❶ TO TELL THE CITY ŁÓDŹ ORAL HISTORIES

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1 Discovering the past Spillovers from the audiovisual /creative sectors onto the historical tourism sector, based on analysis of projects implemented in Łódź, Poland, in the years Prepared by Innovation Center - High Tech Accelerator University of Lodz Foundation 21/23 Matejki St., Łódź, POLAND, Tel , Fax ciat@uni.lodz.pl, website: Łódź, April

2 INTRODUCTION Creative industries (including audiovisual sector) are regarded to have high potential to contribute to local and regional wealth and prosperity imparting dynamism on the development of the Łódź city and region. Therefore a new promotion strategy of Lodz city for the years adopted by the city authorities recognizes the creative sector as one of the pillars of the city s and region s socio-economic growth in the future. However, gains to be obtained from the development of the creative sector go far beyond the sector itself. One can also easily expect its positive spillovers onto linked sectors of economic activity. This report provides evidence of cross-sectorial spillovers with the historical tourism sector. It presents three cases of developments where the creative/audiovisual and historical tourism sectors have interacted in the Łódź city and region. 2

3 ❶ TO TELL THE CITY ŁÓDŹ ORAL HISTORIES In May 2010, an interdisciplinary project TO TELL THE CITY - Łódź oral histories was launched in order to collect the memories of Łódź residents. The history of human life, the living memory of individual people often sinks into oblivion. TO TELL THE CITY is an attempt to capture the memory of Łódź, its subjective image kept by the residents. Through interviews with the oldest residents of Łódź, it was aimed at reaching facts and memories which otherwise would never be captured and preserved. There are three assumptions that underpin the project: 1. HISTORY IS EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED 2. EACH OF US HAS AN IMPORTANT STORY TO TELL 3. HISTORY IS EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED (INCLUDING ITS EMOTIONAL ATTITUDE AND INTERPRETATION) A research team was formed whose task was to interview the oldest residents of Łódź. A digital oral history textbook has been prepared. It was arranged according to main themes including childhood, school, location, Łódź before 1945, Łódź after 1945, war period, Łódź ghetto, language and some more (for more information see Also an exhibition summarizing the project was held at the City Culture Point PREXER University of Lodz [SEE PHOTOS BELOW]. During the event, visitors could talk to the interviewees of the project, listen and read the most interesting interview excerpts and view the accompanying visual materials. Digital materials (text and photos) are available at the web page Miejscownik.org where you can find oral histories (memories of people, legends) assigned to concrete places in the city area through the web city map and structured according to various thematic themes. Three oral history projects have been carried out: about local craftsmen, professors at the University of Lodz and culture environment in times after II War. 3

4 I remember exactly as it was mentioned that there are not enough professors. There were no doctors, no lawyers, no engineers, no chemists, no... there were shortages everywhere. There was no one before us, it was an empty field of action, actually, we could go everywhere we wanted, you just had to hold yourself just right. QUOTATION FROM THE PARTICIPANT Lodz was grey and that life was grey, but later at university [at the Academy of Fine Arts] I was suddenly struck by a full range of colours. I couldn t get enough of this... This Neoplasticism and those Mondrian-like movements, which were still on at the time, were very persuasive and in some small way I am still a little shaped by the way of thinking of those people. QUOTATION FROM THE PARTICIPANT MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: Łódzkie Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Miejskich Topografie (TOPOGRAFIE Association) Miejski Punkt Kultury Prexer - UŁ (City Culture Point Prexer University of Lodz) 39 Pomorska St., Łódź, POLAND Mobile: (Agata Zysiak) stowarzyszenie@topografie.pl, prexer@topografie.pl Website: 4

5 ❷ URBAN GAMES Urban games are a form of entertainment that is a combination of chases and field games with art happening. Games respond to the need of residents to learn about their environment and its past while at the same time having a good fun. They allow everyone to see who knows the history of the city best, its streets, squares and mysterious alleys. Organizers and players have one thing in common - a passion for the city as a living creature, with whom one can be friends. ŁÓDŹBÓJ INTERNET URBAN GAME (ŁÓDŹ DISCOVER YOUR CITY) This is the longest and most developed of the urban games taking place in Łódź, one of the largest in the country. The game took place between 17 April and 1 May 2010 [SEE PHOTO BELOW]. 38 teams signed up making a total of 135 players. The main prize was a flight over the city. ŁÓDŹBÓJ not only provided great entertainment but also supported the dissemination of historical, regionally grounded knowledge among young people. Using the Internet and new tools for mobile phones (photo codes, Bluetooth), young people learnt the history of their city from its origins as a farming settlement, through the development of the industry in the 19th century until the most recent events. For two weeks, they had to carry more than 60 tasks posted on the website Topografie.pl which is a portal devoted to the organization of city games which aim to involve citizens of Lodz to know the history and topography of Lodz. The portal is run by the group of Lodz enthusiasts Łódź Topografie Association. They also had to solve quizzes on geography, biology and architecture. All the challenges made for the players were consulted with teachers and experts in the field of history and culture of Lodz. At the end of the ŁÓDŹBÓJ methodology booklets were created for teachers explaining how to carry out such a game on one s own. Some useful tips were given in it including how to set the route and define tasks (with some concrete examples). The materials are released under Creative Commons and their use is free. 5

