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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

SRC and Kovsies stand against abuse
2014-04-15

The SRC took the lead on Monday by orchestrating a campaign to create awareness and instill consciousness on campuses to act against the abuse of women and children.

During a march from the Thakaneng Bridge to the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus, the SRC led students in a Pledge Against Women and Children Abuse to ensure that the UFS community become accountable. The message proclaimed, was one of zero tolerance for the abuse of women and children.

The Dean of Student Affairs, Rudi Buys, addressed students, saying: “No more. This cannot be just another march, but something to speak directly to injustice.”

This campaign was aimed at ensuring that relevant information and services are provided to help women and children. Representatives of Health and Wellness, psychologists and social workers, as well as representatives from the Centre of Trauma Forgiveness and Reconciliation, the Centre for Safety and Security and the Institute of Race and Reconciliation were present during this campaign.
The Vice-Rector: External Relations, Dr Choice Makheta, stressed the point of women and children’s wellbeing, by saying: “As a university we must make sure women are treated well… that children are treated very well.”

Violence against women and children in South Africa happens regardless of age, class or colour. Studies shows 50% of women have been reported experiencing violence at the hands of their intimate partners. Local studies also show that 28% of men have admitted to being rapists. Every hour a child is abused in South Africa.

But Kovsies say “No more! No more!”

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