science & Technology, Community & Society and Other.
There’s an embeddable widget on the site with the latest comments and stories, so I thought I’d embed it here on the Aberth Digital Storytelling blog.
George Metaxiotis sent me an invite from Greece today to join the PV:RF Participatory Video Facebook group. It’s described as “a networking forum for anyone involved in participatory video research - especially community based research.” So I wanted to share the link with you here: http://tr.im/FcCq
The group’s only three months old but it already looks like a good way to link up with PV projects around the world. E.g. Chris Blythe posted a wall message about his ‘Inspired Productions’ in New Zealand/Aotearoa:
“We’re developing our work to include drama and music media. Current project is supporting refugee youth from Burma and Bhutan to produce content for our national museum, Te Papa.”
Wed 2 Dec 09, 1 pm at the Tramsheds Building, Glyntaff Campus, University of Glamorgan, Treforest, Mid Glamorgan.
Prof Do Coyle of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, presents ‘Sustaining and Developing Island Communities: Extreme Measures for Extreme Communities’.
This presentation is about ‘extreme’ communities where the digital infrastructure is lacking. Prof Dyle will look at different kinds of community building in isolated places to enable connection and be connected. He’ll also tell the story of Telling Tales and I-Scape.
This is a free session but attendeees need to reserve their place by emailing storytelling@glam.ac.uk
This is the first of the University of Glamorgan’s George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling Communities 2.0 research seminars. Communities 2.0 is a Welsh Assembly Government programme which helps community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises in Wales do more with technology. It’s delivered by five partner organisations – the Wales Co-operative Centre, the Novas Scarman Trust, Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services, Carmarthenshire County Council and the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling at the University of Glamorgan. Much of the funding for Communities 2.0 has come from the European Regional Development Fund.
BBC iPlayer won the main Judges’ Award at last night’s RTS Innovation Awards.
I was there with Karen Lewis because BBC Digital Storytelling had been nominated in the user generated content category along with Channel 4’s Landshare and The Sex Experience. Landshare won in this category.
It was great to see Karen Lewis for the first time since DS4. Since leaving the BBC, she’s set up StoryWorks at the University of Glamorgan and doing some really exciting work with Communities 2.0 and with people who have cancer at Velindre Hospital, Cardiff, and much more.
At the RTS, the most interesting award from the point of view of participatory media was Sky News iPhone Application, which won the On The Move category:
“The jury reported they loved this application – it is clear, effective, offers excellent video quality and is highly rated among those who use it. It will be fascinating, they commented, to see how Sky fully exploits the development’s sharing capacity that allows viewers to connect to Sky and submit their own eyewitness or user-generated material.”
It’s great to hear of a broadcaster making an application which encourages contribution like this.
For 15+ years, Mandy Rose has been a champion for the individual as author/publisher. Tomorrow night, she delivers an RTS (Royal Television Society) talk called Contributors or Collaborators . This is timely as the web’s shift from publication/communication to collaboration/social interactivity lends itself to collaboration in documentary forms. Mandy commissions multi-platform productions at BBC Wales and is researching the role of the producer / curator in collaborative documentary at the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of the West of England.
I worked with Mandy when she was editor of New Media, BBC Cymru Wales, and I’ve learned such a lot by working with her. This was such an exciting time as she commissioned and co-created Capture Wales / Cipolwg ar Gymru digital storytelling, a project I lived and breathed from 2001-2007.
Before this she was co-founder of Video Nation: a project which, with hindsight, was years ahead of its time.
As she says on her blog about these and other similar projects: “What all these projects have in common is the fact that, within clearly defined parameters, the participants have been in control of how they represent themselves.” With the growth of digital publication, being able to represent ourselves, with access to the necessary tools (technical, network, capability, etc) and platforms for sharing our stories feel more and more like fundamental human rights than ever before.
Communities 2.0 is hiring a director (£41-44k ) to help bridge the digital divide by tackling digital exclusion in convergence areas of Wales. Communities 2.0 will also try to mitigate some of the social inequalities derived from low incomes, poor health, limited skills or disabilities. Here’s the text of the job ad with thanks to Karen Lewis who sent it to me:
The Wales Co-operative Centre seeks to employ a dynamic individual to lead the Communities 2.0 project.
