Documentaries as a Tool for Collecting and Disseminating Memories of Self-Initiated Community Practices: The Case of Workshop School

Abstract

The aim of the research presented in this paper was to observe and record in documentary form the human dimension intrinsic to self-initiated community practices in social neighbourhoods in V.N. Gaia, Portugal. This work was carried out as part of the research project "ECO: Echoing the Community Self". Of the practices identified by the ECO project, Workshop School (WS) was chosen as the object of analysis and intervention in this documentary work. This project adopted an action-research methodology and used audiovisual tools in order to respond to an identified problem: the lack of visibility of the impact that the activity developed by WS has on people. The work was divided into 3 stages: a) fieldwork to diagnose the problem; b) intervention (documentary film aimed at giving visibility to the people who directly benefit from the WS's activity: the trainees); and finally, c) evaluation of the result. In order to observe and diagnose the problem, it was also necessary to adopt an ethnographic methodology, using fieldwork techniques and methods to get closer to the object of study, the most important elements in the creation and development of self-initiated educational practices. This work informed the next stage, in which different mechanisms were adopted to record and construct an audiovisual narrative, based on the testimonies of the people involved in the learning processes mobilised by WS. In order to evaluate the results, they were presented with the intention of contemplating and analysing the reception and perception of the people portrayed in the project.

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Author Information
Mateus Carvalho, University of Minho, Portugal
Daniel Brandão, University of Minho, Portugal
Nuno Martins, Polytechnic of Cávado and Ave, Portugal
Bruno Silva, Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo, Portugal