Hi everyone, Today we're going to talk about co-production, what it means to engage audiences and community groups and get them to participate and actually develop projects where, they have, do their search, come up with ideas, pull everything together and create a project. We have Liam Cunningham who works on the Layers of London Project, and he works on coordinating volunteers, but also communications. Hi Liam, and thanks a lot for being here. Thank you for having me. So can you tell us a bit about, projects like History of My School and other community projects where, a community gets involved and co-produces some public history Initiative. Yeah. Well, I think a lot of the things that we do, through Layers of London is all with the goal of getting as many people involved as pull get public to, realize that it's not just a matter of being a consumer of history, but also that, it's possible to, create and develop the project alongside the project team like us. So we have a lot of objects on the go at moment, we collaborate with different organizations like, the National Trust at the moment we're doing a project on the history of corner shops where, members of the public will be involved in going around and interviewing, the owners of corner shops, to find out the stories that are behind the seemingly what's a banal thing like a corner shop that you go to everyday, but actually that there might be a very interesting personal story behind that, and that can also reflect, a wider story about society in general. The History of My School Project is one of the newest things that we're starting at the moment. So it's something that we're trying to get spread all over London and get pupils and teachers involved in researching and writing a history of their school and putting it up online on Layers of London. With projects like that, how do you find, the community to actually get involved? How do you promote it and what makes it appealing to them in your experience? I think a lot of people are interested in doing, some research into different topics that they might be interested in, but a lot of people might not know an outlet for, this kind of work. So I think what Layers of London does is, provide a structure and some guidance on how to get started and then a place where you could put your research, which is the website Layers of London. So we find these groups, cause we're a digital project, primarily, a lot of it is through the Internet, so we, promote our work on social media, but also send out volunteer opportunities to say, universities or different local history groups for people who might be interested in doing some research. Usually we find that people are very enthusiastic about getting involved. So even people who don't have a specialist knowledge, what do you think? Is there a certain way that you make things appealing to them? I think making it clear that what we're really interested in is people, who aren't professionals in history, is that we think that, the perspective of everyday people is very important and that's what the website is about getting everyone involved in this co-production,as creating the project and making it something that, the public in general can feel a sense of ownership over. What kind of support do you find is needed or expected by members of the public or helpful. Well I think it's really creating a community, group spirit. So with that in mind, whenever we start one of our projects, we always have an introductory session for people to come along and meet us and also meet each other, the other people who are interested. So I think what that really serves to do is that, it gives you a sense of shared purpose and that you're working towards something that has a legacy. Okay. Like with the History of My School, it's different in a way because say teachers are designed, presumably that they're going to do something. What do you think will make it exciting to them? Or makes a thing like History of My School exciting to the people as you're going to do it. I think the History of My School Project should be very interesting. We're just getting started at the moment but I think, we really wanted to do something, that gets pupils the, sense that there is history all around them. That maybe they study history in like big events like, world wars or Tudor times in their school books, but that actually, their school which is a place they go everyday has probably a very interesting story, behind it as well. So I think, getting students to think about that and then also trying to create a sense of community that wouldn't just be within one school but across London, because we're trying to get as many schools involved as possible. So just think of it as a wider project that will lead to, very useful resource, which is lots of different stories about lots of different schools around the city. You find that the element of competition is a useful one, or can it be a useful way of getting people to, take part? That's what we're going to introduce into the history of my school project. Part of this is that once a school has finished, that they will then go on social media to challenge the neighboring schools to complete the history of my school as well. What are some of your successes, in terms of giving example to someone who is developing a new project, what would you advise them to do? One of the projects that we started before Christmas was all about mapping London's pubs. That's proved to be a big heist because we had lots of active volunteers, maybe more than 20 people who are regularly contributing to the website with stories of London's pubs. I think it was a very focused project. It had a clear purpose of gathering the stories and photographs of the various pubs that are all over London and clear outcome of we'll have this resource at the end. I think that would be a very clearly defined goals is important part of a project, but also it was a good example of instilling that community spirit because we've got everyone together and we found that the people who were interested in doing this project had a lot in common, it was easy for them to get along, and I think I also keep communicating even when are not leading us necessarily. It takes on a life of its own kind of. Are there any examples that weren't as successful? If so, can you suggest why? I think another one of the projects we were trying to get off the ground was getting people to share things they did a Christmas time on website, and it didn't go so well because I think it was hard for people to understand why that story would be valuable. Because I think for us we're always trying to get more a personal stories. But I think for the everyday person, you don't really see the value in your own story but may be you do when it's other people. But I think we just didn't make it clear enough what we're after and why we would benefit. In your role is working on communications. What steps could you share with people in order to think about how to communicate their projects and get people to take an interest? Yeah, well, I think one of the most important things you can do is put yourself in the shoes of the consumer or the audience of who's going to be seeing your work, and think about first, what would catch the job, what would you see, and what would make you interested or what we would catch your attention? And think about the kind of things that you already do and how you could communicate about your project in that respect. But not just from your own perspective mood. Put yourself in the shoes of people who aren't like you are from a different background or who have different interests, but tried to figure out what people are interested in and going with that strategy like this. Well, can you give us an example of how you've done that? When we were just developing a strategy, there's an exercise that we did where you name three people who are totally different from each other, generic people and ask yourself various questions like what do they do and what are they interested in? What do they want and what do they not want? You answer all these questions about these people and then it gives you a sense of how you're going to target different groups, and you have to make generalizations to begin with. But then once you go on into strategy, you can see what works over time and make adjustments as necessary. What about using social media? What have you found to be the most effective thing? It's important not to use social media as news board for your activities and advertising what you're doing. But also to be engaging with the other people who are out there so to post interesting things and photographs or funny stories. Those are things that grab people's attention and that make people share things and that's what builds your audience. Then you have a bigger number of people paying attention to your activities that you're trying to get people involved in. Basically you entertain people and they pay attention to you. Yeah.[LAUGHTER] With the pubs project which you mentioned, what do you think makes it so successful as a co-creation project, that other people could follow? I think what was good about that is because there are already a lot of people out there, people who ran websites about pubs in London. You are very interested in topics, so there's enough really ready to get on board and then carry with them their networks. I think it's good to think about projects that have a built-in audience and that there's already people who are enthusiastic about this. Like football clubs for example. Yeah. That kind of thing. Well, is there anything else you'd like to share or any words of wisdom you'd like to share with people working on co-production and Communication? Well, I think when you're just starting out, it's hard to know what's going to work and what's not going to work. Sometimes things like social media campaigns that I've thought we're going to retake off and I put a lot of work into, didn't go anywhere, and other things that I hardly my thoughts into had a big reaction. I think it's just when you get started into trying lots of different things and just analyze what your successes have been and affiliates have been, and then you can make the adjustments necessary to succeed. Thank you. Well, thanks a lot. I mean, it was really interesting and informative and I'm sure that it will be a very useful tool for people to think about as they develop their own projects.[MUSIC]