Communities 2.0 is a six-year Welsh Assembly Government project which is delivered by the Wales Co-operative Centre, the University of Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire County Council, Novas Scarman, and the Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services.
Communities 2.0 aims to tackle digital exclusion in Convergence areas of Wales by supporting community and voluntary groups, individuals and social enterprises to make better use of technology.In this way, Communities 2.0 will aim to bridge the digital divide whilst also mitigating some of the social inequalities derived from low incomes, poor health, limited skills or disabilities.
This key appointment will lead and shape Communities 2.0, providing co-ordination and direction to the delivery of the project, acting as the main contact point between the project and its stakeholders, managing internal and external communications, and forging links with the Welsh Assembly Government.
Duties and Responsibilities
To keep abreast of Government (Wales, UK and Europe) policy relevant to digital inclusion and align Communities 2.0 project activity to these policies.
To work closely with the Digital Inclusion Unit within the Welsh Assembly Government to inform and influence the development of policy and strategy at local and national level in relation to digital inclusion.
To work at a senior level with a range of organisations in the public, private and third sectors to develop strategic alliances.
To develop a robust evidence base to support investment decisions and priorities within the Communities 2.0 project, through appropriate research and evaluation working closely with the partnership steering group and the Welsh Assembly Government.
To support the project’s communications strategy through increasing awareness and understanding of the work of Communities 2.0 within Wales, UK and Europe.
To represent Communities 2.0 at events and conferences or facilitate appropriate representation by steering group members.
To implement line management support and supervision for the Communities 2.0 management team.
To co-ordinate the project partnership at a strategic level, including the planning of steering group meetings.
To co-ordinate communications between project partners and the Welsh Assembly Government’s project management board.
To prepare and present written reports and other relevant documentation for internal and external stakeholders as required.
Closing Date for receipt of applications is Monday, 5th October 2009.
We cannot accept your CV online so for further details and information on how to apply please contact Maureen Russell on 029 2055 4955
or at the Wales Co-operative Centre, Llandaff Court, Cardiff, CF5 2XP.
Contract:Parhaol, ar yr amod bod y cyllid perthnasol yn parhau
Oriau:Amser Llawn
Cyflog: £41,378 - £44,917
Mae Canolfan Cydweithredol Cymru yn chwilio am unigolyn deinamig i arwain y prosiect Cymunedau 2.0.
Prosiect chwe blynedd gan Lywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru yw Cymunedau 2.0 sy’n cael ei ddarparu gan Ganolfan Cydweithredol Cymru, Prifysgol Morgannwg, Cyngor Sir Caerfyrddin, Novas Scarman, a Chymdeithas Gwasanaethau Gwirfoddol Sir Benfro.
Nod Cymunedau 2.0 yw mynd i’r afael ag eithrio digidol yn ardaloedd Cydgyfeirio Cymru drwy gefnogi grwpiau cymunedol a gwirfoddol, unigolion a mentrau cymdeithasol i ddefnyddio technoleg mewn ffordd well.Nod Cymunedau 2.0 wrth wneud hyn yw pontio’r bwlch digidol a lleddfu rhai o’r anghydraddoldebau cymdeithasol sy’n deillio o incwm isel, iechyd gwael, sgiliau cyfyngedig neu anableddau ar yr un pryd.
Bydd y penodiad allweddol hwn yn arwain ac yn siapio Cymunedau 2.0, gan roi cydlyniad a chyfeiriad i’r gwaith o gyflwyno’r prosiect, gweithredu fel prif bwynt cyswllt rhwng y prosiect a’i randdeiliaid, gofalu am gyfathrebu mewnol ac allanol, a chreu cysylltiadau â Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru.
Dyletswyddau a Chyfrifoldebau
Sicrhau eich bod yn gwybod am y datblygiadau diweddaraf ym mholisïau’r Llywodraeth (Cymru, y DU ac Ewrop) sy’n berthnasol i gynhwysiant digidol a chysoni gweithgareddau’r prosiect Cymunedau 2.0 â’r polisïau hynny.
Cydweithio’n agos â’r Uned Cynhwysiant Digidol yn Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru er mwyn cyfrannu at y gwaith o ddatblygu polisïau a strategaethau ar lefel leol a chenedlaethol yng nghyswllt cynhwysiant digidol, a dylanwadu ar y polisïau a’r strategaethau hynny.
