Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Arts and Social Sci (FASS)
Abstract
Launched with AHRC funding in 2006, The Reading Experience Database, 1450-1945 (RED) is the world's largest single repository relating to reading experiences, now containing over 33,000 individual entries. It is an unique global research and teaching resource for the history of reading practices. A pioneer in crowdsourcing for the digital humanities, RED also has a proven track record of public engagement through the involvement of volunteers. RED team members have mentored volunteers to search the published letters and diaries of writers or historical figures for evidences of reading, and have trained volunteers to enter information from unpublished material in their own family archives. This has enabled a radical democratization of research in the history of reading, allowing interested members of the public to help locate, identify and enter the source material on which so much academic research in the subject depends.
Reading and its history are topics that have wide interest to members of the public. RED as an open-source, outward-facing project has the potential to reach a much wider range of individuals and groups than was anticipated in the initial project design ten years ago. The main aim of 'Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present' is therefore to reach out to a new generation of non-academic audiences - particularly reading groups - with whom RED has not engaged before and to take advantage of developments in social media. In doing so, we aim to bring today's readers into a closer and more enriching relationship with readers from the past, thereby connecting past and present practices of reading.
This follow-on project will reach communities of readers through events in five key cities across the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and London. Activities in each location will have a specific theme and target specific communities. Events will be timed to coincide with reading-related events and anniversaries throughout the year. The Belfast event is thematically organised around the question, 'Is there such a thing as a Northern Irish reader?' and will encourage members of reading groups to consider how Northern Irish readers have shaped their cultural identity through reading in the last 100 years. Events in Belfast will be timed to coincide with the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising (24 April; Belfast), a key point in shaping national cultural identity. The London event will encourage participants to think about reading during the Second World War. Working with the 'Ministry of Information Digital' project, we will bring together historical information about reading during the conflict, and through the oral history workshop, solicit testimonies and memories of childhood reading from people alive today. The London event is designed to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Britain (15 September; London). Activities will include workshops, public lectures, shared readings, a film viewing and a conference. The project will include the first-ever reading experience 'roadshows' in which participants will be able to bring items from family archives, such as diaries, letters or annotated books, explore their context with the help of RED volunteers, and enter the details into the database. Two oral history workshops (Birmingham and London) will also capture testimonies about recollecting past reading experience.
Reading and its history are topics that have wide interest to members of the public. RED as an open-source, outward-facing project has the potential to reach a much wider range of individuals and groups than was anticipated in the initial project design ten years ago. The main aim of 'Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present' is therefore to reach out to a new generation of non-academic audiences - particularly reading groups - with whom RED has not engaged before and to take advantage of developments in social media. In doing so, we aim to bring today's readers into a closer and more enriching relationship with readers from the past, thereby connecting past and present practices of reading.
This follow-on project will reach communities of readers through events in five key cities across the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and London. Activities in each location will have a specific theme and target specific communities. Events will be timed to coincide with reading-related events and anniversaries throughout the year. The Belfast event is thematically organised around the question, 'Is there such a thing as a Northern Irish reader?' and will encourage members of reading groups to consider how Northern Irish readers have shaped their cultural identity through reading in the last 100 years. Events in Belfast will be timed to coincide with the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising (24 April; Belfast), a key point in shaping national cultural identity. The London event will encourage participants to think about reading during the Second World War. Working with the 'Ministry of Information Digital' project, we will bring together historical information about reading during the conflict, and through the oral history workshop, solicit testimonies and memories of childhood reading from people alive today. The London event is designed to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Britain (15 September; London). Activities will include workshops, public lectures, shared readings, a film viewing and a conference. The project will include the first-ever reading experience 'roadshows' in which participants will be able to bring items from family archives, such as diaries, letters or annotated books, explore their context with the help of RED volunteers, and enter the details into the database. Two oral history workshops (Birmingham and London) will also capture testimonies about recollecting past reading experience.
Planned Impact
'Reading Communities' aims to reach sets of identified beneficiaries through a series of public engagement events. The key beneficiaries for this project include:
1. Communities of readers (including reading groups) in the five cities (Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London);
2. Members of the public interested in family history and oral history;
3. Members of the public interested in contributing (as volunteers or providers of new source material) to research on reading;
4. Charities and community organisations (such as Verbal Arts in Northern Ireland and the Reader Organisation in Liverpool) that promote reading as a means of social cohesion and personal improvement;
5. Life-long and informal learners;
6. Academic researchers studying past and contemporary practices of reading.
We aim to reach at least fifty previously uncontacted people at each of the events and generate at least 500 hits per month on the project website by December 2016.
