Nottingham: the Council House and the Djanogly City Academy

A dedicated end-users’ workshop took place last June in 2 of Nottingham’s demo sites, namely Council House and the Djanogly Academy. The “Council House” is a vital living entity of the city and is the centre of local politic as Nottingham’s elected councillors conduct most of their business here. A dozen staff members from different departments (Coronors, Civic & Events, Registration, Cleaning and Councillor). The “Djanogly City Academy”, on the other hand, is a secondary school with a space for over 800 students. The workshop was addressed to and attended by both students and staff from various departments (such as Teaching, Administration, Catering, Library, Supervisor, etc).

Workshops began with a presentation about the eTEACHER project and conveyed the benefits to the participants, generating enthusiasm while allotting time for questions and answers. Afterwards, they were asked to complete a series of fun, interactive and colourful activities. These were used to discuss and provide information about their ICT habits. These in turn, are used as a basis in evaluating different innovative tool ideas and serve as an opportunity for them to create their own vision for eTEACHER.

Participants listened attentively and has a lot to report regarding their buildings’ energy problems, as they are also interested in opening up the possibility for eTEACHER to improve their comfort. Students, in particular, were generally enthusiastic about the idea of introducing new technology into their school so as to help save energy. When asked to create their vision for an ICT product, they combined lots of different ideas and came up with a fun branding focused on the environment – a topic that may appeal to a younger audience.