The Common Good Awareness Project is about creating awareness of Scotland’s Common Good Fund, which consists of a whole pile of assets that are publicly owned but through a lack of awareness are being forgotten about, there use misappropriated, or have been stolen. We aim to help identify, document and restore the use of these assets to the public who own them. We are interested in commons in any form. We are interested in spreading information on the technological commons of Open Source computer technology and of how folk can gain access to it. Access is very high in our remit. Access to information, to learning, to good food, to self determination, to collaboration, to innovation, to democracy, to agency and to engagement in public life.

Our aims are very simple. We want to engage with, collaborate with, help, support in any way we can others who respect these principals and who’s efforts are towards working in and supporting grass roots communities.

So there is a wide variety of options and ideas here to offer opportunities for involvement. Without mentioning Participatory action research, documentation, writing, photography, video, a whole other bunch of other skills interests that folk are into. So we were thinking with such a wide scope of activities how do we decide on a project that encourages people to examine the critical connections between all of these things and activities that could help build community understanding and solidarity. But would also be enjoyable, fun and suitable for all ages skills and abilities?

We looked for an idea that would connect with ordinary people that could be recognisable analogous and educational. We picked the Tardis, for various reasons.
The Tardis is small on the outside and big in the inside like the many ideas in peoples heads. We like the idea that the doctor hero travels around the place not with a big gun, but with a screw driver helping to fix things.

The project plan is to combine, the thinking, with the practical and the physical. The Tardis Project, will consist of building a Dr Who type Tardis. While and after we build it, there will emanating from it a variety of activities that will range from performance, music, arts, as well as (Low voltage) electronic and computer projects that will enhance computer literacy and the understanding of technology. The building and installation of the pod and what is in it will be arrived at through workshops at Kinning Park Complex and other community places.

Once the solar powered Tardis is completed we will then time travel through the community and beyond and do workshops/events at different spaces; in the park, the town square, the market, shopping centre, school or wherever we land. When the project finishes the Tardis could be lent out to groups schools, or community centres to use for education and fun purposes. It could also be used for example as a recording booth at the local shopping centre to let folk record their stories for our community archives.
After the summer, all materials and information collected will become a community common good asset. Although most of the activities will be centred around Kinning Park Complex, some of the work will be carried out in Castlemilk, Possil and elsewhere.

This is a strong element of our work, that we in our travels, connect to as wide geographical area and experiences as possible. As well as age groups and a wide variety of interests. This work will help us to connect to future work, people and ideas in encouraging the principals of community empowerment and the commons.

We will engage workshop leaders from the local community when we can, as keeping the skills and experiences local is important to us. The project will be run as an education tool from the planning stages to the execution of the work. The important part of the project, for the group itself, is how well the community participants take ownership of the project through their involvement. We have connections to a wide supportive skill base. We have access to workspaces such as Galgael in Govan and plan to work with them in helping with the build with technical help from the maker space at the Electron Club at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow.

We have some funding from Awards for All for some materials, administration and workshops. But the real value for us will be working, in a small way, towards building some hope through dialog and meaningful activities with others in building a decent life for ordinary people.