Gweithio ar lefel uwch â nifer o sefydliadau a mudiadau yn y sectorau cyhoeddus a phreifat, ac yn y trydydd sector, i ffurfio cynghreiriau strategol.
Datblygu sylfaen dystiolaeth gadarn i ategu penderfyniadau ynghylch buddsoddi a blaenoriaethau o fewn y prosiect Cymunedau 2.0, drwy waith ymchwil a gwerthuso priodol, gan weithio’n agos â gr?p llywio’r bartneriaeth ac â Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru.
Cefnogi strategaeth cyfathrebu’r prosiect drwy gryfhau ymwybyddiaeth a dealltwriaeth o waith Cymunedau 2.0 yng Nghymru, yn y DU ac yn Ewrop.
Cynrychioli Cymunedau 2.0 mewn digwyddiadau a chynadleddau neu hwyluso cynrychiolaeth briodol gan aelodau’r gr?p llywio.
Trefnu cefnogaeth a goruchwyliaeth rheolwr llinell ar gyfer tîm rheoli Cymunedau 2.0.
Cydlynu partneriaeth y prosiect ar lefel strategol, gan gynnwys cynllunio cyfarfodydd y gr?p llywio.
Cydlynu cyfathrebu rhwng partneriaid y prosiect a bwrdd rheoli prosiect Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru.
Paratoi a chyflwyno adroddiadau ysgrifenedig a dogfennau perthnasol eraill ar gyfer rhanddeiliaid mewnol ac allanol yn ôl y galw.
Y Dyddiad Olaf ar gyfer derbyn ceisiadau yw dydd Llun 5ed Hydref 2009.
Ni allwn dderbyn eich CV ar lein, felly i gael mwy o fanylion a gwybodaeth am sut i wneud cais, cysylltwch â Maureen Russell ar 029 2055 4955.
neu yng Nghanolfan Cydweithredol Cymru, Llys Llandaf, Caerdydd, CF5 2XP.
I gael mwy o wybodaeth am Ganolfan Cydweithredol Cymru, ewch ar-lein yn www.walescoop.com
————————–
By way of a footnote, isn’t ‘Communities 2.0′ is a strange name to choose for a six-year project? If Web 2.0 happened two years ago, who knows how many iterations of our community will have passed by the year 2015.
University of Glamorgan is hiring a Knowledge Catalyst Employee to help ’create a raft of digital stories for use in the context of the new Museum of Cardiff the Cardiff Story’. Closing date 30 July 2009. Only people who graduated in the last four years are apparently elligible. Here’s the text of the job ad as sent in the email I just received:
“Application details, can be found at: www.glam.ac.uk/jobs under ‘knowledge catalyst employee’ Knowledge Catalyst Employee Digital Stories Curator 1 year contract, c.£19,000 Deadline: 30 July 2009 Further details available from: http://www.glam.ac.uk/jobsThis post is required to fulfill the conditions of an award by AHRC to support a Knowledge Catalyst research post (recent graduate) at the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling (
University of
Glamorgan) in collaboration with the new Cardiff Story (Cardiff Council’s
new city history museum). Please note: Applicants must have gained a degree (any level) within the last 4 years to be eligible for this post. Main purposes of job
Working with the University and Museum Project Team to establish a digital story collection
Creation and cataloguing of a minimum of 12 digital stories
To work with Valley’s communities to ensure their stories are represented
Principal responsibilities and duties1. Proactively collect stories by working with individuals and community groups 2. Working with partner organsiations – media, special interest groups, universities and other organisations to raise awareness of the project 3. Collecting stories to ensure alternate viewpoints, hidden histories and the personal significance of object and story is recorded 4. Undertaking research to ensure that the collection is specifically targeted with display potential, is rooted in academic rigour and provides suitable information for interpretation 5. Ensure suitable documentation is in place regarding copyrights and permissions 6. Equipping and enthusing community groups in the creation of their own digital stories 7. Uploading stories recorded to related websites 8. Cascade skills and knowledge to the project team 9. Disseminate project outcomes to Museum profession and digital storytelling community 10. Write evaluation reports for stakeholders and partners
Organisational 1. To participate actively in supporting the principles and practice of equality of opportunity as laid down in the partner organisations Equal Opportunities Policies. 2. To take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions and to comply with all health and safety legislation as appropriate. 3. As a term of your employment you may be required to undertake such other duties and/or times of work as may reasonably be required of you.Many thanks Victoria Rogers MA AMA Museum Officer / Swyddog Amgueddfa The
Here’s more about how we worked with people who had stories to tell about what the heritage of the Rhondda Valleys in Wales means to them in Valleys Kids’ Rhondda Lives project. This post follows a question from Cheryl Colan:
“…Did the individual storytellers work with and direct the video editor? If they spent only 2 hours doing so, I imagine the editor did a reasonable amount of preparatory work, getting clips to choose from lined up, prior to this work session?…”
There were many days of preparatory work in researching, finding, selecting, rights-clearing, digitising, etc. the clips. Lona Wharton and Gareth Morris did this at the BBC and Dafydd Pritchard did this at the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.
