Project News
In 2017, staff in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow used Urban Big Data Centre data from the integrated Multimedia City Data Project (iMCD) to analyse and visualise literacy inequalities in Glasgow. Dr Kate Reid and Prof Catherine Lido (UDC Associate Director), and student interns Michaella Drummond and Stefi Hahn – undertook research in the area of ‘Lifewide Literacies’ (e.g. health, environmental, financial and digital literacies). In the blog, Adventures in design and data - how good design took big data to IKEA, they explain the process of using art and design to make research with big data accessible to new audiences…and fun!
Mike Osborne and Catherine Lido, on the basis of their work in the development of learning city indicators and the measurement of learning at urban level have shaped UNESCO’s approach through invited inputs to each of its biennial learning cities conferences (Beijing (2013), Mexico City (2015), Cork (2017) and Medellin (2019)).
Mike Osborne, with Research Assistant, Sergio Hernandez, produced the overarching background paper for the 2019 conference on social inclusion and learning cities. Catherine Lido with Lavinia Hirsu and Bridgette Wessels produced a specific background paper on digital inclusion for the Medellin conference. This work is being used in capacity strengthening of cities in UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC).
In 2019, Catherine Lido was an expert adviser to UNESCO, has offered alternative methods for data collection (GPS and lifelogging) in pursuit of the development of indicators to monitor and evaluate lifelong learning implementation.
In 2020, the work of UBDC concerning measurement and the operationalizing of indicators was incorporated into the second of the series of UNESCO/PASCAL Observatory webinars, Learning Cities’ COVID-19 recovery: from research to practice with the focus. ‘The challenge of measurement, planning and evaluation in learning cities’.
Mike Osborne by virtue of his research into, and mapping of the contribution of universities to lifelong learning was appointed in 2020 as an advisor to a major international UNESCO/International Association of Universities project in this field.