'Reading Communities' proposes a robust, highly integrated model of generating new impact for the ongoing RED project. Promotional and publicity material about the project and its events will be produced in the first three months (December 2015-February 2016) and distributed in hard copy and online to targeted organisations and groups in each of the five host cities. The two short films from the day events at Belfast and Liverpool will continue to generate impact after the conclusion of the project, as they will be offered for screening at 'Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities' and made freely available on the project website and other media platforms. Revised papers from the one-day conference will be co-edited by the PI and Co-I and submitted for publication in a special issue of an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal, e.g. Palgrave Communications. The oral history testimonies gathered by the RA at the workshops in Birmingham and London will be transcribed, tagged, anonymised and made available through the project website (assuming ten hours of recorded material or equivalent).
Throughout the project, team members will contribute blog posts to the website, which will be linked and distributed through the project's social media (Facebook and Twitter) presences. A comments area (moderated by the RA) will invite feedback and contributions from attendees at events and interested members of the public. Photographs of people attending the events and previously unknown material from participants' family archives presented at the workshops will also be made available on the project website with their permission.
Quantitative assessment of impact:
1. Attendance figures and expressions of interest will be recorded.
2. All online dissemination activities and pathways (e.g. blog on the project webpage) will be tracked with embedded analytics software.
3. Engagement through social media will be tracked and archived (e.g. Twitter through the tweet consolidation system, Storify).
4. Recorded audio-visual material will be made available on a range of media platforms (YouTube, iTunesU, OpenLearn), and all download, viewing and usage data will be collated.
Qualitative assessment of impact:
1. Hard-copy questionnaires will be distributed to participants at each event to record their level of engagement on the day;
2. Online questionnaires will be distributed through the project website as an additional insight into participant engagement to inform workshop design;
3. Narrative testimonies of remembered reading (e.g. during WW2) will be recorded by the RA through the oral history workshops (Birmingham, London);
4. Testimonies about engagement with historical readers from the past in RED will be recorded through filming (Belfast, Liverpool).
Public participation will be recorded during the 12-month period. All online participation will be tracked and recorded for a 5 year period after the conclusion of the project, i.e. up to December 2021.
1. Communities of readers (including reading groups) in the five cities (Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London);
2. Members of the public interested in family history and oral history;
3. Members of the public interested in contributing (as volunteers or providers of new source material) to research on reading;
4. Charities and community organisations (such as Verbal Arts in Northern Ireland and the Reader Organisation in Liverpool) that promote reading as a means of social cohesion and personal improvement;
5. Life-long and informal learners;
6. Academic researchers studying past and contemporary practices of reading.
We aim to reach at least fifty previously uncontacted people at each of the events and generate at least 500 hits per month on the project website by December 2016.
'Reading Communities' proposes a robust, highly integrated model of generating new impact for the ongoing RED project. Promotional and publicity material about the project and its events will be produced in the first three months (December 2015-February 2016) and distributed in hard copy and online to targeted organisations and groups in each of the five host cities. The two short films from the day events at Belfast and Liverpool will continue to generate impact after the conclusion of the project, as they will be offered for screening at 'Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities' and made freely available on the project website and other media platforms. Revised papers from the one-day conference will be co-edited by the PI and Co-I and submitted for publication in a special issue of an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal, e.g. Palgrave Communications. The oral history testimonies gathered by the RA at the workshops in Birmingham and London will be transcribed, tagged, anonymised and made available through the project website (assuming ten hours of recorded material or equivalent).
Throughout the project, team members will contribute blog posts to the website, which will be linked and distributed through the project's social media (Facebook and Twitter) presences. A comments area (moderated by the RA) will invite feedback and contributions from attendees at events and interested members of the public. Photographs of people attending the events and previously unknown material from participants' family archives presented at the workshops will also be made available on the project website with their permission.
Quantitative assessment of impact:
1. Attendance figures and expressions of interest will be recorded.
2. All online dissemination activities and pathways (e.g. blog on the project webpage) will be tracked with embedded analytics software.
3. Engagement through social media will be tracked and archived (e.g. Twitter through the tweet consolidation system, Storify).
4. Recorded audio-visual material will be made available on a range of media platforms (YouTube, iTunesU, OpenLearn), and all download, viewing and usage data will be collated.
Qualitative assessment of impact:
1. Hard-copy questionnaires will be distributed to participants at each event to record their level of engagement on the day;
2. Online questionnaires will be distributed through the project website as an additional insight into participant engagement to inform workshop design;
3. Narrative testimonies of remembered reading (e.g. during WW2) will be recorded by the RA through the oral history workshops (Birmingham, London);
4. Testimonies about engagement with historical readers from the past in RED will be recorded through filming (Belfast, Liverpool).
