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UEL launches pioneering East London Lives 2012 Olympic archive

Tuesday 29 September 2009

East Londoners are being given an opportunity to share their views on how the Olympics is affecting their lives in an online archive developed by the University of East London (UEL) and JISC.

Their blogs, videos and audio will form a public library alongside a unique searchable archive of filmed focus groups and recorded oral histories which set out to track the social impact of the Olympics on the local area, providing a resource for teaching, learning, research and policy makers.

The launch of the innovative digital Olympic archive will take place at the Museum of London Docklands on September 30th. East London Lives 2012 is a unique project as it aims to share the views of residents in the five host Olympic boroughs and their views on two key areas - community development and the health of local people in the lead up to the Games and beyond.

Director of the London East Research Institute, Dr Iain MacRury said:
“This exciting archive will help capture the narratives of local people and the impacts on community development and health for future generations and everyones’ experience counts. East London Lives 2012 will also become a valuable resource to support learning, teaching and research at UEL and East London generally, with our new Olympic Studies module, as well as throughout academia, nationally and internationally.”

The event will also feature the launch of a new London East Research Institute (LERI) Publication Olympic Cities: 2012 and the Remaking of London edited by UEL’s Professor Gavin Poynter and Dr Iain MacRury.

Ben Showers, Digitisation Programme Officer at JISC said: “This significant resource is one of 25 innovative digitisation projects in JISC's enriching digital resources programme aimed at enhancing teaching and research within UK higher education. It records a precious slice of history through the creation of an unparalleled, time-specific resource and captures the changes to the lives of Londoners to 2012 and beyond.”

There will also be a talk given by Professor DaCosta, who is an internationally renowned Olympic Scholar and a guest Professor at Gama Filho University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also the co-ordinator of a joint research project on urban regeneration with LERI.

UEL is closely involved in sports, health and wellbeing, and other projects in the run-up to the Games. The London East Research Institute has worked on a range of research, knowledge transfer and consultancy projects for the Greater London Authority and other key agencies.

The launch will take place at the Museum of London Docklands (West India Quay) on September 30 between 5.30 – 7.30pm.

University of East London: London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Office

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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