[NLab comes to a close for 2005-2006]

On Thursday the 29th of June we had the final seminar of a series of four for the Narrative Laboratory Project. Our theme for the day was tourism and heritage, a key concept for creative industries and digital writers, artists, creators. We began the day with a keynote talk on museums and concept of narrative given by Dr. Ross Parry of the University of Leicester. As he spoke we began to understand how vast the idea of "museum" is and the role writers can play its digital era. While questions and discussion continued we squeezed in lunch and then joined the IoCT group for their weekly stroll along the canal. Sue and I ran a workshop in the afternoon for NLab members and so I asked each person to make a digital collection of their walk. We collected "items" with cameras, audio recorders, and the like. Upon our return an hour later we attempted to each create a wiki which combined the items with a narrative thereby embodying our theme of the day. Aside from the expected technical problems (always always always!!!), each group made fascinating projects which we hope to upload to the NLab site in the very near future. The session came to a close by 4:30 and then we were all invited to join Shani Lee at her Frontline Book's bbq. It was a real treat to wander into a proper independent bookstore and browse the tightly packed shelves. We need to try to support our local businesses and forgo the glistening internet aisles of Amazon and the like. All in all the bbq was a wonderfully optimistic note on which to conclude this year's NLab.