Public participation will be recorded during the 12-month period. All online participation will be tracked and recorded for a 5 year period after the conclusion of the project, i.e. up to December 2021.
Organisations
Publications
King, Edmund G.C.
(2017)
What was a Reading Community?
in Journal of the History of Ideas Blog
Towheed S
(2019)
Reusing historical questionnaire data and using newly commissioned oral history interviews as evidence in the history of reading.
in Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies
| Description | The main aim of the project was connect current readers - non-academic members of the public - with the evidences and testimonies of readers from the past, found in the Reading Experience Database (RED). We succeeded in showing the validity of this strategy and our public engagement efforts demonstrate the considerable interest in the public about reading in general, and reading in the past in particular. All our findings can therefore be seen as 'proof of concept' for future larger funded research projects on reading in the past and the present. 1. Through the diverse means of capturing responses from individual participants at events (evaluative questionnaires; workbooks; flashcards; post-it notes for reading group activities; social media engagement etc) we have found considerable interest in connecting current readers with information about past readers (found in the Reading Experience Database). In particular, the reflective element of the facilitated reading group discussion format seemed to effective in garnering interest and engagement in the historical dimensions of reading. The key finding here is that participants were particularly willing to offer quite personal responses to reading and engagement, especially when they could do so in anonymous fashion. 2. The digital engagement was particularly impressive, and ran in parallel with public attendance at engagement events. What became evident is that people who could not attend events were still engaging with the project team and our events in a meaningful fashion, i.e. posting comments, offering likes, etc. Digital engagement figures below: Facebook activity: the project Facebook account http://www.facebook.com/readingcommunities/ was set up on 5 January 2016 and has been highly active ever since. We have used the Facebook account in a number of ways: (a) To promote and publicise project events through text, slideshows, images, downloadable flyers, sharing of event registration links, and bespoke short promotional films; (b) To curate images taken at the events (photo galleries or slideshows); (c) To initiate calls for action/engagement, through sample material, quizzes etc (d) To disseminate audio-visual assets produced during the project period. As part of the strategy for increasing the project profile and encouraging digital engagement, a small budget (150 USD) was allocated for paid 'boosts', specifically for short promotional videos produced by the project team using Facebook slideshow, or iMovies. Overall activity log from 5/01/2016-11/11/2016 Total number of Facebook page likes: 68 Total number of originating Facebook posts (all media types): 72, from 5/01/2016-8/11/2016 Total number of videos posted (films or slideshows): 11, from 4/04/2016-27/09/2016 Cumulative number of people reached: 29,957 Cumulative number of post clicks: 1,310 Cumulative number of comments, reactions and shares: 373 Twitter activity: the project Twitter account http://twitter.com/ReadCommunities, @ReadCommunities was set up in January 2016 and the first tweet was sent on 10 February 2016. This account is run jointly by Maya Parmar and Shaf Towheed. The project Twitter account was supported by the long established UK-RED Twitter account (http://twitter/TheUKRED, @TheUKRED) run by Edmund King, as well as the personal Twitter accounts of Maya Parmar and Shaf Towheed. Overall activity log from 10/02/2016-11/11/2016 (during the project funded period) Total number of tweets sent from this account: 365 Total number of tweets with images or animation from this account: 82 (of 365) Number of followers: 230 Following: 312 Total number of likes: 230 Audience size and profile: 230; 68% female/32% male; 73% UK based; 52% based in England. Current activity snapshot (as of 13/03/2019) Total number of tweets sent from this account: 652 Total number of tweets with images or animation from this account: 86 (of 652) Number of followers: 361 Following: 360 Total number of likes: 709 The key finding here is that digital social media engagement can be cumulatively developed in parallel with the public engagement events, and can serve constituencies who cannot otherwise be physically reached. 3. The oral history interviews provided superb qualitative information about reading memories, practices, preferences, habits, and interests. The sample size was small but diverse; the key finding here is that the range and richness of information offered by the public should be harnessed much more directly in future research projects on reading. |
| Exploitation Route | The 'Reading Communities' project produced a number of assets, outputs and findings that could be developed further in future funding bids, or by other projects: 1. Oral history: we gathered 14 hours of individual oral history interviews from 12 participants about their memories of reading. This material has been transcribed and will be made available for research projects and the wider public in anonymous fashion. This will be of value to oral history researchers and the responses themselves raise a number of research questions that could fashion future research funding bids. 2. Video assets: 5 free-content Video outputs (4 short films produced by the Open University; 1 by Northern Visions NvTv) have been widely disseminated through YouTube, the project website and social media (Facebook; Twitter; Vimeo) and are free to be used for future public engagement, introductory research in the history of reading, and engagement with the Reading Experience Database (RED). Colleagues at other institutions are already using these short videos as introductory research and training assets. They might also be used for future teaching at the Open University. 