Get on Board: Take a digital ride with the IRR

New technologies can empower communities and encourage citizenship amongst young people, according to Arun Kundnani, coordinator of a multimedia project launched at the Institute of Race Relations, London.

Increasingly society is being divided into those who understand and take advantage of new technologies, such as multimedia software and the internet, and those who have not had the opportunity to exploit its potential.

Overcoming the barriers
Where once pundits saw this divide as one between technophobe parents and computer-literate children, today it is becoming clear that the real divides are between the wealthy and the poor, and also to a certain extent between white and black.

While schools and parents with money are already equipping themselves with full internet access, e-mail addresses for students, cd-roms for their libraries and student-produced websites, poorer schools have more basic priorities.

And, in turn, the software available reflects the needs of wealthier schools and parents whether one considers commercial internet services like BT Campus which coaches students through their GCSEs via a home computer for a monthly subscription, or if one looks at the CD-ROMs available, such as Microsoft Encarta or Dorling Kindersley's History of the World.

The irony is that the hype surrounding digital media is that they empower, that they encourage diversity of views, that they give a level playing field between powerful and powerless groups. The Institute of Race Relations has been trying to address these issues since last year when it launched the successful CD-ROM, HomeBeats: Struggles for Racial Justice.

Taking the user on a multimedia journey through history, from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean to the making of modern Britain, the CD-ROM included detailed local histories of black communities in Britain, as well as looking at the wider history of Britain's relationship to the Third World. Fusing together text, animation, video and a soundtrack by Asian Dub Foundation the CD went on to win the British Interactive Multimedia Award for Education.

Digital Underground
The Institute's new project, with funding from the National Lottery Charities Board, is called Digital Underground. The aim of the project is to encourage young people to produce their own multimedia work, and publish this work on the internet.

The way it works is that a group of young people from a youth club or school decide on a subject to research which affects their local community it might be the issue of racism in their area; it might be the experiences of new migrants into the local community; or it might be a period in the history of their area's black community.

The group researches the subject with help from a coordinator at the school or youth club and an outreach worker from the Institute of Race Relations. The research can take the form of conducting recorded interviews (perhaps with elders in their families), taking photographs, consulting records, and writing up the material. The groups may find the local histories contained on the HomeBeats CD-ROM a useful model for their own work.

Then, with help from the Institute, the group work this material into a website, which will be published on the internet, alongside other material produced by other groups. Along the way, the young people will learn IT and research skills and also put into the public domain their own perspectives on important issues.

Project partners
Obviously a project like this depends for its success on finding willing partners amongst youth workers and teachers in each area, and the Institute is currently inviting potential partners to make contact.

As well as the work which is coming out of the Digital Underground project, the Institute has also begun putting some of its own material onto the internet. At the HomeBeats website (http://www.homebeats.co.uk/) users will find a range of articles covering aspects of racism in Europe and Britain, a discussion forum, details of the Institute's publications, and a range of other resources.

Alongside these developments, the Institute is also strengthening its facilities at its library in King's Cross, London. The existing collection of printed material (which is probably the best library on black history and anti-racism in Europe) is being extended to include a range of relevant CD-ROMs, a selection of video recordings, and access to the internet. In short the library has moved into multimedia. The library aims both to provide access to these kinds of resources for researchers, students and others, and also to provide support and training on hand for those who are unacquainted with computers.

Making Contact
Together, all these projects aim to address the key issues of access to new technology, training and the question of software materials available. In other words the projects aim to put the power of these new technologies into the hands of young black people in their communities.

Enquiries to - Arun Kundnani on 0171-833 2010 or arun@kundnani.demon.co.uk
The work of the Multimedia Department, Institute of Race Relations may be seen on http://www.homebeats.co.uk/