2nd March 2012, 12:44 PM
Apart from the Crowdsourcing (which is just a new way of raising cash), this looks like just another field school. Albeit on a great site.
However, I worry about a number of issues with this. There has been a short thread on the Past Horizons website in which the question of local community involvement was raised. The Digventures Managing Director appeared to sidestep this by talking about "building a community around the project", which of course isn't the same as community involvement per se as it is generally understood.
Both have their place but involving the local community is pretty crucial in this area: it's the stamping ground of our old friend Councillor Alan Melton. Although he might be back in his box, not specifically to try to involve his electors looks short-sighted. The project is patently not elitist (after all, it's flogging something), but expecting people to stump up over ?400 per week for a spot of digging and tuition (and with no concessionary rate, in this economic climate!) introduces its own constraints and prohibitions for public involvement. If I was going to pay cash to any field school (or any form of tuition), I'd want to be damned sure I'd get value for money.
And this is slated as "our first project" ....
However, I worry about a number of issues with this. There has been a short thread on the Past Horizons website in which the question of local community involvement was raised. The Digventures Managing Director appeared to sidestep this by talking about "building a community around the project", which of course isn't the same as community involvement per se as it is generally understood.
Both have their place but involving the local community is pretty crucial in this area: it's the stamping ground of our old friend Councillor Alan Melton. Although he might be back in his box, not specifically to try to involve his electors looks short-sighted. The project is patently not elitist (after all, it's flogging something), but expecting people to stump up over ?400 per week for a spot of digging and tuition (and with no concessionary rate, in this economic climate!) introduces its own constraints and prohibitions for public involvement. If I was going to pay cash to any field school (or any form of tuition), I'd want to be damned sure I'd get value for money.
And this is slated as "our first project" ....