The spaces between: Challenges and opportunities in interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder community media research

Abstract

Filmed stories associated with the work of six Unitec researchers from Social Practice, Design, and Communication are the subjects of a series of programmes to be broadcast before the end of 2014 on Sky channel 83. Each half-hour programme reflects on an aspect of existing Unitec research projects that can be loosely characterised as having community-building or community engagement aims. Each programme has been created with the involvement of staff and students in Communication and Performing/Screen Arts programmes, and in this way learning / teaching and curriculum goals are embedded in the larger project. At a more abstract level, I’m researching the value of a partnership approach to digital content creation for community communication goals.

The six projects are: Violence-Free Waitakere’s “Banishing Bullying” initiative; Studio MPHS (McLaren Park Henderson South), a youth-oriented digital/ makerspace facility; The Avondale Community Action Project; the Rosebank Artwalk; Cue Haven; and “More than a War”: Remembering 1914-1918.