My Tribe Journeys

BACKGROUND My Tribe Journeys was commissioned by ABC Pool as a project-based research initiative designed to explore the creative potential of the 2012 ABC Pool Redesign. It was a participatory project that brought media industries and educators together to support and engage with emerging media makers. It emerged out of a project with a similar name (My Tribe) created in 2010, however the form and research aims of the two projects differed; the similarity in name was kept for marketing reasons. The ABC was seeking evocative, surprising and original stories of a journey. The project was supported by tertiary institutions and industry, with partnerships also developed with ABC Radio National, Community Radio as well as independent producers. CCONRIBUTION With Kyla Brettle as producer, My Tribe Journeys aimed to both explore the creative project potential of a unique social media sharing website (ABC Pool 2012) and develop a user-centered production environment that facilitated and supported industry and education participation. The result was a series of ideas and practices that were later implemented into the 'greater Pool' and its emerging project protocols, and a viable model for industry and education knowledge transfer. SIGNIFICANCE The project, which was supported by academics across six Australian universities and one TAFE institution, was implemented into nineteen tertiary courses (focusing on media production to sociology). Similar support came from industry. In June 2012 My Tribe Journeys was presented as a knowledge transfer model to the BBC and academics at that University of Salford, Manchester. After a highly successful launch, ABC Pool extended funding to two years. In The Conversation (20 August 2013) Jonathon Hutchinson and Alexl Bruns wrote: "My Tribe (produced by Kyla Brettle) is an outstanding example of what innovative, collaborative production methods can create when a simple theme is facilitated by a combination of academia and industry".