Capacity Building Workshops
Volunteers play a critical role in My Community so we go all out to equip and empower them to effectively execute programmes. They are encouraged to upgrade their existing skills and acquire new ones via our capacity building workshops.
Capacity Building Workshops
My Community organises capacity building workshops on a monthly basis. These include guide training and cultural mapping workshops. Volunteers can sign up to learn how to be effective guides and cultural mappers, among other things.
Oral history interviews record and capture an individual’s experience of the past. Usually conducted face-to-face, oral history interviews present researchers the opportunity to get a closer look at the raw emotions behind interviewees’ recollections. Oral history accounts are useful in supplementing textual sources and helping to fill information gaps. Despite the possibility of factual errors or biases emerging in oral history, it remains a reliable method of understanding past events, especially when researchers succeed in gathering a large number of interviewees where accounts line up and overlap.
There are three general stages in conducting oral history interviews: planning the project, conducting the interview itself, and then selecting and transcribing interviews.
The planning stage sets the tone and foundation of the project, and it is essential that researchers acquire a deep understanding of their subject matter before conducting the interview.
Finding suitable candidates for interviews is also important. Interviewers must also adhere to some basic protocol. For instance, interviewees must be supplied with sufficient information about the interview and project’s scope. Explaining the purpose of the interview is good practice, and can help to assure interviewees.
Researchers should be well-prepared and draft a sound structure for the interview before the session commences. A common starting point is to ask the respondent about his or her family background and childhood. This not only puts the interviewee at ease but also allows the interviewer to gain some insight into the participant’s life. Good researchers are able to draw out details from their interviewees, and direct the conversation back to the research topic if the conversation digresses. Putting himself or herself in the shoes of the interviewee also allows the researcher to demonstrate empathy.
Finally, researchers should go about transcribing interviews, and later focus their efforts on building on new information and historical insights which might have surfaced during the session
Cultural Mapping is a process where information and assets describing and detailing social networks, patterns of usage of a place as well as the lived experiences of a community are collected and organised. Cultural mapping allows governments and planning agencies to identify distinctive cultural assets and resources of a city. Such knowledge can be applied to community development, cultural planning and strategy building work. Through such content, researchers and governments can develop a better understanding of the community before new urban planning policies are executed.
There are three stages to cultural mapping: framing, mapping and analysing.
During the framing stage, researchers set goals and objectives and determine the scope and scale of the mapping exercise. In addition, they identify potential interviewees, work out budgets and sort out resources.
Two approaches – technological and community – are employed during data-collection. The technological approach involves using three-dimensional modelling and global information systems to document places in a spatial manner. The community approach involves community participation such as the contribution of hand-drawn maps, as well as audio and video surveys capturing memories and experiences of the everyday person.
Objective setting is essential in any curation project, regardless of its scale. Understanding the objectives and functions of the project at hand allows the curatorial team to set the direction for its development.
Identifying the resources available also allows teams to adjust their desired objectives and work to make the project achievable. Critical resources include space, manpower, budget as well as records or artefacts for content development. Good content is derived from sound research and creative storytelling.
During the development phase, curation teams should consider the type of materials, content and design to be deployed for the exhibition. Materials used should be resistant to weather elements as well as wear-and -tear. The project should also be well-designed to enhance its appeal.
After installation, teams can assess their performance by harvesting feedback from visitors. They should also start preparing a development plan that specifies the maintenance schedules for the project.
Participatory design involves roping in a project’s key stakeholders and important publics during the design process.
My Community’s Participatory Design workshops equip our volunteers with a suite of skills to facilitate conversations with residents and members of the community to co-create and co-design museum and cultural spaces.
There are many upsides to participatory design. Hidden stories and forgotten memories tend to resurface. Important opinions are shared and brilliant ideas are formed. Products are not completed in silos but executed in collaboration with stakeholders and audiences.
My Community strongly believes in participatory design and dialogue. Public contributions are critical for the holistic completion of its heritage projects and are deemed essential for direction setting.
How is a tour developed? Broadly speaking, there are four phases to it.
The first involves identifying the best sites and pit stops through focus group sessions, town halls and community noticeboards.
The second leg involves fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of a potential tour route and place in question. Conducting archival research, collecting community stories and befriending local stakeholders are some of the ways in which critical insider knowledge can be built up.
The third phase revolves around stitching together a feasible, safe and walkable tour route; pulling together an operations and logistics plan; and developing an effective engagement system for the many stakeholders involved.
Along the way, guides are equipped with important skills to help them draft audience-centric tour papers, among other things.
Finally, in the fourth phase, refinements to tour programmes and routes are made. Newer guides are paired with veterans and taken on live tours to build up their confidence and familiarise them with the route and its relevant stakeholders.