A beginning

• Video is the new black.
• Citizen engagement is paramount.
• Vancouver gushes cultural fusion and glories in progressive social ideas.

All of that might be true and at the core of this civic jewel lies the DTES, Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood - our inner city.

Everything your mind conjures on reading the term "inner city" applies. The degree depends on who is telling the story. One group is Pivot Legal Society, their housing report Cracks in the Foundation paints a comprehensive picture of housing stock in the DTES. Another is the Downtown Eastside Residents Association , DERA.

You can get other perspectives from developers, government and police.

That's a lot of energy and vitriol focused on one postal code. There's positioning.

There's also humanity, tenderness, community.

For the past three years Pivot reminds us of the human factor with their annual calendar Hope in Shadows. Here's an overview. Oh! The calendar is worth buying .. better yet buy a print - proceeds are shared with the artist.

It doesn't take much thinking to go from "a picture is worth ..." to a moving picture is worth.

And that thought happened next ...

Timely update: April 3, 2007

The CBC is reporting the provincial government will acquire CDN$ 80 MM of housing stock. Here's the government press release.

Okay, I'm going to ask something here with the hope of learning from you.

Some months back you used the term "hollow formulation" regarding my Citizen Life magazine project. As best as I could understand (from research on the term) was that it means a lack of clarity due to being overly complicated.

I bring this up for two reasons; the first being, as I read your opening I couldn't help asking "What's the purpose of the project", which I think speaks to its lack of clarity, and the second, since its at the ground-level stage I can follow your efforts and hopefully see how you develop its formulation so that the project is not hollow.

cj

Peter, this could be interesting. One of the things I am passionate about is what we could term here, as a place-holder, citizen-led monitoring and evaluation.

Video (well, photography, whether motion or still) can play a big role in that area of citizen engagement.

Ultimately, because monitoring and evaluation should be "evidence-based."

Nothing better at at demonstrating "evidence" than a camera.

So maybe one aspect to this project could be to ask, "Okay, what is the promise of BC government vis our culture, housing stock, whatever?"

From there, invite various groups to collect "evidence" as a tool to monitor the extent to which government is delivering on their stated plans (in the US, this could be gotten from CDBG funds etc - I wonder what the appropriate policy instrument would be in BC?).

The rub is oversight and accountability. How does this evidence get used?

The city needs to have a portal to receive and respond to this information.

The media need an appetite; can the "evidence" be part of editorial board conversations? Who knows. I think this is where the rubber hits the road...

So what's next?

Craig you're right it is presently hollow. If we were in Vancouver, I think I could use better language cues. I've decided to start broad and narrow into the City Within, expecting context to establish content.

I'm hope the graduated links at the opening to this thread help make navigation easier.

Thanks for bringing your eyes.

Craig said:

Okay, I'm going to ask something here with the hope of learning from you.

Some months back you used the term "hollow formulation" regarding my Citizen Life magazine project. As best as I could understand (from research on the term) was that it means a lack of clarity due to being overly complicated.

I bring this up for two reasons; the first being, as I read your opening I couldn't help asking "What's the purpose of the project", which I think speaks to its lack of clarity, and the second, since its at the ground-level stage I can follow your efforts and hopefully see how you develop its formulation so that the project is not hollow.

cj

Lars,

Yes I see your point. And your comment helps me to realise there are elements of Witness present in City Within. In the case of City Within, we are capturing a view of a "blighted" part of the city using the eyes of citizens, the people who invest their lives there.

With the context touched on, I'll be sharing the spark next and after that the parameters of the project and some challenges.

Thanks for your interest.

Lars said:

Peter, this could be interesting. One of the things I am passionate about is what we could term here, as a place-holder, citizen-led monitoring and evaluation.

Video (well, photography, whether motion or still) can play a big role in that area of citizen engagement.

Ultimately, because monitoring and evaluation should be "evidence-based."

Nothing better at at demonstrating "evidence" than a camera.

So maybe one aspect to this project could be to ask, "Okay, what is the promise of BC government vis our culture, housing stock, whatever?"

From there, invite various groups to collect "evidence" as a tool to monitor the extent to which government is delivering on their stated plans (in the US, this could be gotten from CDBG funds etc - I wonder what the appropriate policy instrument would be in BC?).

The rub is oversight and accountability. How does this evidence get used?

The city needs to have a portal to receive and respond to this information.

The media need an appetite; can the "evidence" be part of editorial board conversations? Who knows. I think this is where the rubber hits the road...

So what's next?

Peter wrote:

we are capturing a view of a "blighted" part of the city using the eyes of citizens, the people who invest their lives there.

I guess I would ask, "To what end? In other words, why?" You might enjoy the book, The Deliberative Practitioner by John Forester.

Thanks Peter, look forward to seeing this develop.

Don't know why but a line from a Dylan song (Like a Rolling Stone) that I heard a few days ago (one that I've listened to many times before but never picked up on this particular line) just popped into my head...,

"You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal."

