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21 May 2019 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Stephen Collett
Digital storytelling
Collaborating for the common good are from left: Willem Ellis, Karen Venter, Dr Deidre van Rooyen, Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, and Dr Johan van Zyl.
Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences quoted the Cat Stevens song I can’t keep it in, to capture the excitement surrounding the opening of a Digital Storytelling Lab on the Bloemfontein Campus on 10 May 2019.

After months of hard work by Dr Deidre van Rooyen, Willem Ellis, Karen Venter, as well as the staff of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Centre for Development Support, the Common Good First lab was completed just in time for the launch attended by about 50 delegates from other South African universities, as well as private and public institutions.

Stories meet technology

In a message, from Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, informed the audience that the launch heralded the joining of the old world of stories with the new world of digital technology. Julie Adair, Director of Digital Collaboration at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, welcomed the UFS as a partner to this international social innovation collaborative project in a video message. 

Dr Van Rooyen, the project manager for the UFS, explained how she got involved in the Common Good First project, what the benefits of digital storytelling are, as well as what opportunities the lab creates for cooperation between role players involved in social innovation projects. 

Why the Common Good First lab?

The purpose of the lab is to create a digital network to identify, showcase and connect social innovation projects in South Africa to one another and to universities around the world for research, student engagement and learning and teaching. The lab has been fitted with state-of-the-art equipment for recording and digitising the stories that result from social innovation projects.

In a live Skype session with Dr Il-Haam Petersen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and some of the recent successes of the digital stories in Philippi in the Western Cape were shared.

Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, UFS Director Community Engagement did the final honours by cutting the ribbon, declaring the lab open, and sharing the dream that the work done in this lab will contribute to positive relationships and cooperation between the university and the community, in making not only the university, but the country and the world a better place.


News Archive

First book on Bloemfontein published in 25 years
2008-10-21

 

During the launch of the book "Spatialities of Urban Change" are, from the left, front: Mr Malefetsane Mokoena, General Manager: Housing at the Mangaung Local Municipality and one of the co-authors of the book, Mr Amos Goliath, Executive Director: Corporate Affairs at the Mangaung Local Municipality, Ms Rothea van Biljon, Chairperson of the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut Bloemfontein; back: Prof. Lochner Marais, editor of the book from the Centre for Development Support at the UFS, and Prof. Gustav Visser, editor of the book from the Department of Geography at the UFS. Photo Stephen Collett

 The University of the Free State (UFS) has published a book on Bloemfontein for the first time in 25 years. The book, titled “Spatialities of Urban Change”, is the first South African scholarly account in book form of spatial themes on urban change in a secondary city in South Africa. The book was recently launched on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The editors of the book are Prof. Lochner Marais from the Centre for Development Support and Prof. Gustav Visser from the Department of Geography, both from the UFS. Their co-authors are five Ph.D. students in Development Studies, one Ph.D. student in Geography and one master’s student in Development Studies.

According to Prof. Visser, there is a gap in the market for new perspectives on how cities work and how urban theory can develop. This book will contribute to filling that gap. The book also manages to involve students and their research – giving them the opportunity to have their research published.

The book addresses various aspects of Bloemfontein’s spatiality and issues such as suburbanization and the subsequent decline of the central business district, the city’s tourism potential and the impact of the Volksblad Arts Festival on re-imaging the city as a place that has something to offer any visitor, are discussed among others. Other topics include the suburb Westdene and how diverse spatiality manifests itself at this scale, and white flight from the inner city areas.

“A central theme running through the book is how the urban discourse of Bloemfontein relate to the country’s metropolitan core and conversely to other secondary cities,“ says Prof. Visser.

Media Release:
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
22 October 2008

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