3. Workbooks and hand-outs using material from the Reading Experience Database (RED) for the facilitated reading groups have been shared with project partners and there is considerable interest in adapting this material or producing additional material for future public engagement events. The reading group workbooks were highly effective engagement and evaluation tools. 4. Engagement of RED volunteers in public engagement: 2 current Reading Experience Database (RED) volunteers were engaged and embedded very effectively in the public engagement events in Liverpool and Belfast respectively. This is a strategy which could be developed further volunteer engagement in publicly funded research. 5. Dissemination and public engagement experience from 'Reading Communities' has been successfully integrated into the new Reading Europe Advanced Data Investigation Tool (READ-IT) project, 2018-2021, https://readit-project.eu/ Impact from public engagement events emerging from this project from 2016 to the present are feeding into an Impact Case Study for REF2021 to be submitted by The Open University's English Unit of Assessment. |
| Sectors | Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/ |
| Description | 'Reading Communities' has continued to generate a number of impacts which are currently being materialised or developed further. Below are some examples of the non-academic impacts materialised during the project period: 1. The interview with WW2 veteran Rajinder Singh Dhatt on 16 September 2016 was additionally recorded by the UK Punjab Heritage Association and by Mark McKinstry of 502 Squadron (the Royal Air Force public engagement team). As part of our event, Mr Dhatt was also interviewed by 502 Squadron and the material will be used to boost ethnic minority recruitment by the Ministry of Defence. This is evidence of a direct societal and cultural impact facilitated by our project. 2. Our 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers' event on 6 June 2016 brought us into contact with the registered charity for homeless readers, StreetReads and their director, Rachel Cowan. As part of our follow-up event in Edinburgh on 22 November 2016 at Blackwell's Bookshop, we held a public book donation call for StreetReads, specifically trying to match up books requested by homeless readers with members of the public willing to buy or donate books (this was done through social media). Over 50 people attended our event on 22 November and some 50 books were donated to StreetReads as a result of our public call around the event. This is a direct societal impact that could be easily replicated in the future. 3. Our Belfast event on 12 April 2016 worked closely with our partner, Verbal Arts Co, to organise and facilitate reading group discussions. The impact on members of the public - in terms of ideas about the history of reading that were changed as a result of the workshop - was recorded through 2 video assets produced by the Open University, and 1 by the local television channel, Northern Visions NvTv. The NvTv feature (6 minutes) was broadcast as part of their local news programming on Friday 15 April 2016 at 6.30pm and is available as free reusable content on Vimeo. 4. Our Liverpool event on 10-11 March 2016 worked with The Reader Organisation, who work with people suffering from physical or psychological trauma and facilitate reading as therapy. Their presentation on the day and our facilitation of reading group sessions encouraged members of the public to reflect on what reading means to them. The impact on members of the public - in terms of ideas about the history of reading that were changed as a result of the workshop - was recorded through 2 video assets produced by the Open University (hosted on our project website and through YouTube). The project team remains engaged with all non-HEI partners that were identified in the original grant, as well as new partnerships that have since been developed (e.g. with StreetReads, The Reader, etc). Since 2016, a range of further follow-on public engagement for impact events have taken place across the UK, and thereby increasing public participation in on-going research projects, such as the UK-RED project and the new READ-IT project (2018-2021). There have been further successive public engagement events in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and the impact generated (change in public perception and voluntary engagement with research) is feeding into an Impact Case Study for REF2021 to be submitted by The Open University English Unit of Assessment. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Joint Programming Initiative for Cultural Heritage (JPICH) Digital Heritage Call (deadline 22/06/2017) transnational consortium |
| Amount | € 1,000,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Union |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers' event, 22 November 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Event: 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers' Place: Blackwell's Book Shop, Edinburgh South Bridge Activities: In partnership with the Open University in Scotland, and as part of the Scottish Book Trust's Book Week Scotland event and the 'Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities 2016', the Reading Communities team held another 1 day event on the theme of 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers'. 1. 'hands on' facilitated reading group activities, using entries from the Reading Experience Database (RED), flashcards, and post-it notes, to encourage members of the public to offer their own engagements with Edinburgh as a city of readers (and not just writers) 2. A drinks reception with public readings from the works of some of Scotland's leading contemporary writers - past and present. 7 contemporary published authors (poets, novelists and playwrights) were invited to read from their own work, and from short extracts from some of Scotland's leading writers (Scott, Stevenson, Spark, McCall Smith, Rankin), all on the theme of reading. 3. As part of the event, we also held a book collection with the Edinburgh charity for homeless readers, StreetReads. 4. Additional oral history interviews with members of public were also conducted on the day. Attendance: the event was sold out, with over 50 people attending on the day. The major impacts were facilitating greater support for Streetreads (the Edinburgh charity for homeless readers) from the public; collecting additional oral history interviews from members of the public; and changing the opinions of members of the public about the importance of Edinburgh as a city of readers (not just writers and publishers). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |
