SparkingSustainabilityCommunicating Sustainability

Caroline Mitchell ~ University of Sunderland

'Sparking Sustainability’ Project within Media and Journalism departments at

University of Sunderland

Working with community radio station-Spark FM and student online and printed magazines

Alex Lockwood-lecturer and journalist

Sustainability Reporter- Evi Karathanasopoulou-graduate student

Praxis Research group

Part of ongoing research into how community media can be used as a location for new forms of participation, production and journalism

Members across media and cultural studies, radio studies, film studies, video production and

journalism

 

Spark-radio-tv-online

•Community radio licence for Sunderland•Aimed at young people and students in Sunderland•Participatory and enabling ethos•Linked to media and journalism modules•Sparking Sustainability reporter•Developing Speech features on Spark

Project AimsTo give students and staff critical knowledge

and practical skills for living and working more sustainably

To strengthen and integrate links between the university, existing local media, and the community to amplify sustainable development practice;

T o support student and community media with sustainable planning,  

Stage 1 Sustainability workshopsWith students on range of radio, print and journalism

modules

Contact via Facebook

Open question - what does sustainability mean to you?

How do you report sustainability, and how do you report sustainably?

Completing online questionnaire

QuestionnaireSustainability-order of importance

Environment Managing ResourcesRecycling EnergySustainable developmentPersonal wellbeingGlobal PovertyWaste

Questionnaire Planning ahead -to ensure a comfortable

and healthy future for yourself and those around you.

Locality- Sustainability is about locally based action where participants take ownership of the initiative and its results.

“Living/working in a way that can be continued into the future”.

“Defeating entrophy, preventing heat death, long term you can only delay it never stop”....

Questionnaire

How sustainable did they feel in

Their personal livesStudying at the UniversityTheir media work

Questionnaire-confidence with local community Most people do not feel productive, involved

and supported

“Could be better at working with outside groups and orgs, just been really difficult atm, tying to take one step at a time”.

“More could be done in general. More volunteers are needed to serve the local community better, as a small handful of people can only do so much”!

Ideas for content

Is a boozy life sustainable?Sustainability of Youth organisations in

SunderlandSustainability in everyday life and travellingFair Trade and fashionitasLocal interest-Electric cars made by Nissan

Ideas for practices

Alternative station with an alternative power source Power the breakfast show with a Spark Treadmill… lose

weight, get active and power the station!How to make it easier to approach local groupsSpecialist programmes and issues of online magazine

Stage 2 Teaching interventionexploring ways to report on ‘sustainability’

issues,

To develop a media practice that is in itself ‘sustainable’ – what is important to you about acting sustainably?

Working out in local area-Sunderland RiversideSteps to developing contacts , relationships and

partnerships

Stage 3 Competition Target audience is Young People 13-24, living in Sunderland

or with some link to Sunderland (think online audiences)

Prize winning ArticlesSustainable employment practices- AutismWorks and the IT

industryThe sustainability of the A690 youth projectHow students can act sustainably -testing out council

guidelines

Process-award for ‘Bright Sparks’ online training and support for radio station volunteers

Links with other campaignsEllen MacCarthur’s Sustainability Foundation

aims to equip young people for work in a world of increasingly limited resources and inspire them to re-think, re-design and build a positive future.

University, Regional and local initiativesNissan media –former student presents

award

Stage 4 Influencing the curriculumStaff and students focusing on sustainability in

different parts of their livesGuidelines for sustainability work in media ,

journalism modules and beyondGood practices-Getting out in the communityIncreasing confidence of working in partnershipsFunding specialist issues of student mediaSocial media and face to faceIntegrating student community media Employability

Sustainability as a 'cultural change process’

requires also the advancement of learners' skills and competencies (learners being both individuals and learning organisations)

a “process or strategy of moving toward a sustainable future”

Kagan, 2008

‘transformative learning’

we approach teaching as a process of transformative learning

that offers students and teachers together a “shift of consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in the world”

Morell

SUSTAINABLE COMPETENCIEScompetency in foresighted thinking;competency in interdisciplinary work;competency in cosmopolitan perception, transcultural

understanding and cooperation;participatory skills;competency in planning and implementation;capacity for empathy, compassion and solidarity;competency in self-motivation and in motivating

others; andcompetency in distanced reflection on individual and

cultural models.Barth, Godemann, Rieckmann and Stoltenberg (2007)

The media sector’s own sustainability

to ensure that the station works effectively as an institution, basing itself on principles of access and participation,.

to ensure that the programmes responded effectively to the needs and interests of the community

to ensure that the community radio in the longer term actually would manage to create some of the desired basic social change

Jallov 2004

Issues

Supporting students –working in partnership-long process

Financial viability of local media organisations in current economic climate-example of local press

conclusions

a focus on developing core personal and interpersonal competencies, with a fundamental belief in both transformative and positive educational practices, are the best means to achieve long-term sustainability

Sacha Kagan (2008)