[murmur] Winter News

(We sent out the following [murmur] newsletter today. If you’d like to sign up for it directly, you can do so here, just scroll down. Please check out the Fort York bit, as we’re currently looking for people with stories, memories or ideas in and around the Fort)

It has been a while since we’ve sent a newsletter out. We’ve been busy in Toronto and internationally, so there is some catching up to do and, as always, ways for you to participate. This newsletter here is in six parts:

1. [murmur] in Leith
2. [murmur] in San Jose
3. [murmur] at Fort York
4. [murmur] at the AGO
5. Volunteer with [murmur]
6. [murmur] nests

1. [murmur] in Leith

[murmur] is please to announce the launch of our first trans-Atlantic project in Leith, Scotland. Over twenty [murmur] signs have recently gone up in and around Leith, the waterfront district of Edinburgh. We had a great time meeting and recording Leithers in late summer, and have since been working with a group of very dedicated local volunteers who have also been recording folks. If you won’t be visiting Leith with your mobile phone anytime soon, you can listen to the stories through the website. We will continue to record and add stories and locations, building up to a second launch in June, when [murmur] will be part of the Six Cities Design Festival. If you’d like, read an Edinburgh Evening News article about the Leith [murmur] here.

[murmur] in Leith is produced in partnership with New Media Scotland, an organization that supports experimentation by practitioners in art and technology. Through working with and supporting the presentation of work by artists in this field, New Media Scotland hopes to foster greater public understanding of the role that technology is playing in contemporary culture. New Media Scotland is core funded by the Scottish Arts Council, and [murmur] in Leith is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

2. [murmur] in San Jose

In August we visited San Jose, California, and set up [murmur] there as part of ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge. We were able to record stories and establish sign locations quickly with the help of a group of extremely friendly and dedicated San Jose folks who love and care about their city. You can listen to the stories here. [murmur] in San Jose was produced with the assistance of the CFC Media Lab (formerly Habitat New Media Lab) in Toronto, the good place where [murmur] was initially developed back in 2002.

3. [murmur] at Fort York

We’re excited to announce we’re currently at work again in Toronto, this time in and around historic Fort York. We’re looking for stories from inside the Fort as well as in the surrounding neighbourhood. We’re particularly interested in stories that show how connected the Fort is to the rest of Toronto, and want to talk to anybody who has something to say about either the Fort or surrounding neighbourhood. While we are looking for people who can share “historic” information they might know about, say, the War of 1812 or some of the Fort’s lost buildings, we’re also interested in more recent or personal history people have with the area. Get in touch with us with whatever ideas you might have. Fort York [murmur] will launch in the spring.

4. [murmur] at the Art Gallery of Ontario

In December and January, [murmur] partnered with the AGO in Toronto on a pilot project, bringing cellphones into the gallery for the first time. Three works in “The Future Now” exhibition each had its own phone number, featuring three different perspectives on each work by three different people. The project was fun to put together, and was very heavily used! We’re now analyzing the results with the AGO, and hope to work with them again on similar projects!

5. Call for volunteers

[murmur] is looking for volunteers to find, record and possibly edit stories for the new projects that we’re cooking up, as well as our existing ones. If you want experience in what amounts to a mix of radio documentary, cultural anthropology, journalism and sidewalk-sleuthing, please contact us. The hardest part of doing [murmur] is finding people who can talk about locations, tell their stories and share their memories, so we’re looking for a few dedicated helpers who enjoy poking around and finding those people! There are lots of different volunteer opportunities, so don’t worry if you’ve never done this sort of thing before – we promise it won’t hurt a bit! Contact Katarina Collins, our volunteer coordinator at kat at murmur dot info, to find out more about the new projects we’ve got in store for 2007!

7. [murmur] nests at the Centre for Social Innovation

After years of wandering the wilderness of Toronto’s kitchen tables, tiny bedroom desks and Wi-Fi enabled cafes, [murmur] is moving into its very own office at the Centre for Social Innovation at 215 Spadina Avenue. The CSI is a nonprofit social enterprise with a mission to foster collaboration and entrepreneurialism across the social and arts sector, letting those organizations share office overhead and (literally) get out of the closet and work around other exciting and dedicated tenants.

Thanks for reading,