| Description | 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers': 7 June 2016 |
| 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 | Theme: 'Edinburgh: A City of Readers' Event activities: 1 day event. This event was held at the Edinburgh City Art Centre, and also involved a guided tour of the Writers' Museum Edinburgh. The theme 'Edinburgh: a city of reading' included the following events: 1. A Reading Experience Database (RED) workshop, using excerpts from the database about Edinburgh readers in the past; 2. Hands on facilitated reading group activities for the general public with flashcards and post-it notes - discussion facilitated by the project team; 3. A guided walking tour of the Writers' Museum Edinburgh; 4. Public readings of short extracts from the past and the present from Edinburgh readers, both famous and ordinary (writers featured included Scott, Stevenson, Spark, McCall Smith, and Rankin). Attendance (in person): 16 As well as the impact on members of the general public who had their understanding of reading in the city of Edinburgh changed (evidenced through evaluation feedback collected at the event), the main impact was an invitation to return to Edinburgh and work more closely with non-HEI partners for a further public engagement event, which took place on 22 November (listed separately). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |
| Description | 'Is there such a thing as a Northern Irish reader?' Belfast 12 April 2016 |
| 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 | Place/title: Belfast, 12 April 2016: 'Is there such a thing as a Northern Irish reader?' Theme: Reading and identity in Northern Ireland, with a focus on C.S. Lewis for facilitated reading group activities Event activities: Held in partnership with The Open University in Northern Ireland (Belfast) and Verbal Arts Centre (Derry), this event took place on 12 April 2016 in two locations: the OU Belfast office space (reading group activities), and at Belfast's oldest library, Linen Hall Library (established 1788) for an evening reception with readings and a drinks reception. The theme of the day was 'Is there such a thing as a Northern Irish reader?'. A Reading Experience Database (RED) workshop on the theme of Ulster readers in the database was followed by a volunteer ambassador public talk on C. S. Lewis, and an evening of public readings by some of Northern Ireland's leading contemporary poets and novelists. For full details and the programme, take a look at our flyer on the project website. For the facilitated reading group activity aimed at the general public, we provided a detailed C.S. Lewis reader (with extracts); facilitation was provided by Verbal Arts Co and their experienced reading group leaders. Attendance (in person): 23 Associated audio/visual assets: 2 short films (c. 6 minutes) were produced by our nominated production company (Evans Woolfe/LTS) and hosted on YouTube and the project website. These can be accessed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAhr_VCHnvI and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFegC8Fnz6w. In addition, Northern Visions (NvTv) interviewed project members and participants and produced an excellent 5 minute feature about the event, which was broadcast on Friday 15 April 2016 and can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/163725596 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |
| Description | 'Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present' Academic conference, 15 September 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Theme: 'Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present' academic event, 15 September 2016 Place: Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London Event:The "Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present" conference took place on 15 September 2016. There were 18 papers on the programme along with a plenary address on the Ministry of Information presented by Prof. Simon Eliot. There was a significant and diverse range of topics and time periods represented, extending from seventeenth-century Quaker reading circles, to reading in the London Blitz, to Shakespeare-themed LARPing (live-action role playing) in contemporary Sweden. 50 people attended the conference, including speakers. There was widespread international participation, with conference papers from speakers based in the USA, Canada and Sweden. The impact of this event was on the academic community, evidenced by the developments of plans lead by colleagues at other universities to propose a British Academy funded conference on 'Communities of Reading' in Autumn 2018. A selection of conference papers and additional invited submissions are currently being edited for publication in a 2 volume edited collection. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/node/14 |
