The East Creek Community Centre (ECCC) living lab was established in Toowoomba following the FDPP project’s initial community consultation process, which took place through a series of interviews early in the project. A number of people who regularly attend ECCC activities indicated a desire to have greater knowledge about digital technologies.
ECCC ‘provides programs and services aimed at building inclusion and resilience in the community’ and aims to increase ‘important life skills, help those in crisis and reduce social isolation’.
The FDPP team worked with staff and volunteers at the centre to design living lab experiences with a focus on using iPads and 3D Printing. An iPad kit was developed with the assistance of the State Library of Queensland’s The Edge and was deployed to East Creek Community Centre to support English Language instructors to tutor non-English speakers. In addition, the iPad kit was used by members of the Crochet group, who were introduced to Pinterest to look up new patterns and to potentially post images of their own work. A 3D Printer was installed at ECCC for use with a range of community groups.
The FDPP project promoted digital activities at the Centre by supporting the increased involvement of a digital mentor on an ongoing basis – a regular ECCC volunteer who the project employed as a research assistant. The digital mentor collaborated with participants to develop digital activities and also became a resource for people who had questions about their home use of digital technologies.
The East Creek Community Centre living lab differed to the other living labs because it did not have a defined project, but rather aimed to support ongoing digital activity within an existing community resource. The FDPP project identified ECCC as an essential resource in the overall community ecology for supporting digital participation.
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