Changify King's Cross - our first public event
As D4SC is building the Changify platform to get public and brand backing for local ideas, improvements and projects; people-powered data gathering and rating of things you notice at street level is at the heart of what we're about. Going beyond top-down notions of 'engagement' and talk of 'enabling' people (as if they're currently bereft of motivation, or lack articulate thoughts and a willingness to express them), we're firm believers in developing a framework that surfaces, synchs with and situates real desires and needs. That requires doing stuff collaboratively from day one, shaping experiences and outcomes through the process of marrying data with action, and repeating this often... Our first such outing was on 7th November in King's Cross.
With the Centre for Creative Collaboration #C4CC as our base, the historic and rapidly transforming King's Cross area - that straddles Camden and Islington Council boroughs - became the setting for a night of discovery, data collection and real-time analysis...
After a quickfire summary of the forthcoming Changify platform and toolkit, plus an introduction to earlier innovations in mapping and collecting social data in London pioneered by Charles Booth and his famous Poverty Map of 1898 (collated over 12 years of assiduous data gathering!), 35 people were handed pieces of chalk and armed with these and their charged-up mobile phones set off in two groups on guided tours (with a twist) of the King's Cross area.
During the walks, led by accredited Blue Badge guides, they gained insight into the past and current local context of the neighbourhood. One story revealed how the clean waters of the subterranean River Fleet led to the area becoming a global epicentre of public health care and medical innovation in the late Victorian era, a legacy still tangible in the numerous local hospitals and nearby Wellcome Trust and Collection headquarters.
Other more contemporary stopping points included London's newest street and postcode, King's Boulevard, N1C, where playful public art and restored landmark buildings with a renewed purpose sit accessibly amid what is currently the UK's biggest building site. And Drink Shop & Do, a multi-purpose venue mixing cakes, drinks and dancing with creative classes, art and objects galore exhibited for sale all under one roof.
In turn the groups turned roving citizen-reporters. They photographed and tweeted local issues, inspirations and brands spotted en route, chalking their ratings in situ, and collating data to discuss, map and rate when everyone returned to the venue.
Piles of rubbish, classic street furniture, barbed wire fences, Pret A Manger, McDonald's, and even a location from the Harry Potter films in Kings Cross Railway Station all came under scrutiny. Then the positives and negatives were documented, rated and weighed up afterwards, as were potential solutions and roles for brands to play in delivering them.
As a pilot outing, the event helped lay the ground for our future local events and make concrete some of the needs of the new Changify app and platform. But it also proved that turning a citizen's eye on your locality is in equal measures mind-expanding and exciting, even whilst darker and more conflicting facts are noted.
Photos from our #Changify King's Cross event on 7th November are on Flickr and Pinterest. Many thanks to our host partners at the Centre for Creative Collaboration for their support. And thanks of course to our dynamic crew of citizen spotters, reporters and mappers at large! -- Our next event #Changify Shoreditch is being held over the weekend of 14-16th December with a special Early Bird ticket rate if you're quick! BOOKINGS & MORE INFO HERE. Follow Changify on Twitter for more updates.