| Description | 'Reading about Conflict': Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas event, 25 March 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Theme: 'Reading About Conflict' Place: Café on the Square, 6-8 Ulster Street, Belfast, BT1 3EW on 25 March 2019 (6.00-7.30PM). Impact/Audience: Some 30 people, mainly members of public and those with an interest in lifelong learning or reading group activities, took part. The main impact was changing the way in which audience members considered past readers (and historical research about reading) thereby discovering its importance and relevance to their own lives today. The main benefit for participants was being able to engage with reading experiences/extracts from the past, contribute to on-going Open University research projects via public contribution (such at the UK Reading Experience Database), and reflect on their own reading practices. Activity: This follow-on public engagement event as part of the 'Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas' offers two interrelated activities, dealing with reading during conflict in the past and present. 1. Hands-on facilitated reading group discussion by the project team (Towheed & King), with extracts from a range of memoirs/diaries/autobiographical accounts of reading during conflict. There was a focus on Northern Ireland and the troubles, as well as World War 2 and more recent conflicts (e.g. Afghanistan). 2. A slideshow of images of reading during conflict, to facilitate discussion and social media engagement. This public engagement activity is an additional outcome and contributes to the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas, 25-31 March 2019:https://imaginebelfast.com/the-2019-festival/ The event was shortlisted as one of the 10 'must not miss' events in the Imagine! Belfast Festival (there were over 90 events in the programme). Details at: https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/imagine-festival/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://imaginebelfast.com/the-2019-festival/ |
| Description | 'Reading and self-improvement': Liverpool, 10-11 March 2016, 2 day public engagement event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Theme: Reading and self-improvement, with a focus on working class autodidacts, and shared reading and wellbeing. Dates: Held over 2 days (10 and 11 March 2016). Events on 10 March took place at The Athenaeum Library; events on 11 March took place at the University of Liverpool Event activities: Held in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Liverpool, the 'Writing Lives' collaborative project, and The Athenaeum, the theme of this 2 day event was 'Reading and Self-Improvement' in the past and the present. Events included the following activities over 2 days: 1. A Reading Experience Database (RED) workshop on the history of reading in Liverpool with a series of talks on reading and improvement; 2. Facilitated reading groups and discussion groups for members of the public; 3. Public lectures on reading and Liverpool from a range of academic specialists in literature and history; 4. a guided tour and viewing of the 'Knowledge is Power' exhibition in the Victoria Gallery & Museum. Attendance (in person): 26 people over 2 days Associated audio/visual assets: 2 short films (c. 5 minutes each) were produced by our nominated production company (Evans Wolfe/LTS) and hosted on YouTube and the project website. Can be accessed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDmamxXGd8s and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eVYrcpKFoI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |
| Description | 'Reading in Conflict': Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas event, 15 March 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Theme: 'Reading in Conflict' Place: Waterstone's Belfast, 44-46 Fountain Street, Belfast, 15 March 2018, 7.00-8.30pm. Impact/Audience: Some 30 people, mainly members of public and those with an interest in lifelong learning or reading group activities, took part. The main impact was changing the way in which audience members considered past readers (and historical research about reading) thereby discovering its importance and relevance to their own lives today. The main benefit for participants was being able to engage with reading experiences/extracts from the past, contribute to on-going Open University research projects via public contribution (such at the UK Reading Experience Database), and reflect on their own reading practices. Activity: This follow-on public engagement event as part of the 'Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas' offers two interrelated activities, dealing with reading during conflict in the past and present. 1. Hands-on facilitated reading group discussion by the project team (Towheed & King), with extracts from a range of memoirs/diaries/autobiographical accounts of reading during conflict. There was a focus on Northern Ireland and the troubles, as well as World War 2 and more recent conflicts (e.g. Afghanistan). 2. A slideshow of images of reading during conflict, to facilitate discussion and social media engagement. This public engagement activity is an additional outcome and contributes to the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas, 12-18 March 2018: http://www.open.ac.uk/northern-ireland/events/imagine-festival-ideas-and-politics and https://imaginebelfast.com/the-2018-festival/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/northern-ireland/events/imagine-festival-ideas-and-politics |
| Description | 'Reading in Conflict': Imagine! The Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas event, 23 March 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Theme: 'Reading in Conflict' Place: Waterstone's Belfast, 44-46 Fountain Street, Belfast, 23 March 2017 Activity: This follow-on public engagement event as part of the 'Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas' offers two interrelated activities, dealing with reading during conflict in the past and present. 1. Hands-on facilitated reading group discussion by the project team (Towheed & Parmar), with extracts from a range of memoirs/diaries/autobiographical accounts of reading during conflict. There will be a focus on Northern Ireland and the troubles, as well as World War 2 and more recent conflicts (e.g. Afghanistan). 2. A slideshow of images of reading during conflict, to facilitate discussion and social media engagement. This public engagement activity is an additional outcome and contributes to the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas, 20-26 March 2017: http://imaginebelfast.com/events-at-a-glance/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://imaginebelfast.com/events-at-a-glance/ |
