Structures of Participation in the “University of Local Knowledge”

Abstract

―Structures of Participation‖ concerns a recent media arts project, the University of Local Knowledge (ULK). ULK is simultaneously a critique of established academic institutions and disciplines and a system for self-organized learning among the residents of Knowle West, an area of south Bristol (UK). Beginning in 2009, the Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) in Bristol facilitated this digital and face-to-face collaboration, aiming to uncover and celebrate local skills, talents and wisdom. While phase one of ULK focuses on making tacit knowledge explicit in videos, phase two is particularly concerned with how the content areas of the videos are organized or restructured by those who shared their experiences and ideas. This article examines ways in which ULK creates structures to invite Knowle West residents to participate in knowledge-sharing and self-organized learning

Keywords

• Knowle West, local knowledge, community knowledge, self-organized learning, video art