Foto: Pixaby Briefly analysed
Borrow a book and instead of reading it – talk with a real person. This is the idea behind the Living Library. Originally its face to face. We transferred this activity into the online world and used it at the First Steps Symposium for exchange and networking in Public Engagement. The Living Library is a simple event to be performed. It’s great for an exchange on different perspectives.
Mind changing As a public engagement event, the Living Library is quick & easy to organize. We provide tips for the online implementation and explain what makes this concept so special.
In this article we share our experiences with the Living Library. We used this engagement format in the First Steps Symposium that we organized together with the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science. There we wanted to give different kinds of perspectives a platform. Another aim of First Steps was to enable a network. That’s way the living library was one of our main formats. It was also very suitable because it is interactive.
How does it work?
First of all, you need books! In this case they are real people. Find people who are open to share their knowledge and experience. For us it was important to have diverse books. We didn’t just ask professionals with Public Engagement or SciComm background also from other sectors like cultural or creative. For around 20 people we had 4 to 5 books. This was just our ratio, you can have more books too, or the same number of books as people. On our platform the books introduced themselves and made clear about what they could talk.
What tool did we use?
We used wonder.me. It`s an exciting interactive tool and just perfect for an event like this. Especially when you want or must do it online. Originally the Living Library is face to face. Find out more about that in the info box. Back to the online world – to wonder.me. There you can create your own background. We created this one:
Our tips for wonder
And designed cozy corners where the books and people can meet. Every book was labeled as such. We also had a librarian for people who needed a little bit of support. Wonder.me is easy to understand. Therefore, it is perfect for engagement events. But some people are overwhelmed with moving around and the bubbles. Each one can join them and have conversations either in one to one or in a group. If you don’t want that anybody joins your bubble just lock it. To reach all people at the same time the broadcasting tool is interesting. If you as organizer click on that the conversations of all people stop immediately. You can use that tool for example at the beginning of the event for greeting.
Why will we use the Living Library again?
The Living Library event is perfect to get to know other people in Public Engagement and from other sectors like the cultural or creative one. That expands the network, gives people inspiration and new input to think of. Besides you can have open conversations in one to one or in larger groups. You generate an atmosphere of trust. That everybody can share their thoughts and critics. Both is possible on the Wonder platform.
| INFO – Where does the Living Library come from? The Living Library or human library is worldwide movement that is quite well established. It’s based on the original event human library to challenge stereotypes and discrimination. Ronni Abergel, his brother Dany and Asma Mouna and Christoffer Erichsen created the human library in Copenhagen in 2000. Originally their event was open eight hours per day on four days of the week. Now it is a global learning platform. They do trainings in schools or companies to better social understanding and to challenge prejudices. They create room for dialogue that are open and where people who wouldn’t talk have conversations. The concept of the Living Library is part of the Council of Europe’s program since 2003. The idea was successful as it has been implemented in over 60 countries worldwide. |