| Description | 'Reading, Memory, and World War': London 16 September 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Theme: 'Reading, Memory and World War' Place: Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London Event: public engagement workshop on Friday 16th September. The overall theme of the event was 'memory, reading, and world war'. We ran the following activities on this day: 1. Facilitated reading group sessions with hand-outs, flashcards, and post-it notes, looking at entries from the Reading Experience Database (RED) about reading during WW2; 2. An interview with WW2 veteran, Mr Rajinder Singh Dhatt, conducted by the project PI, about his memories of reading during the war. The interview was recorded by the UK Punjab Heritage Association and filmed by Mark McKinstry from RAF502 Squadron (public engagement and liaison). 3. A 'hands-on' talk by Stefan Dickers from the Great Diary Project, which included archival material that participants could see and touch. 4. A guided tour of the UK Punjab Heritage Association's touring WWI exhibition, which was housed in Senate House London for the day. 5. Oral history collection with 2 participants on their memories of reading during WW2 was also gathered on the day. Take a look at the flyer on the project website for the 16th September events. As well as the public engagement impact in terms of changing views about the importance of reading during wartime, the major impact from this event was showcasing testimonies and gathering oral histories of reading from people who lived through WW2. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |
| Description | Connecting Past and Present Readers: Insights from the 'Reading Communities' project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a conference presentation at the annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) in Victoria, Canada, on 12 June 2017. The conference was a combined event with the annual Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) at Victoria, and the presentation was attended by approximately 40 people. The talk was attended by academic researchers and students, and also by digital humanities practitioners, software developers, curators, and technologists. This was the first time that a book historical research project showcased public engagement for impact (rather than primary research per se) at the annual SHARP conference, and the main outcome to report is institutional change: from now on, SHARP annual conferences will include a strand of presentations on public engagement for impact as a result of my paper. Abstract of the presentation here: How do we encourage 21st century readers -- members of the reading public -- to engage with the wealth of historical evidence about reading practices available to us today? How can we help today's readers to relate to readers in the past on a personal level? How can facilitated shared reading group activities assist technologically sophisticated 21st century readers emotionally empathise with and effectively bring to life, the manually generated, archival evidences left by readers in the past? These are some of the questions asked by the "Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present" project, a 12 month Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded public engagement project that ran from December 2015 to December 2016. Drawing upon the extensive evidence (more than 34,000 records) of British readers (both famous and ordinary) contained in the UK Reading Experience Database, 1450-1945 (UK-RED), the "Reading Communities" team used some the historical, archive based records from the period c.1800-1945 found in UK-RED and presented these as points for personal reflection and engagement through facilitated reading group workshops. Through the course of 2016, the project team organised five UK city-based, thematically focussed public engagement events that used both current digital technology (digital engagement through social media and short audio-visual promotional material) and analogue, scribal methods (workbooks, flashcards and post-it notes) to help contemporary readers to connect, reinterpret, and reflect on readers in the past. Each of the events in Belfast, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Birmingham and London included facilitated shared reading group discussions, where historical records of reading were used to provoke a personal reflection and response, with participants encouraged to record their thoughts and feelings anonymously. We also concurrently ran an oral history interview strand, with select participants at each of the city events interviewed individually In the first part of this talk, I will provide a brief overview of how the facilitated workshops generated responses from participants and show examples of the different ways in which they personally responded to the extracts of readers from the past, demonstrating how the historical was fashioned into the personal by means of the reading group discussion. In the second part of the paper, I demonstrate evidence from the oral history interviews, showing how participants consistently linked their reading habits and practices learned in childhood and early adulthood with their current preferences and practices as readers. They also repeatedly drew attention to the material aspects of their preferred reading matter, and the importance of specific reading spaces. In many respects, the evidence offered by oral history participants strongly indicates the continuities of reading practices through time, rather than any dramatic shift in behaviour caused by the digital revolution. This paper offers some useful insights about strategies for engaging contemporary readers with their equivalents in the past. Despite the vast technological changes between 19th and 21st century readers, certain key affective responses seem to have been remarkably unchanged when considering the evidence trail that historical and contemporary readers chose to leave behind. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.sharp2017.com/program/ |
