#newsable studio

[n-meredith-creativetech]

Reflection Post

This project has been experimental and loosely structured, I heavily relied on community engagement. It was a risky move to rely on the material of the project to reach others and grow it into something bigger than just my own input.

I think the looseness to the structure of the project stemmed from not really knowing what I wanted to achieve with it. I sought of embrace this fact. I put out content I though people would respond to, to further community engagement and to see what others had to say. This provided the backbone of the project, I ended up aggregating ‘untold’ stories within the G.I community to share what’s happening in Glen Innes.

The collaborative and flexible approach to this project allowed for spontaneous and reactive content. I did not have a set list of interviewees who were to be involved, and this was also the first time people reached to get involved with a uni project. Each interview happened organically.

The only the thing that was set in this project was not compromising the authenticity of this project to further certain narratives or agendas, I just wanted to give people a wallflowers insight to the changes happening in G.I.

[n-meredith-creativetech]

Glen Innes: Untold

Here is the website I’ve done to supplement the social media page and blog. Each platform give users the opportunity to engage with the content on a different level.

Because I’ve just (mostly) finished I haven’t had the opportunity to push this as much as I’ve wanted. I do plan to add to the website and promote through my blog and social media page.

(I am looking into purchasing a ‘proper’ domain name)

[n-meredith-creativetech]

Names: Veronica, Benji, Vera & Olalini

Veronica, Benji, Vera & Olalini are all cousins. I went to St. Pius X school with them in Glen Innes. All of them lived on Melling Street, which has been decimated under the housing redevelopment plans. This interview reminisces fond memories of what Melling Street used to be and what Glen Innes stood for. The interview underlines the connection to Glen Innes is deeper than just living here but stresses the importance of community identity.

The housing redevelopment literally trampled over this families childhood/well being, effectively telling them that the bonds and connections that they’ve established growing up in this neighbourhood meant nothing.

Unlike the other interview this was done as group. Veronica, Benji, Vera and Olalini highlight the extensive changes that Melling Street has undergone in a short space of time.

This group interview shows how young people who grew up in Glen Innes are impacted by the housing redevelopment in Glen Innes.

[n-meredith-creativetech]

'Tamaki youths are great'

Several Tamaki community groups are banding together on a social media campaign to share a positive light of youth in the area.

Momma I’m Famous

G.I. Untold gets mentioned in this article

Here’s an article that documents the social change campaign that I was apart of through the G.I. Untold project.

[n-meredith-creativetech]

Closing in on 1k likes

The support for this project has been overwhelmingly positive. There was a need for a project like this and I felt that I needed to tell the story of what’s happening in Glen Innes.

People have been sending me material, encouraging messages and donations for my interviewees. I see this page of a collection of stories, almost like an archive as a tribute to was Glen Innes is/was.

Collaboration, friendships and future projects have come as a result of this project. I am enjoying working in this space both digital and location wise.

[n-meredith-creativetech]

My Street, My Story

I came into this project knowing work needed to be done in Tamaki about the housing situation, but I was quite naive about how and why. Progressing with this project allowed me to form a more cohesive message and formulate a clearer direction of this project.

From talking with others (interviews) and interacting with other on social media I was able to gain a fuller picture of how I felt about all of this as well as get a better feel for the general consensus about the Tamaki Housing redevelopment.

[n-meredith-creativetech]

This video was made to introduce the area of Point England into my project as my next interviewee was from this area. I thought making this video would open up the alias of G.I. untold and be more inclusive and open to stories that lie just outside Glen Innes’ boundaries (although Point England used to be apart of Glen Innes.) 

I did think of changing the name of G.I. Untold to something more inclusive such as Tamaki untold but I feel that G.I. Untold has a nice ring to it and Glen Innes is at the hub of where all this redevelopment is taking place. (Also I’m from G.I.)

[n-meredith-creativetech]

Side Project

This video was created as the start of a social media campaign that was initiated following my previous interview.

The basic synopsis of this campaign was spreading a positive message that focused on youth in Tamaki on social media platforms with the #79Reasons.

The significance of 79

79 is synonymous in Tamaki with Glen Innes, with G being the 7th letter in the alphabet and I being the 9th. 

Pages such as Heart Movement, Humans of Tamaki, Te Oro were involved in this project. This project partially motivated negative opinions following the brutal carjacking in Panmure last month which landed a 65-year-old Asian woman in hospital. I did not entirely agree with this premise because it almost felt like trying to force a narrative in response to this atrocious incident but I saw it as a good opportunity to add my 2 cents in what was being said.

A schedule was developed and we were to contribute a post with a few reasons on ‘why Tamaki youth were great’ when it was our turn to post. We were to share each post and continued to do this until collectively there were 79 reasons.

Obviously this campaign did not directly relate to my course work but I thought it had potential and with the growing facebook audience of G.I. Untild page I could to shape a narrative that I thought was suitable for the #79Reasons campaign. (I only shared relevant post on the G.I. Untold page I run.)