ArcSpace Manchester

Submitted by Pamela on 7 February 2010 - 10:05pm

This is a copy of an email sent to Victoria Sinclair (Project Manager Generate Project and director ArcSpace Manchester):

Hi Vicky

I am writing to you ref Ref ArcSpace Manchester, the email you sent to PRADSA, and the information below which I read on your website:
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We cultivate a holistic, environmentally sound entrepreneurial zone, seeding inspiration and cohesion, nurturing creativity through workshops and peer to peer learning. People are empowered through intercultural and creative skills-based exchanges - from visual to musical to written word and everything in between using inclusive technologies, academic and international partnerships.

Arcspace also exists to unify distant, virtual communities. It utilises free, open source software, a community-led local search engine/ directory (TGL.TV) and re-cycled computers. Progressively, social networking, education and ethical trading will take then place between other local and global clusters.

Click here to find out more about us

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I am particularly interested that "Arcspace also exists to unify distant, virtual communities" and am contacting you on behalf of the Dadamac community,

I think we have lots of overlapping interests, but for a start I have simply copied the list of interests you gave for the Manchester project in your email and I have highlighted the ones relevant to Dadamac or its sister organisation Fantsuam Foundation (FF). Yellow means we have some interest/involvement. Green means the topic is central to what is being done (or planned):

ethical textiles,
computer recycling, Initially all the computers used at Fantsuam were refurbished computers, and the development of a CISCO lab at Fantsuam came through the needed to fix refurbs that needed repair.
local food - Dadamac's base in Nigeria is in rural Nigiera, so most food in the area is locally produced. Dadamac and FF are involved in various local programmes (present and planned) related to growing and processing local food. Some of this involvement is from a livelihoods/agriculture perspective and some is related to nutrition as part of FF's health work including a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS.
permaculture in the city. We are very interested in permaculture, but in a rural setting and in growing conditions rather unlike Manchester - however the farming is largely subsistence farming - more like allotments and gardens, plus some poultry, and a few goats, pigs or cows, and fish-ponds (rather than industrial scale farming) so there may be areas of overlap.
social media and streaming This is something that can mean different things to different people - but could be a major area of overlap. I am just back from Streaming Sharing and Learning VideoBridge workshop in Vienna. I am also very involved with work related to two-way flows of information via the Internet (in theory and in practice). Dadamac is especially concerned with effective two-way communication between people in the UK (where we are "bandwidth rich") and individuals/organisations in Africa who are "bandwidth challenged".
calculating carbon footprint I think the issues around carbon footprints are very relevant for information sharing between UK and Africa - because we cannot replicate the same models of development that have happened in UK and other paces that were early adopters of industrialisation. I wrote about this on my blog - "Pam - we want street lights." http://www.dadamac.net/blog/20091015/pam-we-want-street-lights
alternative currencies - not one of our interests but I know people who are interested
free and open source software, The Zittnet team and others at FF favour Open Source, and are developing their skills and knowledge.
meta-reciclagem, (I don't know what that is)
eco-villages, See our plans for Attachab eco-village.http://www.dadamac.net/projects/attachab. I can update you on this, if it is of interest.
eco-residencies, This ties in with our projects related to affordable housing, as well as water and sewage plans tied in with Attachab eco-village plans, and some perma-culture work now happening following the training that Marcus gave last year.
arts,
technology Varied interests, mainly appropriate technology and ICT, especially Internet use.
project sustainability, Project sustainability is something we take seriously because the projects we are connected with are rooted in community need, so they are always holistic and related to long term welfare and development, (not external two or three year "top down" projects that are not so concerned/aware about long-term implications).