| Description | Connecting past and present readers: Insights from the 'Reading Communities' project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk and workshop presentation given at the University of Birmingham's Centre for Contemporary Literature and Culture (CCLC) on 6 November 2017, which was attended by approximately 20 people, a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate students, academic researchers, library staff, and members of current voluntary organisations. The talk (45 minutes) explained the 'Reading Communities' project and showed short audio visual clips of material gathered during the funded project period (1 December 2015-1 December 2016). This included excerpts from short video films as well as oral history testimonies. The workshop (45 minutes) replicated the facilitated reading group activities undertaken at all of the public engagement events with the participants attending on the day; this was effectively a 'hands-on' demonstration of the facilitated reading group activity that was central to the project. There was 30 minutes for questions. The impact outcome from this event was in raising awareness of the effectiveness of the mixed-methodology that we had used for both public engagement and information/evidence gathering, such as consistently using both online and hard copy evaluation, and gathering feedback via both audio-visual recordings and low tech means such as post-it notes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/english/events/2017/cclc-reading-communities.... |
| Description | Lost and Found Books and their Readers - public talk as part of the Being Human Festival, 2017 |
| 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 | The 'Lost and Found Books and their Readers' public engagement event was one of 6 events as part of 'Off the Grid: Lost and Found in Milton Keynes', a day festival included in the 'Being Human' 2017 Festival of the Humanities, and took place on 18 November 2017. 'Lost and Found Books and their Readers' featured three elements: (1) a public talk (20 minutes) on the theme of 'Lost and Found Books and their Readers'; (2) a facilitated reading group workshop event (30 minutes) with discussion; and (3) a free flowing all day long treasure hunt, located in the foyer of the Milton Keynes Theatre, with a prize draw to announce the winner. The event was attended by approximately 25 people and a member of the public won the treasure hunt prize (announced in person and via social media on the day). The main outcomes of the event were as follows: (1) strengthening our partnership and collaboration with the MK Gallery, MK Theatre, and local cultural organisations for future public engagement events; (2) contributing to the public festivities around the Milton Keynes 50th anniversary; (3) showcasing research for public engagement across the whole range of subject areas in our new Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Abstract for the whole day's series of 6 events: (4) developing new public engagement activities for future events. The abstract for the full 'Off the Grid' day programme is here: A day of family activities located in the heart of the city - it's not just concrete cows and roundabouts: Milton Keynes has a rich cultural history waiting to be rediscovered. In the city's 50th anniversary year, Off the Grid: Lost and Found in Milton Keynes brings together leading FASS researchers to uncover and share it's cultural life, including a literary treasure hunt, writing workshop, film, photographs, theatre, music, literary walking tours and public talks. For more details, take a look at the programme flyer and sign up online (only required for selected events). This is part of the Being Human Festival, the UK's only national festival for the humanities which seeks to promotes the humanities as accessible and relevant to people's everyday lives. The Open University is one of 89 universities and research organisations, planning to stage more than 300 events, in 54 cities and towns across the country. The Off the Grid team, led by Dr. Shafquat Towheed, have created a captivating programme to share FASS research with diverse audiences in ways that are accessible, engaging and fun. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://fass.open.ac.uk/events/grid-lost-and-found-milton-keynes |
| Description | Migration, Memory and Reading: Birmingham, 16 August 2016 |
| 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 | Theme: 'Migration, Memory and Reading' Place: Impact Hub Birmingham and Zellig (the Custard Factory) Birmingham, 16 August 2016 Event activities:This 1 day event was be held at the Impact Hub Birmingham, and the day's theme focused on 'migration and memories of reading', both in the past, and the present. The day's programme included the following: 1. Shared reading group activities with handouts, flashcards and post-it notes, facilitated by the project team; 2. A roundtable discussion forum with Dr Danielle Fuller (Birmingham University) and Dr Gauri Raje (anthropologist and community storyteller) chaired by Dr Shafquat Towheed (project PI) - this was recorded and an edited audio recording and images are available to the public; 3. An oral history collection workshop on the theme of 'Migration, Memory and Reading', where members of the public told us about their family histories of reading. 3 oral history interviews (up to 1 hour each) were collected on the day. 4. An engagement with the Birmingham Book Trail and reading benches through a visit to Zellig, to conduct intergenerational reading activities on their reading benches. 5. The event concluded with a public performance at the Impact Hub by Gauri Raje, of her storytelling piece 'Tales of Exile and Sanctuary'. Take a look at our flyer on the project website for more information. As well as the impact in terms of changed perceptions of the importance of migrants' memories of reading from participants, the main impact was increasing awareness and participation in the oral history collection strand, with follow-up oral history interviews conducted in Birmingham on 15 October 2016. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.open.ac.uk/research/reading-communities/events |