From tomorrow there will be just ten days until the Forest Cafe and arts space must vacate the building they have occupied since 2003.
Those last few days, it seems to me, would make a compelling video or radio documentary, and I’ve been exploring the idea of covering them with various members of the Forest over the last few days. The idea would be to spend each day with a different person, as a way of exploring the people who make this arts space special – and, of course, covering any developments that occur along the way. Will there be an last minute changes? Will they manage to raise enough money to buy the building, or at least enough to put down a deposit for a mortgage? Can Price Waterhouse Cooper be pressured into changing their mind, and allowing them to continue to rent the building – at least until they find a buyer?
On the other hand, I am aware that work I do with community groups in social media might well be of great assistance to the Forest right now, in helping in any last effort to look for financial donors and philanphropists. The kind of work I have been doing with Edinbuzz and the Innertube Map would be very useful for them in getting their message across, in creating a flow of material and stories about the Forest, and encouraging people to donate money.
This has left me of something with a dilemma – one familiar to the documentary maker, though perhaps less so to the news journalist – how involved can, and should, one get?
My feeling is that I need to decide whether I am documenting what happens over the next ten days, or whether I am trying to affect what happens over the next ten days – and that I cannot try to do both. I even ended up discussing this with one of the Forest members this evening, Rachel McCrum.
Perhaps surprisingly, Rachel thought I should stick to documenting events. “No-one has really managed to explain what this place is.” she said. She also though that it would be valuable to have someone independent – an outsider, like myself, hold a mirror up to the Forest, to show it with all its pros and cons.
Tomorrow I’ll need to make a final decision on this. I thought you might be able to help me decide. Which options do you think I should choose?
UPDATE – 16:38 – SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST
In the end there was a substantial majority – 70% to 30% – in favour of me approaching this as a documentarian, rather than getting involved. There were also some valuable comments from people, both on the blog, and on twitter. Michael Traill argued that there were lots of people in the Edinburgh social media community who could help them out with the campaign. Some thought that I was making a false separation, and that the journalist oten influences the story.
David Eyre’s suggestion on twitter was to embrace both;
@tomallan Can you not do both? Personal involvement would give a nice arc to the doc. And it'd be a good thing to help out.—
David Eyre (@davideyre) August 20, 2011
This is certainly an interesting idea, and indeed, may be a necessary one if I am to be truly honest about the story. In some ways I feel like I have already influenced events quite strongly, just by talking to people from the Forest about their plans, and offering advice about social media tools and strategies. In a way, that speaks about how very open the Forest is an organisation – it’s almost like a vacuum, pulling like-minded people into it and encouraging them to get stuck in.
At the moment though, I plan to step back from that, and record events as they unfold. And if I do end up getting pulled in? Well, as David said, that can become a part of the story too. But my gut-feeling is that you can’t do both properly.
Michael Traill (@MTraill)
20/08/2011
I can see your dilemma.
I think you should go with the documentary, the reason being you could call in the troops for the social media stuff. Let us know what way you go.
tomallan28
20/08/2011
Thanks Michael. Do you think that Edinburgh social media community would help with the campaign? I had thought of tweeting to the Edinbuzz crowd – but again, is that getting too involved?
Neil M
20/08/2011
I appreciate that this is a tough decision for you. I have just voted for the “documentary” option. All human civilisation needs people to document it, not just so that others can know what has happened but so that we can learn and improve on our existence. In Edinburgh at this time there are lots of people with the social media skills and contacts who could help Forest but it doesn’t seem that anyone else is in a position to help document what might be (fingers crossed it isn’t) the last days of something unique. If the worst case scenario happens and Forest closes it deserves a permenant record of its existence.
Ally Tibbitt (@allytibbitt)
20/08/2011
There’s no difference. False dichotomy in my view because good journalism takes sides. The observer affects the observed and all that.
But if you must ask the question, I think ten days is too short a time relative to the task to make much difference for a social media campaign. To work well they need time and investment and planning. Most of those are luxuries you don’t have.
So, I think Rachel is right. I think you should try to tell the story of what the Forest is. I think that’s quite an important thing to do anyway. Like someone documenting a listed building before it gets demolished, so at least there’s a record.
Apple
20/08/2011
Forest Cafe is a shithole. Trustafarians be gone with ya’ll.
tomallan28
20/08/2011
Not the most constructive comment Apple, and I can’t say I know what a “trustafarian” is – but I don’t want to censor you, so I’ve approved your comment. Maybe you could elaborate a little on what you don’t like about the Forest though?
Harry Giles
21/08/2011
Hey Tom — we’ve actually had a bunch of documentares made about Forest in the past, some of which are available online. You may well be able to make an even better one! – but the social media skils are wat we’re currently *lacking* in a very urgent campaign.