Grow Your Own Media Lab

Grow Your Own Media Lab was an action research project which aimed to develop media labs as places to access learning opportunities, inspiration, collaboration, skill-sharing and community involvement.

GYOML was an 18 month trans-regional project, a collaboration between folly in Lancaster, Access Space in Sheffield and The Polytechnic in Newcastle.

Different instances of the GYOML model differed significantly, dependent on their physical, social and organisational circumstances, but key common factors were a commitment to Free, Open Source Software, use of no cost, or very low cost recycled technology, understanding continuous skill development and skill sharing, working closely with the community and providing accessible ways for people to get actively involved in digital media production.

The North West arm of GYOML was led by folly and developed in partnership with artists and organisations across Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester. Over 2005 and 2006 folly delivered the following workshops and commissioned projects:

GYOML in a Kitchen was a sound recording and editing workshop delivered by Manchester based sound Artist Steve Symons using FOSS audio package Audacity. Held in Lancaster in July 2005, the workshop was aimed at professional artists and community activists, with resulting sound art exhibited online at folly's website over the subsequent summer.

GYOML in a Van was held at Ewanrigg and Netherton Community Centre, Maryport, Cumbria in October 2005. A pilot of a mobile media lab, this workshop took an entry-level approach to an audience of community leaders.

As part of the Touchstones Rochdale exhibition The Games Room, on show from January to March 2006, folly were commissioned to deliver GYOML in Rochdale in response to the themes of the show. Artist Tim Cullen delivered a web based multiple choice games workshop to a group of teenagers.

For GYOML in Preston in March 2006, folly worked in partnership with Prescap and Preston FM to deliver the first ever collaborative project between the two community arts organisations. Participants held an interest in learning about new media and were a diverse group in terms of age, experience and ethnicity. Artists Tim Cullen and Alex Decoupigny delivered complimentary half day workshops at each organisation.

GYOML at the Canteen was held in April 2006 in Barrow-in-Furness. The workshop, led by Tim Cullen, was aimed at film makers and professional artists of all ages, skills and experiences. Participant all showed a healthy exposure and developed awareness of new media and FOSS tools.

Lancashire based artist p-tex was commissioned to deliver GYOML in a field. P-tex uses multimedia technology to explore sound, incorporating sensors and live performance in response to the changing environment around him. P-tex proposed to research, create, perform and broadcast in real time over the internet, an experimental music installation. The event took place in August 2006 in Heysham, with a web broadcast and live performance in the area known as the barrows – close to St. Peter's Chapel, the 8th Century ruin over looking Morecambe bay.

In 2006 artist Lorraine Berry created an interactive installation of traces, shadows and echoes as a metaphor for the passage of time, memory, what’s lost and what’s left behind at Gallery Oldham. These reminiscences include extracts from recorded interviews with local pupils who participated in RE:GEN, a project initiated by folly as a GYOML commission to use FOSS methodologies to explore the lives of a number of different families using information collected from school children living in the Oldham area.

Artist Nick Holme was offered a GYOML in writing commission in 2006 to investigate artistic approaches to open source and low cost methodologies. He spent time investigating and assessing the various FOSS software that is available for live streaming, deciding on one method for the purpose of the research and produced a comprehensive guide on how to set up and use the software.

As part of f.city, folly's first festival of digital culture in Lancaster, St. Martin's College hosted GYOML in 3D in October 2006 - a workshop focused on the open source software Blender, led by Julian Oliver.

folly returned to GYOML at the Canteen in October to December 2006, installing a temporary media lab at The Canteen Media and Arts Centre in Barrow for 5 months, and successfully using it to deliver a programme of unique digital art workshops led by international experts in the field of FOSS from collectives Openlab, GOTO10 and dyne.org.

GYOML left a considerable legacy within folly, and externally in the Northwest region and nationally. folly strongly believes in the value of FOSS tools and Open Culture, and have continued to deliver workshops focused on FOSS tools and Open ways of working, for all ages, abilities and experiences. Our major online resource for artists working with digital tools and new technologies, the Digital Artists' Handbook is centred around FOSS tools and the practicalities related to Free Software and Open Content.