A PDF copy of pages 144-145 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'WikiHouse Prototype'. Photos with permission: Wikihouse through Creative Commons
Fiona Farrell has been awarded the $100,000 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer's Fellowship to research and write twin books, one fiction and one non-fiction, inspired by her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes and the rebuilding of the city.
Gap Filler Creative Director, Coralie Winn, at Gap Filler's "Film in the Gap!" project in Beckenham. The red Southern Espresso Rescue van can be seen in the background, selling coffee to the audience.
A photograph of the 'Thinking Outside the Square' installation in the window of the Beggs Music building on Colombo Street.
A photograph of the 'Thinking Outside the Square' installation in the window of the Beggs Music building on Colombo Street.
Gap Filler Creative Director, Coralie Winn, at Gap Filler's "Film in the Gap!" project in Beckenham. The red Southern Espresso Rescue van can be seen in the background, selling coffee to the audience.
A photograph of the 'Thinking Outside the Square' installation in the window of the Beggs Music building on Colombo Street.
A photograph of street art on the back wall of the AJ Creative Glass building on Fitzgerald Avenue. The photographer attributes the work to Deus. The art work is titled "Li'l Elliot".
A photograph of street art on the back wall of the AJ Creative Glass building on Fitzgerald Avenue. The photographer attributes the work to Deus. The art work is titled "Li'l Elliot".
A photograph Deputy Mayor Vicki Buck (left) standing next to balloons that are about to be released. Buck was the MC of the event. Worries and wishes have been written on the balloon. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
A photograph of balloons about to be released. Worries and wishes are written on the balloons. In the foreground, a ONE News cameraperson films the events. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
A photograph of balloons about to be released. Worries and wishes are written on the balloons. In the foreground, a ONE News cameraperson films the events. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
The Christchurch earthquakes caused devastating damage to many of the city’s creative spaces. But rising from the rubble has been the Isaac Theatre Royal under the watchful eye of Neil Cox. He’s directed the resurrection of one of the premiere performance spaces in the country.
A copy of the program for the screenings of Elizabeth Guthrey's film series 'Dancing Through Impermanent Spaces'. The films are a creative response to the earthquakes in Christchurch and were shown as part of the Christchurch Body Festival 2014.
A copy of the poster used to advertise screenings of Elizabeth Guthrey's film series 'Dancing Through Impermanent Spaces'. The films are a creative response to the earthquakes in Christchurch and were shown as part of the Christchurch Body Festival 2014.
A photograph of people preparing to cut The Worry Bug Project cake. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
A photograph of Andrew Just from F3 Design (left) and Martin Trusttum, CPIT Faculty of Creative Arts, giving a talk about ArtBox on the corner of St Asaph Street and Madras Street. The public talk was part of FESTA 2012.
A PDF copy of pages 348-349 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Thinking Outside the Square'. Photos: Gap Filler
A photograph of people checking out Maia and the Worry Bug. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
An honours-level thesis report by Shermine Kwok, an undergraduate student from the National University of Singapore. Shermine attended the University of Canterbury on an exchange in 2012. Inspired by the resilience of Christchurch and its residents, she returned to Christchurch to study the creative urban regeneration efforts since the earthquakes of 2010 - 2011.
A photograph of street art on Fitzgerald Avenue, near the On Fitz cafe. On the left is a painting of a waxeye bird. Next to it is written "South bound". On the right is a painting of a blue-skinned figure. Next to the man is written "Li'l Elliot.
A photograph of Tracey Chambers and her daughter giving a presentation at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School. Chambers is from The Canterbury Community Trust, who helped to finance The Worry Bug Project.
A photograph of balloons about to be released. Worries and wishes are written on the balloons. In the foreground is Tracey Chambers from The Canterbury Community Trust. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
A photograph of Tracey Chambers and her daughter at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School. Chambers is from The Canterbury Community Trust, who helped to finance The Worry Bug Project.
A photograph of Tracey Chambers and her daughter giving a presentation at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School. Chambers is from The Canterbury Community Trust, who helped to finance The Worry Bug Project.