During the actual week of the workshop, before the individual two-hour sessions began, Katrina Kirkwood of Valleys Kids had spent time with each individual, showing what was available and logging individuals’ choices of which footage was relevant to their story.
Yes, in the initial BBC-facilitated workshop, we were lucky to be able to get BBC video editor Carwyn Jones to work with us. He’s a community-oriented, sympathetic, skilled, professional video editor. Because this was our pilot workshop, to reduce the number of variables, I decided that individual storytellers would work one-on-one with the editor. The storytellers actually took on the role of ‘director’ of their own movie.
Katrina developed the model throughout the life of Rhondda Lives and she sometimes encouraged storyteller to get a lot more hands-on, as far as the editing was concerned.
I think this model would work splendidly for Cheryl Colan’s local Historical Society Museum. Good luck if you decide to go for it.
$14,000 per annum is one local blogger’s estimate of how much he’ll earn in the coming year by covering local stories. Seattle blogger Justin Carder does the math(s) on this page.
This is where the digital stories will be made. There needs to be enough space, tables, chairs to accommodate all the equipment and people. Power points along two sides of the room makes safe rigging easier. It’s good if it has natural light and ventilation but’s essential it can be made dark enough for images from the data projector to have impact. E.g. some kind of blinds or curtains for blackout.
If you’re running a workshop - as opposed to one-to-one - set the furniture out classroom style, in rows, facing the screen. Allow adequate space for the data projector to show from the back of the room. There also needs to be sufficient space in the room to accommodate additional equipment (scanners, printer, camera chargers, etc.) and to allow trainers to move comfortably between storytellers.
On different days, this main room may also be used for briefings, image capture and script sessions. If used for storycircle, up to 14 seats arranged in boardroom style seems to work well.
It may need to be locked and alarmed if equipment’s left overnight.
This is the second in a mini-series of four articles on www.aberth.com/blog about the ideal spaces for your digital storytelling workshop.
Katrina Kirkwood has just finished archiving the Rhondda Lives films on one fantastic new website: www.rhonddalives.org.uk. There are 80 stories to view.
The rationale behind the project is explained and there’s a description of how the stories were made.
I’m a member of the Museums 3.0 Ning group and I think that group’s members will really enjoy seeing such an innovative melding of existing public archive with personal storytelling by members of the communities depicted in the archive.
I’m sure all the storytellers will be proud to have their stories displayed on Katrina’s new Rhondda Lives website. If you’d like a suggestion of one to watch first … how about this one: Lilian Hobbs’s story about the two-foot-eight?
“It excites me that I can be part of this new age. Words, pictures and music if anything can lift the sprite and engender enthusiasm” - Joan van Oosterom (87)
More than 70 Digital Stories have been produced since the project started in January 2008 by the Coromandel Community Digital Storytelling Project. It’s an initiative to record, preserve, and share the history and stories of the Coromandel community using Digital Storytelling. It’s all about creating lasting impressions.
Workshop equipment includes:
6 shuttle computers (20×20x30cm)
Adobe Premiere Elements software
Headphones
Cano Scan 8800F scanner (scans slides and negatives as well as photographs and documents)
Printer
Projector & speakers
Sound recording equipment
Discovered via a presentation by Vanessa James.
“The Reithian tradition of inform, educate and entertain is as true today as it was over 80 years ago. In the world of the internet, and e-skills, the skills for life we all need are the abilities to understand, participate in and influence the world around us. How else do you make sense of it?” - 
