Recent Stories
- Engineering students make finals of national start-up business competition
- The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation makes finals of national innovation awards
- Social media plagued by privacy problems, say researchers
- Lancaster set to receive funding boost to stimulate UK's economy
- Billion-year-old water could hold clues to life on Earth and Mars
- How do we find out about cyber criminals?
- First, carbon footprints... now you can calculate your 'nitrogen footprint'
- Lancaster to play leading role in UK-India cyber security team
- LEC PhD student, Beth Brockett, organises knowledge-exchange event for farmers
- Florence Nightingale Day successfully raises profile of women in mathematics and statistics
OurCity Exhibited at Future Everything
The VoiceYourView group from the School of Computing and Communications were at Future Everything in Manchester this month demonstrating their OurCity technology.
OurCity combines physical connections with Manchester with feelings about and aspirations for the city. It is a prototype for a new way for people to have their voice heard and to act together to shape a new plan for the city, to reduce the gap between citizens and policymakers, and form new groupings based on commitment to social action.
OurCity is a response to a new technology and the opportunities it provides for connecting people and place. It is driven by VoiceYourView developed at Lancaster University, a system for collating and analysing thousands of individual comments, to reveal patterns of theme, sentiment and actionability. In OurCity comments are solicited in a number of ways, but mainly by text or via a web app optimised for smart-phones. The comments do not have to conform to a fixed format so the analysis avoids reducing individual perspectives to 'mere' statistics the way a survey might. The project combines individual perspectives with statistical insight in a way that helps viewers / participants identify themselves as active constituents of Manchester, not mere observers. In this way, OurCity is about how individuals relate to the whole and about how ideas about a city map to its geography.
The installation in the FutureEverything art space encouraged viewers to locate themselves in the city by expanding space. Engaging with the installation involves a sense of connection with the city beyond the walls of the gallery until the area you feel you are inhabiting is at least 10 km across. Engaging with the installation also involves locating your own feelings and aspirations for to the city amongst thousands of others.
OurTravel also exhibited at Future Everything - video clips of both OurCity and OurTravel should be available soon.
Tue 31 May 2011
Associated Links
Latest News
Engineering students make finals of national start-up business competition
Engineering students Scott Nash, Daniel Richardson and Aaron Aboshio have won the northern heat of the Youth Entrepreneurs Scheme 'Engineering YES' competition for their spin-out renewable energy company Atlantis.
Thu 23 May 2013
The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation makes finals of national innovation awards
The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation has been announced as a finalist in the PraxisUnico Impact Awards.
Thu 23 May 2013
Social media plagued by privacy problems, say researchers
The privacy management of 16 popular social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, is "seriously deficient," according to a study being published in the June issue of Computer magazine.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Tue 21 May 2013
Lancaster set to receive funding boost to stimulate UK's economy
Lancaster is amongst leading universities who are set to benefit from a £50 million investment in cutting-edge research and innovation projects to drive growth. Lancaster's project will use the strong international reputation and links in China, in particular with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to address the Government's priorities to focus on high-growth SMEs and to increase exports. Using expertise from across the University, it focuses on improved leadership and new technology...
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Fri 17 May 2013