The Pixel the Past: Ballina Shire Community Heritage Digital Mentorship project was developed to build on a number of past projects undertaken by Ballina Shire Council that aim to continue to keep heritage stories relevant and part of the day-to-day lives of all Ballina Shire residents.
Young people can be skilled to be important champions of heritage in the future; and seniors hold important knowledge about the past to impart now. So, we sought to combine the skills of both young people and seniors. We worked with young people from Alstonville High School and representatives from the Alstonville Plateau Historical Society to tell nine heritage stories in a digital media format. We engaged a historian and three digital media mentors to contribute further expertise and build the story telling skills of all the project participants.
Previous heritage projects in the Ballina Shire demonstrated that our community is interested in its past; the key to engaging them is through readily accessible mediums. Our particular approach to informing the community about the value of ‘the past’, and our heritage, had not been undertaken in the local community before.
The Pixel the Past: Ballina Shire Community Heritage Digital Mentorship project was developed to build on a number of past projects undertaken by Ballina Shire Council that aim to continue to keep heritage stories relevant and part of the day-to-day lives of all Ballina Shire residents.
Young people can be skilled to be important champions of heritage in the future; and seniors hold important knowledge about the past to impart now. So, we sought to combine the skills of both young people and seniors. We worked with young people from Alstonville High School and representatives from the Alstonville Plateau Historical Society to tell nine heritage stories in a digital media format. We engaged a historian and three digital media mentors to contribute further expertise and build the story telling skills of all the project participants.
Previous heritage projects in the Ballina Shire demonstrated that our community is interested in its past; the key to engaging them is through readily accessible mediums. Our particular approach to informing the community about the value of ‘the past’, and our heritage, had not been undertaken in the local community before.
Our key aims
Overall, the aims of our project were to:
- Promote intergenerational peer and shared learning
- Develop understanding of the shire’s heritage items and places and the values these provide to the community
- Develop new methods for engaging the broader community to and understand their heritage through visual digital media
- Develop digital media skills of project participants, particularly young people through mentorship of a heritage consultant and digital media experts
- Facilitate the meeting of young people and older people from the Ballina Shire community to have a shared learning experience
- Facilitate social interaction of project participants
- Contribute to the shire’s sense of place and its sustainability
The Pixel journey
At the project's inception, especially, apprehension was felt by all project parties. Buddies worried that students may not like them, students were curious about the possible age of their buddies, what they might look like, and would they have anything in common. Mentors were constantly thinking about the quality of the final cut, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoying the process. Few students knew anything about local history, but equally this knowledge deficit motivated their desire to participate in the project - and it was voluntary. Buddies were also unsure about engaging with new media - or digital technology - they'd heard about what a pixel is but didn't really want to be asked to define one! All these real human thoughts and feelings underpinned the motivation behind the project model of intergenerational learning. Everybody told us they learnt so much, not only about the past but each other and our place in our community.
Each of the stories is the product of a unique collaboration between the story group members who were once strangers; and each of whom have differing traits, experience, perspectives and questions of the past. Some groups began with a firm knowing of where they were taking their story - others had to navigate twists and turns to reach their conclusions. The Pixel the Past Project has been a most worthy journey and it has all resulted from the magic that stems from looking into and sharing our past.
Each of the stories is the product of a unique collaboration between the story group members who were once strangers; and each of whom have differing traits, experience, perspectives and questions of the past. Some groups began with a firm knowing of where they were taking their story - others had to navigate twists and turns to reach their conclusions. The Pixel the Past Project has been a most worthy journey and it has all resulted from the magic that stems from looking into and sharing our past.
Below: The first St Bart's Church, Alstonville
Our project was supported by the NSW Government's Heritage Near Me grant program