6 MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: Łódzkie Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Miejskich Topografie (TOPOGRAFIE Association) Miejski Punkt Kultury Prexer-UŁ (City Culture Point Prexer University of Lodz) 39 Pomorska St., Łódź, POLAND Mobile: (Michał Grelewski) Website: ❸ SYSTEMS OF CITY INFORMATION DECODE ŁÓDŹ MobileMS company from Łódź, Poland, developed the systems of city information consisting of comprehensive tourist guides based on modern technologies. These systems aim to reach tourists and citizens via diverse channels, e.g. web portals, mobile websites, mobile applications, the digital labelling of places of interest with photo codes and the virtual markers of Augmented Reality. Interactive solutions in tourism which take advantage of geolocation and provide the user with information available on various carriers enable experiencing an unprecedented dimension of discovering the city. A crucial element of these systems is the use of photo codes / smartcodes (QR codes), which is one of the most practical and immediate ways of identification, presenting the tourist and cultural offer of cities, towns and regions. Main monuments and buildings of historical value and other 6

7 places worth seen in particular city have been marked with photo codes. To read the photo code [SEE BELOW], just a mobile phone with a camera and scanning application installed is required. All you need to do is to scan the photo code and you will have an access (in Polish, English and German languages) to: Broader description of the object Titbits, multimedia (photos, audio, film) Narrators reading contents Materials for uploading (wallpapers for mobile phones, rings) 7

8 Decode Lodz programme the Lodz tourist information system - implemented in Łódź in 2010 In Łódź there was implemented the programme presenting Łódź, especially to the tourists and other visitors, called Decode Łódź. The Decode Łódź programme was implemented by MobileMS company, in cooperation with the Lodz City Council. Łódź is the first city in Europe with a mobile guide available on a mobile phone. In every smartcode, you find a hidden link to the mobile web page about a certain place a variety of information and interesting facts in three languages. Altogether they present an image of Lodz, such as it was, and what it is nowadays. The tourist information system is accompanied with city games, a mobile version of the portal etc. In Łódź there are three photo code thematic routes that can be traced: 8

9 Villas and palaces 26 most beautiful villas and palaces in Łódź Industrial architecture 27 most important heritage sites featuring Lodz industrial architecture of the 19 th and 20 th centuries Piotrkowska Street 15 sites presenting the uniqueness of the city s main street Implementation of the smartcodes in Łódź within was accompanied by huge promotional campaign in various media, like YouTube, Facebook, Nasza Klasa (which was a very popular Polish Facebook ), Myspace etc. Crossmedia communication tools were used in promotional activities and events, like city games, smartcodes, guided city tours and a number of happenings. During the campaign also the promotional gifts were produced, including T-shirts, key rings, pins, mobile phones cases etc. 9

10 Polish and international media press, TV, Internet - informed about the campaign. The project Decode Lodz was chosen by German public TV ARD as one of four most interesting topics from Poland, presented to the German audience. MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: MobileMS (the company located in the Lodz Technopark) 114/116 Dubois St., Łódź, POLAND Tel.: Fax: info@mobilems.pl Website: Following the success of the Decode Łódź programme implemented in the city of Łódź, other cities places in Poland introduced similar programs to promote them. One of the examples is the program Discover Żory Through Żory to Silesia (where Żory is the name of the city and Silesia is the name of the region of Poland). The elements of the programme were: an inventory of 150 points of interest labelling attractions of the town with smartcodes an Internet portal with a digital map of the region a mobile website. Moreover, historical photos were digitally superimposed onto the contemporary locations Augmented Reality and famous voiceover artists speak about the city monuments. Not only the cities can benefit from the smartcodes system, but also particular locations, such as historical sites, cultural institutions, natural monuments, view points etc. One of the examples is the Information system in the Wilanów Palace Museum in Warsaw, Poland, where 50 elements in the area of the Palace and in its vicinity have been labelled with smartcodes which give access to information via a mobile phone. The program enables interactive sightseeing with the use of mobile devices such as mobile phones or tablets. Moreover, thanks to the technology of augmented reality, you can learn details concerning some elements of the facade and the park. It is possible to add new components to the system such as an educational portal or games that combine the real with the virtual world. 10

11 MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: MobileMS (the company located in the Lodz Technopark) 114/116 Dubois St., Łódź, POLAND Tel.: Fax: Website: