Investigating situated cultural practices through cross-sectoral digital collaborations: policies, processes, insights

The (Belfast) Good Friday Agreement represents a major milestone in Northern Ireland's recent political history, with complex conditions allowing for formation of a ‘cross-community’ system of government enabling power sharing between parties representing Protestant/loyalist and Catholic/nationalist constituencies. This article examines the apparent flourishing of community-focused digital practices over the subsequent ‘post-conflict’ decade, galvanised by Northern Irish and EU policy initiatives armed with consolidating the peace process. Numerous digital heritage and storytelling projects have been catalysed within programmes aiming to foster social processes, community cohesion and cross-community exchange. The article outlines two projects—‘digital memory boxes’ and ‘interactive galleon’—developed during 2007–2008 within practice-led PhD enquiry conducted in collaboration with the Nerve Centre, a third-sector media education organisation. The article goes on to critically examine the processes involved in practically realising, and creatively and theoretically reconciling, community-engaged digital production in a particular socio-political context of academic-community collaboration

Fact Sheet: Managing Sources of Conflict in Collaborative Settings

Anyone who has been involved in a collaborative process knows that a conflict within the group typically involves multiple participants, can be complex, and can intensify dramatically, if left unresolved. Everyone involved has their own thoughts and feelings about what is happening as well as perceptions about the thoughts and feelings of others. As conflict increases, reasonable people may demonstrate irrational or unwarranted behaviors. Natural reactions to these behaviors may be to strike back, give in, or break off. Objectivity--the faculty needed most to navigate conflict effectively--is sacrificed

Promoting Peace Education Through the Use of Narratives in two public schools of the Atlántico Department

In an era of reconciliation of society in all areas, it is appropriate to sow seeds of peace in every corner of the country, especially in schools, where there are so many victims of violence. This study has taken students from two public schools in Puerto Colombia and Santo Tomás, two towns in the Atlantic department, to promote peace education through the use of narratives. This study used a qualitative case study method, which focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of personal stories based on narratives. The data consisted of teacher’s journals and interviews with students of these institutions. They had the opportunity to share personal stories, they presented their ability to control the voice and the management of body expression, they were able to connect their life stories with school culture, they modeled well-developed stories in all their phases, they presented fiction stories, they expressed their feelings with the word “imagine”; and finally, they allowed teachers to be aware that they can naturally tell stories about themselves. The analysis of the data showed that most of the students developed skills through biography and perceived the narrative as easier to understand. They could also conquer their fears and anxiety that live within them as a result of the environment where they were born in, full of violence. The findings speak of the need to examine ways to combine narrative effectively with academic lessons and, within a stress-free and pleasant atmosphere that will ultimately result in the peace education we long for.MaestríaMagister en la Enseñanza del Ingle

Collaborative comic-based digital storytelling with primary school children

This work explores how comic-based digital storytelling can support primary school children in reflecting on situations involving conflict in the classroom. In particular, we focus on investigating three specific aspects: (1) the potential of digital story composition conducted collaboratively or individually, (2) the children’s perception on the use of digital storytelling for reflecting on conflicts that might arise in class and, (3) the teachers’ experience of introducing a digital tool for collabo- rative storytelling and comics composition in an educational context. In this paper, we explored these aspects by develop- ing a case study. A class of 12 children and 2 teachers explore the use of a digital tool, named Communics, aimed at creat- ing digital narratives individually and collaboratively. The results show that digital narratives created from collabora- tive storytelling are longer, more structured, and richer with meaning compared to stories from individual work. More- over, it emerged that children prefer to work collaboratively, even if it meant compromising, going slower and waiting for their turn. Finally, teachers appreciated the collaborative use of Communics, and in particular, the turn-based feature as children can practice the narrative re-elaboration with a peer while waiting for their turn

Collaborating around digital tabletops: children’s physical strategies from the UK, India and Finland

We present a study of children collaborating around interactive tabletops in three different countries: the United Kingdom, India and Finland. Our data highlights the key distinctive physical strategies used by children when performing collaborative tasks during this study. Children in the UK tend to prefer static positioning with minimal physical contact and simultaneous object movement. Children in India employed dynamic positioning with frequent physical contact and simultaneous object movement. Children in Finland used a mixture of dynamic and static positioning with minimal physical contact and object movement. Our findings indicate the importance of understanding collaboration strategies and behaviours when designing and deploying interactive tabletops in heterogeneous educational environments. We conclude with a discussion on how designers of tabletops for schools can provide opportunities for children in different countries to define and shape their own collaboration strategies for small group learning that take into account their different classroom practices

Community healing in BonteLanga : a space for social healing and reconciliation

The South Africa of today remains a largely divided society in which people of racialised groups often still regard one another with suspicion. This is not only a case of black and white since racially inflected attitudes and perceptions are just as rife amongst segments of the coloured and black community. This holds particularly true where resources are as scarce as in the townships of Cape Town's Cape Flats. The 'Community Healing Project' facilitated by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) uses dialogue and debate as main tools in a community-level reconciliation project between Langa, a black African township, and Bonteheuwel, a coloured township. Using the IJR's intetTention as a case study, this thesis deals with community dialogue as a means of correcting misconceptions and promoting attitudinal change. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the intervention on some participants and its importance for the prevention of future conflict. The thesis draws on various disciplines to provide a theoretical framework for community dialogue interventions. Participant observation, indepth interviews as well as a critical discourse analysis of two IJR publications are then employed to identify and discuss some of the practical challenges as experienced in the implementation of the project. The analysis of the semi-structured in-depth interviews is centred on four distinct but closely interconnected themes. The analysis of the data suggests that despite some frustrations the community intervention has impacted significantly on participants' lives and the relations between the two communities and the IJR's approach proves meaningful for the participants. Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-87)

Experiments in Interfaces

Purpose: Exploring the need for ‘neutral’ public space located between the private act of voting and formal deliberative democracy, this paper examines two interfaces between everyday life and democratic politics and considers ways this territory can be a site for generative artistic practises. Approach: Many artists and architects work in the space between the individual and formal collective political processes. Speculating outward from two artworks by the author and drawing on the thought of Hannah Arendt, Rosalyn Deutsche, Chantal Mouffe, Bruno Latour and others, this paper maps theory to the territory and proposes a new framework for reconsidering the work of such practitioners. Findings: Three potentially fruitful avenues for exploration as artistic practice related to democratic interfaces are identified and discussed through examples. Originality and value: This exploration is part of a broader practice-led research project into models of public collaborative thinking within the context of artistic practice. Many argue that the public realm has been co-opted by neo-liberal political and economic forces, resulting in a sense of hopelessness that limits our ability to imagine anything else. This research reflects on artistic tactics that counter this sense of hopelessness. These practices often suggest alternative social structures, foster ephemeral (local) public spheres or propose spatial configurations that support these. This paper offers a useful framework for reflecting on the work of politically-engaged artists and architects as well as structuring new projects