Living Lab focus on river stories in a digital age

Friday, November 7, 2014

Tales of a Taranaki river in a digital age

What does a river mean to a community? Social scientists from Massey University have just launched a unique community project to collect and record local people’s experiences, memories, concerns and images of Taranaki’s Waiwhakaiho River.

These will be displayed on social media and eventually converted into digital artwork to communicate the river’s rich stories, meanings and value to the community.

Tramping in the upper reaches, horse trekking in the lake Mangamahoe forest area, camping by the river, fishing for trout and eels, fireworks at Merrilands domain, kayaking, congregating at the swimming holes, floating on lilos on the spillway below the dam – these are just some of stories they’ve heard about so far.

The project – dubbed Sharing the Waiwhakaiho – Taranaki Living Lab is led by Dr Jane Richardson from the School of People, Environment and Planning at the Manawatū campus. Her team made their first foray into collecting stories at the river’s edge from visitors to Tupare Gardens last weekend.

It was the first in a series of public engagement exercises that aims to gather stories from young and old about their feelings and concerns about the river as well as myths, memories and knowledge. Farmers, local iwi, riverside inhabitants, whitebaiters and other recreational users as well as science, industry and local and regional council staff will all be invited to contribute.

Focus groups with youth and elderly people are planned, and the general public are invited to contribute their views, experiences, images and video material via a Facebook page, Twitter.

Dr Richardson, project-manager and fluvial geomorphologist, says the project is modelled on the Living Lab concept used around the world. The labs encourage researchers from multiple academic disciplines to collaborate with a community to create a deeper understanding and appreciation of a natural entity or physical space from many perspectives.

“We’ll be exploring the potential for digital storytelling methods, social media and devices, environmental data sensing and geolocated interpretation to promote and engage community in understanding the diverse ways in which the river is known”.

The Taranaki Living Lab – a partnership between Massey, Taranaki Regional Council (TRC), NIWA, Intercreate, Te Matahiapo Indigenous Research Organisation (TeMIRO), iwi and hapu, and community groups – also involves the agricultural community narrating the riparian projects in the river’s catchment, and scientists to understand the river's health. It will also explore the river’s regional utility as a source of drinking water and hydroelectric power generation, and the river as a natural hazard, Dr Richardson says.

While Sharing the Waiwhakaiho shares conceptual similarities with other Massey Living Labs, it is unique in its focus on a river. She envisages it as a model for communities elsewhere in New Zealand who want to build knowledge and awareness of their natural and community assets.

As well as demonstrating Massey’s commitment and connection to the Taranaki region (most of the academics on the team are from the area) Dr Richardson says the project’s broader purpose is to engage diverse community groups in knowledge creation that can inform and influence policy and decision-making.

A defining entity for three iwi and associated hapu, the river is one of more than 300 waterways flowing from Mount Taranaki and one of the region’s largest, with high cultural, aesthetic, recreational, ecological and economic value to the people and iwi of Taranaki.

The Waiwhakaiho Catchment includes part of Egmont National Park, three marae sites, areas of intensive agricultural land use, and urban and recreational sites. Multiple interpretations of its name – spelling, pronunciation and meaning – are likely to be part of the conversation that emerges, she says.

“The river's past, present and future are connected to tangata whenua, local residents and the wider Taranaki environment – its stories are diverse and complex. We know ‘Naki’ people are proud of their region and heritage, and we hope this project will enable them to deepen that knowledge and pride in a unique way that embraces the whole community”.

For more information, or to send in your stories, recollections, poems, photographs, videos, sound recordings and information on the river contact: Jane Richardson (j.m.richardson1@massey.ac.nz),
or go to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TLLwaiwhakaiho and Twitter: @Knowing_Rivers

ENDS

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