A photograph of balloons about to be released. Worries and wishes are written on the balloons. In the foreground is Tracey Chambers from The Canterbury Community Trust. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
A photograph of balloons about to be released. Worries and wishes are written on the balloons. In the foreground is Tracey Chambers from The Canterbury Community Trust. The photograph was taken at The Worry Bug book launch at St Albans School on 8 July 2015.
This paper reports on a service-learning public journalism project in which postgraduate journalism students explore ways to engage with and report on diverse communities. Media scholars have argued that news media, and local newspapers in particular, must re-engage with their communities. Likewise, journalism studies scholars have urged educators to give journalism students greater opportunities to reflect on their work by getting out among journalism’s critics, often consumers or citizens concerned about content and the preparation of future journalists. The challenge for journalism educators is to prepare students for working in partnership with communities while also developing their ability to operate reflectively and critically within the expectations of the news media industry and wider society. The aim of this project has been to help students find ways to both listen and lead in a community, and also reflect on the challenges and critiques of community journalism practices. The project began in 2013 with stories about residents’ recovery following the devastating 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, and aimed to create stories that could contribute to community connection and engagement, and thereby resilience and recovery. The idea was inspired by research about post-disaster renewal that indicated that communities with strong social capital and social networks were more resilient and recovered more quickly and strongly. The project’s longer-term aim has been to explore community journalism practices that give greater power to citizens and communities by prioritising listening and processes of engagement. Over several months, students network with a community group to identify subjects with whom they will co-create a story, and then complete a story on which they must seek the feedback of their subject. Community leaders have described the project as a key example of how to do things “with people not to people”, and an outstanding contribution to the community-led component of Canterbury’s recovery. Analysis of student reflections, which are a key part of each year’s project, reveals the process of engaging with communities has helped students to map community dynamics, think more critically about source relationships, editorial choices and objectivity norms, and to develop a perspective on the diverse ways they can go about their journalism in the future. Each year, students partner with different groups and organisations, addressing different themes each time the project runs. For 2016, the programme proposes to develop the project in a new way, by not just exploring a community’s stories but also exploring its media needs and it aims to work with Christchurch’s new migrant Filipino community to develop the groundwork for a community media and/or communication platform, which Filipino community leaders say is a pressing need. For this iteration, journalism students will be set further research tasks aimed at deepening their ‘public listening’: they will conduct a survey of community members’ media use and needs as well as qualitative research interviews. It is hoped that the data collected will strengthen students’ understanding of their own journalism practice, as well as form the basis for work on developing media tools for minority groups who are generally poorly represented in mainstream media. In 2015, the journalism programme surveyed its community partners and held follow-up interviews with 13 of 18 story subjects to elicit further feedback on its news content and thereby deepen understanding of different community viewpoints. The survey and interview data revealed the project affected story subjects in a number of positive and interesting ways. Subjects said they appreciated the way student reporters took their time to build relationships and understand the context of the community groups with which they were involved, and contrasted this with their experience of professional journalists who had held pre-conceived assumptions about stories and/or rushed into interviews. As a direct consequence of the students’ approach, participants said they better trusted the student journalists to portray them accurately and fairly. Most were also encouraged by the positive recognition stories brought and several said the engagement process had helped their personal development, all of which had spin-offs for their community efforts. The presentation night that wraps up each year’s project, where community groups, story subjects and students come together to network and share the final stories, was cited as a significant positive aspect of the project and a great opportunity for community partners to connect with others doing similar work. Community feedback will be sought in future projects to inform and improve successive iterations.
I want to talk a bit about a media project that I started work on over the summer, which is part of a larger project the Faculty of Law at Canterbury is carrying out, investigating the many legal issues that have arisen from the earthquakes.
A photograph of Andrew Just from F3 Design (left) and Martin Trusttum, CPIT Faculty of Creative Arts, arranging models of the temporary ArtBox gallery on the corner of St Asaph Street and Madras Street. The photograph was taken during a public talk, which was part of FESTA 2012.