Constructive disruption: young people's engagement with data and policymaking
Lead Research Organisation:
Birmingham City University
Department Name: ADM Birmingham School of Media
Abstract
To examine critically Big Data and their potential to combat but also reinforce young people's social, economic and cultural inequalities through the agency of the creators and communicators of this data in order to better understand the causes of their inequalities and how they might be more effectively addressed.
A Visiting Fellow at Aston University since Oct 2012, I co-authored and then was project manager/researcher for the FP7 EU funded project Citispyce which investigated youth inequalities and potentially innovative actions of young people to combat them. In this project, we were concerned with those affected by inequalities at the local level and those who try to manage the consequences of it nationally (e.g. governmental policies and actions) and locally (municipal and other actors in civil society).
From 2013 to 2016, I set-up and managed 3 EU funded projects to explore disadvantaged young people's attitudes towards the EU and politics in general, including the General Election in 2015 and EU Referendum in 2016. Through these, I got to know and work closely with Beatfreeks and wrote up a Citispyce Case Study on their innovative approach to overcoming young people's inequalities.
Prior to this, I worked on strategic European, urban and cultural issues for Birmingham City Council (BCC) for 20 years. Between 1997 and 2008, I was responsible as Deputy and then Head of the Division which provided expert advice to BCC as well as NGOs and private sector bodies in the city on EU and urban policies, funding, projects and networking. I helped set up the Eurocities network and its various specialist committees (especially Culture and Social Affairs). I provided guidance on Arts Lottery funding and undertook preparation of new arts strategy for the city whilst working P/T for Finance and Leisure Services Directors between 1994 and 1996.
Since coming to Birmingham in 1982, I have been involved in its cultural life as a performer (Ex Cathedra) and arts administrator with experience in marketing, press and PR, sponsorship and outreach particularly with young people. With BCC, I commissioned a survey of arts provision to support bids for ERDF funding for cultural regeneration and destination marketing initiatives in the city. I also drafted guidance for applicants to new festivals funding scheme and worked on outreach projects like Artsfest and Gallery 37 and surveys to demonstrate the value of the arts to the city.
A Visiting Fellow at Aston University since Oct 2012, I co-authored and then was project manager/researcher for the FP7 EU funded project Citispyce which investigated youth inequalities and potentially innovative actions of young people to combat them. In this project, we were concerned with those affected by inequalities at the local level and those who try to manage the consequences of it nationally (e.g. governmental policies and actions) and locally (municipal and other actors in civil society).
From 2013 to 2016, I set-up and managed 3 EU funded projects to explore disadvantaged young people's attitudes towards the EU and politics in general, including the General Election in 2015 and EU Referendum in 2016. Through these, I got to know and work closely with Beatfreeks and wrote up a Citispyce Case Study on their innovative approach to overcoming young people's inequalities.
Prior to this, I worked on strategic European, urban and cultural issues for Birmingham City Council (BCC) for 20 years. Between 1997 and 2008, I was responsible as Deputy and then Head of the Division which provided expert advice to BCC as well as NGOs and private sector bodies in the city on EU and urban policies, funding, projects and networking. I helped set up the Eurocities network and its various specialist committees (especially Culture and Social Affairs). I provided guidance on Arts Lottery funding and undertook preparation of new arts strategy for the city whilst working P/T for Finance and Leisure Services Directors between 1994 and 1996.
Since coming to Birmingham in 1982, I have been involved in its cultural life as a performer (Ex Cathedra) and arts administrator with experience in marketing, press and PR, sponsorship and outreach particularly with young people. With BCC, I commissioned a survey of arts provision to support bids for ERDF funding for cultural regeneration and destination marketing initiatives in the city. I also drafted guidance for applicants to new festivals funding scheme and worked on outreach projects like Artsfest and Gallery 37 and surveys to demonstrate the value of the arts to the city.
| Description | Collaborative partnership with Beatfreeks Collective, Birmingham |
| Organisation | Beatfreeks |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | I am sharing the findings and analysis of my PhD research with Beatfreeks Collective. I have contributed to the analysis of data from their annual survey of young people's attitudes, aspirations and experiences of living in Birmingham in 2018 and have helped in the interpretation of the data for the 2019 edition. I have also acted as a critical friend in the framing of the surveys and their final reports - encouraging a reflexive approach - and have undertaken informal mentoring support to young members of the team. I have assisted at events such as the Brum Youth Trends Summits and with explaining their Data installations and and receiving feedback from observers/audiences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Beatfreeks have always been open and very supportive of me and my research objectives. I have been able to interview any member of the team for my research that I want and they have also helped me connect with other potential interview subjects from their wider circles of contacts. This has been invaluable. I am also welcome to come into their work space at any time to observe and make notes. Individual team members have offered me specific support re: being willing for me to bounce ideas to and fro or providing me with sector knowledge. I benefit from the opportunities I have to 'think out loud' with senior members of the team about what might be the implications of my findings. |
| Impact | This collaboration is not multi-disciplinary. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Beatfreeks team presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was a special presentation to key members of my creative industries collaborative research partner, Beatfreeks. The purpose was to share the emerging themes from my research and to encourage feedback - a form of peer review with practitioners who are involved in the collection and analysis of Data on young people's everyday lives in Birmingham and the creative presentation of their findings to key influencers in Birmingham and beyond. This was informed by my research design which takes account of the interactive participatory nature of my collaborative project in which there is an expectation of mutual benefit from findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Meeting with Mighty Creatives Leicester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This was a combination of presentation and exchange of information between myself and a cultural sector not-for -profit organisation , The Mighty Creative, based in Leicester. Both work with young people and both use creativity to develop personal and social competences so the intended objective was to share information about my research and the work of my collaborative creative industries partner, Beatfreeks with a view to comparing and contrasting the two organisations e.g. their aims, their values and the kind of work they were doing. It was also an opportunity for me to see Beatfreeks through the lens of other cultural practitioners who are not located in the same area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Northfield public engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was an outdoor event aimed at attracting members of the public in the Northfield area of Birmingham to engage with a Physical Data installation designed to provoke conversations about Birmingham City Council's budget proposals. It was facilitated by my collaborative research partner Beatfreeks and presented an opportunity for me to observe how effective the Data Visualization installation was a prompt to eliciting data from as well as providing information to the general public. It also enabled me to have conversations with City Councillors, secondary school pupils and members of the general public about my research and the role of digital data in policymaking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The Council House, Birmingham Information event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | An information and public engagement event in the the Council House, Birmingham organised by the City Council to enable members of the general public to get to know the work of the City Council and its elected members and staff and for politicians and officers to get the views of citizens on the performance of specific services as well as the City Council as a whole. I was invited to participate by my collaborative research partner, the creative industries company, Beatfreeks which was responsible for providing their physical Data Visualization installation as a prompt to stimulate conversations around the Council's budget proposals and plans for the Commonwealth Games 2022. I was able to meet and explain the objectives of my research project to senior members of the City Council as well as several senior officers from various departments covering, inter alia, young people, social services and finance. I was encouraged by senior councillors and officers to come and talk to them about my research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |