UniverCity Culture: Mapping Manchester Digitally with University teaching & research
New students to SAHC routinely cite the city of Manchester, its cultural scenes, 'buzz' and heritage as one of the main reasons for choosing the University as their place of study. At the same time, the University produces an incredible volume of work on the urban culture of Manchester, its cultural and creative assets, heritage sites and spaces through student projects, dissertations and staff research. Very often this work is unknown beyond the relevant academic circles, and both prospective and current students are unaware of either previous or current work on Manchester culture by other students or staff. This potentially creates the false first impression that the University is not actively engaging with the city's culture and heritage institutions in teaching and research.
This project aims to tackle this discrepancy by making University research on Manchester's cultural practices and places more visible to prospective and current students. By doing so, this project connects the students, their University and their work to the city, its culture and heritage. The project will use off the shelf and freely available web-based and mobile technologies to digitally annotate Manchester's cultural/historic/heritage environment with information on student projects, dissertations and staff research outputs. With more students arriving to the University with mobile 'smart' phones, accustomed to experiencing and navigating the city through online maps and GPS technologies, it is important to create opportunities for them to connect with the city and the University through a familiar medium. Google Maps and the mobile application Foursquare will be used to annotate the city. These annotations will be available to anyone using the SAHC Google map and 'checking in' those places through Foursquare. By leaving digital 'tips' and information about studies and projects that are tied to particular cultural and heritage sites (e.g. museums, galleries, archives, art organisations and monuments), this project will foster SAHC students' identity and enrich prospective and current students' understanding and experience of cultural and heritage sites by showcasing the variety and richness of related University work.
Project Aims
- Demonstrate to prospective and current students the variety and richness of University of Manchester teaching and research related to the city's culture and heritage
- Annotate cultural, historic and heritage places of Manchester with brief information on University of Manchester (SAHC) student projects and dissertations and staff research activities that examine historical, social, community and other aspects of those places
- Provide these annotations through web- and mobile-based mapping platforms (Google maps and Foursquare)
- Increase visibility and relevance of the University teaching and research to the city
If you would like to find out more about the project visit the UniverCity Culture Blog
You can contact us at UniverCityCulture@gmail.com; or email Dr Kostas Arvanitis, kostas.arvanitis@manchester.ac.uk