Digital Wheely Bins
June 5, 2006 – 3:06 pmOccasionally I’m reminded what a great project Artec was.
I met Mervyn Jarman today; he was a trainee at Artec in about 1996 or ‘97, one of a group that set up Mongrel with Graham Harwood.
Mervyn’s major project over the past 5 years or so has been ‘the Container Project‘: “a non-profit mobile access space to new technology for marginalised urban and rural communities” in Jamaica. “The project promotes the use of the Internet and other multimedia platform ….empowering the youths and long-term unemployed in developing and improving their ability to successfully interact with the new and emerging technologies.”
The container project has been amazingly successful with little funding from anywhere. Its problem is that it provides better facilities than many of the commercial computer training centres in Kingston. As a result it is attracting ‘respectable’ people to its courses and the street kids he’s trying to reach are no longer coming.
His proposed solution is to establish a small fleet of wired wheelie bins with computers and send them out to engage with kids where they live and hang out. All he needs is some funding for the kit. Any ideas, anyone?
One Response to “Digital Wheely Bins”
I had lunch with Frank and Mervys who is a lovely and empassioned person. I imediatley felt moved to help him with the project and look forward to getting stuck in at some point soon.
By Richard White on Jun 6, 2006