It's been quite a few weeks since I last posted about something I'd provisionally called CitizenRelay. Time for an update.  This project, funded by our partners at Creative Scotland, is now into the detailed planning stage and with that come the strains and stresses of turning the vision of a bus full of citizen reporters tracking the Olympic Torch Relay around the hills (cities) and glens of Scotland into reality. Citizen Relay Scotland launches on 6th March with an event at UWS' Hamilton Campus which you're all invited to attend.  We'll lay out the background the project, the CitizenRelay intern roles we're recruiting for and the training that CitizenRelay reporters will receive to enable them to report the Torch Relay as its speeds across the length and breadth of the country.  Eight interns will be recruited to help co-ordinate activity in the four 'regions' we've designated.  This recruitment process has already begun and we've received some fabulous 'pitches' from experienced students and recent graduates.  

 

We're using social media actively to push the message about #CitizenRelay (@CitizenRelay) and this approach has also borne fruit in what I would describe as the 'sister event' that I'm also heavily involved in at the moment. UWSInteractive Festival (@UWSInteractive), directed by our very own Jennifer Jones runs across UWS' four campuses at the start of March and within the programme I'm responsible for co-ordinating a set of social media surgeries for students.  These surgeries are being staffed by staff and students, a community of practice around social media in the university.  Student champions, working closely with the UWS Student Association and staff from service departments including the UWS Library (@UWSlibrary) and Careers (@UWSElink, demonstrate that innovation and collaboration is possible across a multi-campus institution. Which brings me to the last phrase in the title of this post. The involvement of students in the initiatives discussed here reflects the commitment of a group of staff ay my institution to embrace the ethos behind student as producer.  Rather than be passive consumers of the educational products we provide, the CitizenRelay and UWSInteractive Festival are build on the foundation of student empowerment and creativity - allied to the liberation of staff from their restricted frame of reference too.  We're affecting the conditions of possibility - get involved if you can.