... Pretty much blew my mind as I considered it.

cj

Peter Rees said:

... expecting context to establish content.

Could you explain this a little more.

cj

My "on the fly" reply - which may not be helpful -

City Within is using a particular technology (Super 8 film), in a specific location (DTES), engaging specific agents ("marginalised" residents of the DTES) to express their pov.

As I'm sharing the evolution of City Within, a project that's forming as I'm writing, I'm not expecting to have answers.

I'm OK with information holes and knowledge gaps.

In fact, given the strictures imposed by our selected technology, location and agents, it's nice to have some holes to work around.

Further, this thread isn't going to be supported by a workspace so I'm playing with the limits of a linear format to cover dynamic events/thoughts/results.

So "... expecting context to establish content." seemed to be a simpler expression of the above.

Tell me you're glad you asked?

Craig said:

Peter Rees said:

... expecting context to establish content.

Could you explain this a little more.

cj

Lars,

Great recommendation. Plan to/Will be using folks associated with Finding Home. Which I think goes where you're pointing.

Lars said:

Peter wrote:

we are capturing a view of a "blighted" part of the city using the eyes of citizens, the people who invest their lives there.

I guess I would ask, "To what end? In other words, why?" You might enjoy the book, The Deliberative Practitioner by John Forester.

[edit: for clunky language.]

A spark

Continuing from A beginning ...

Vancouver has a "homelessness problem", a profound "drug problem", and a "poverty crisis" - probably not news.

However for an affluent social democracy, it's remarkable the effort and resources put into resolving these issues without broader discourse. What passes for discourse begins with the same premise ... (see A beginning), a blighted community, poor lost souls, etc. It's an outsiders pov.

That's not to say there are no voices coming from the DTES. You might be interested in some via the podcast DTES Womens Voice at Homeless Nation.

I think I can move on.

I hope I've given a sense of what features prominently in the deliberations of the Vancouver Social Enterprise Forum workgroups.

So when VSEF members read this paragraph in a local paper ...

Regular users of the Vancouver Public Library (located in the DTES) underground parking area will find signs advising patrons to use the elevators. Graves told the library to put those signs up. There are just too many people making too much of a mess sleeping in the stairwells, which can't be locked because they act as fire escapes in an emergency.

... the themes were raised again.

This time the discussion was influenced by our awareness of/involvement with the Finding Home project and Pivot's Hope in Shadows photo contest/calendar.

This time prompting the question: what resources can we bring together and make a tangible positive impact?

By coincidence, my social wanderings gave me the opportunity to chat with a film student about their portfolio for the MFA programme at Emily Carr. The student works at the Vancouver Public Library, VPL - VPL is brimming with film school graduates; he'd read the item in the local paper.

Like so many other things ... an eye witness account changed perception.

I asked the student whether he'd considered filming a documentary about the people he found seeking shelter amid the library stacks.

"No".

And then I spoke from Spirit.

"If I gave one of the people nesting in the library a camera, would you show them how to use it?"

More to follow ...

[edit: sometimes it's not such a good idea to compose at the end of a long day.]

Roadblock - Nice Idea don't use our name

More to come ...

Roadblock - Sourcing Film Stock

Roadblock - Permission, Permission, Permission

Creative Obstructions

Continuing from A spark ...

I know. I need to add some more information - OK a lot more. But today had a worthwhile exchange about City Within being "developed" by the National Film Board/CBC.

Tomorrow I'll have someone explain to me what "developed" means.

Truth be told - I don't know what that means. Everyone is excited. We'll see what unfolds.

Promise to fill in details. As I understand or can explain 'em.

i should be out your way in the fall - something called the canadian conference on dialogue and deliberation (http://www.c2d2.ca) - could be a great place to discuss/present your effort(s)?

C2D2 is in its second year right?? Hadn't thought that far out.

Great suggestion on so many fronts.

yes, this will be there second conference. at simon fraser university maybe, the wosk center for dialogue i want to say. i am helping to put together a media track. let me know if you have ideas on folks... socialsignal is on my hit list :)

Rob from Social Signal is an O.netizen ...

Wosk is a great space.

There are days when you feel closer than others. Today for City Within, "far away" seems to apply.

It's overwhelming the number of people/organisations that express interest and offer opportunities to advance City Within. The key is not getting "swept up" and holding a certain level of detachment. Every once in a while, can't help getting swept up in the energy.

Stay focused I repeat. Fine for me to say ... try telling that to my collaborators.

On Monday at 9:30 pm, the Vancouver police shot and killed a person on a busy street. Some folks doing work for City Within captured footage of the shooting.

The initial news reports were flawed and the VPD has yet to identify the shot man

We believe the shot person was a familiar presence in the South Granville area. We believe he had a history of psychosis and a disturbing habit of walking around with a hammer or ice pick.

We're disturbed but realise this was one of the possible outcomes of nurturing a citizen filmmaker initiative.

Not sure how this will be updated