Title[1] of Activity

CONNECTing City with Country: DART

Description[2]

This workshop is an umbrella for several activities which happen on the „Dublin Area Rapid Transit“ Train and in the Transport Museum in Howth. From the DART you will see much of Dublin’s coastline and popular tourist spots, such as Howth. Information about the history of the train will be given on the train and in the Transport Museum in Howth (Vehicles from the 1880s to the 1970s, Dublin was one of the first cities to introduce electric trams.) Maye we will get a chance to look at the New DART Station at Grand Canal Dock which opend on Monday 22nd Jan 2001, co-funded by the European Union Structural Fund

Subtitle[3]

The first electric trains – destruction of time and space

The Internet – destruction of time and space revisited

Leader[4]

Dr. Laurence Borgmann (Thanks to Alexandra for all her contributions!!!)

Assistant[5]

Workshop specialist[6]

Felicity Marley

Phone: 01-2856121; 01-2860164; Fax: 01-2861330

Time[7]

14:00 (sharp!) in front of Tara Street Station („DART“) (whole afternoon)

Place

start: Tara Street Station 14:00

DART Train to Howth

Walk to Castle and Transport Museum

DART back to Dublin

Materials needed

Price is 5.50 Pounds (tickets for travel and museum) but participants will only have to contribute 2 Pounds, rest is sponsored by the project

category I   SMALL INTERCULTURAL TEAMS

1.       no more than 6 participants?

yes

The big DART group will be split up into smaller groups such as

·         photo group (Benjamin?)

·         history group (Andreas?)

·         travelogue group (Lili?)

·         O’Donnell group (Andrea?)

·         web story/poetry group (Alexandra?)

·         hypertext group (Susana?)

·         time & space group (Laurence)

·         etc. (you?)

2.       at least 3 nationalities

yes

nationalities in the small groups will be mixed

3.       at least from 3 stations

yes

groups will be mixed

4.       which activities facilitate intercultural communication?

describe: in the mixed groups the participants concentrate on a digital product that will be published on the web pages (travelogue and also in the web stories)

category II CONNECTION TO THE WEB STORY

1.       activity is already included in web stories

no p

describe where: no, but it should be integrated

2.       results will be included in web stories

yes p

describe where: the story group should 1.) integrate the experience in existing stories and 2.) write new stories that are set on the DART Train („Murder on the DART“?) or in the museum

3.       is extra technical support needed?

yes p

describe which: digital cameras are needed to make the relevant photographs for the documentation and for the story

category III CREATIVE USE OF NEW MEDIA

1.       will the new media be used in a creative way?

yes p

describe how: the stories that are written will be integrated in the web pages and the report published in the travelogue. Digital photographs will be included in both

2.       are they essential to the activity?

yes p

describe why: This time we go „form Real to Virtual“ as we first do the real trip and then create a digital representation on the web.

3.       will the participants learn to use the new media?

yes p

describe how: This is the first chance for students to work with the digital cameras. They will learn how to download the pictures and process them for web publishing.

4.       do participants learn s.th. about the notion of new media?

yes p

describe what: One of the main ideas of this excursion is to illustrate the similarities between the arrival of the first electric trains and the arrival of the internet. Just like trains caused a lot of concern and fear of criminal act the invention of the internet seems to engender the same fears. Just like the trains „destroyed“ the time and space between stops or even between departure and arrival the Internet reproduces this effect (parallels between industrial commuting and digital commuting)

category IV ACTIVE EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

1.       will participants explore in an active and creative way?

yes p

describe how: The participants make the experience of being on one of the oldest trains in Europe and explore the history of the train. They transform their active experience in fictitious stories (web story) and into a travelogue, including the new media (digital photos)

2.       are they sensitized to parallels to their own home country?

yes p

describe how: Parallels can be drawn to  Volk’s Railway in Brighton and the First Electric in Cologne. Discussion about the effects will demonstrate that the concepts are the same

3.       are there any innovative forms of experiencing culture (as opposed to conventional “guided tour”)?

yes p

describe how: The starting point is the traveling on the train to get the feeling. Admittedly there is a guided tour but this is only the spring board for participants‘ own creation of stories (fictitious and travelogue) and participants‘ discussion about time and space

category V BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY

1.       will the participants share their own specialist/cultural backgrounds?

yes p

describe how: There will be room for participants to report about their own „commuting“ in their home countries (late trains, changing trains, etc.). E.g. the best British excuses for trains running late; the longest announcements for trains in Germany, etc.

2.       will there be a clear benefit for the community?

no p

describe how: Not really. This Dublin workshop is not yet part of the Achill community workshop so this  does not really apply. However, it would be a challenge to share our own backgrounds with Felicity and the people in the museum

3.       is the value of the benefit in relation of the learning experience of the participants?

no p

describe how: see above. This is workshop was not conceived to be part of the community project