Representing literacies in times of precarity using Glasgow ‘Big Data’:
Professor Catherine Lido and Dr Kate Reid from the School of Education have undertaken research in the area of well-being, precarity and literacies in conjunction with the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC). This ESRC IAA funded project aimed to use UBDC secondary data, specifically Integrated Multi-Media Survey Data – iMCD, as a vehicle by which to engage members of the public with, not only our research findings, but also to promote public discourse as to the use of ‘big-data’ to better understand and represent the urban issues facing Glasgow. We were specifically interested in promoting public discourse around the areas of well-being, precarity and literacies (e.g. eco, financial, health and e-literacies). In order to promote this public discourse in a new and engaging way, we worked with MakLab, an independent, charitable design, prototyping and making organisation, to develop a range of highly visual, tactile and ‘touchable’ objects which represent the individual life and the socio-spatial urban story of Glasgow which is contained in the iMCD project survey data. This was an opportunity to work with MakLab to represent our own research in a way that can connect with a wide and more diverse audience. We reached these external citizen users via interactive presentations at The Glasgow Science Festival 2017, Explorathon 2017 and ESRC Festival of Social Science 2017.
PI and Co-Is
PI - Dr Kate Reid, University of Glasgow, School of Education
Co-I – Professor Catherine Lido, University of Glasgow, School of Education
Research Intern (Ms Michaella Drummond – Q-Step Undergraduate)
Start and End Date
March 2017 - September 2017
Funder and Funding Amount
ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. £9,940.59