Relocating Innovation: Places and material practices of future-making
Case study:
Orkney Islands
An ethnography of high-tech innovation at the geographic periphery, on the remote archipelago of Orkney, Scotland.
This case study will investigate the effect that place might have on innovation, through an ethnographic study of technology research and development practices in a landscape radically different in topography and temporality to those that characterise sites more often considered central to high-tech industry, such as multinational corporations at international transport 'hubs'. This ethnography will address questions of location through its focus on islands often considered 'remote' from centres of high-tech industry, but which are an emerging site for sustainable high-tech industries of European significance (e.g. European Marine Energy Centre).
It will also address questions of temporality in future-making through a consideration of the effects of the high density of extant prehistoric monuments on Orkney, which is one of the most important places for Neolithic archaeology in the world (e.g. Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site). Orkney is therefore a site where enduring and durable technologies may powerfully influence the construction both of a prehistoric past and of technologies of the future.
Orkney Futures
Orkney Futures Toolkit
Following the OrkneyLab futures workshop, we have created an Orkney futures toolkit using Prezi. There are two versions:
[Download the standalone toolkit]
[Participate in the online version (email for access)]
Orkney Futures Handbook
The 'Orkney Futures: a Handboook' edited by Alistair Peebles and Laura Watts is now available to buy online. It features 49 imagined futures for Orkney, written by contributors from Seamus Heaney to Mary Bichan. [Link to Brae Editions shop]
September 2009 Events Calendar
3 September
On the Edge of the Future
Part of the Orkney International Science Festival. A public talk and discussion on the research in Orkney by Laura Watts. King Street Hall (Kirkwall), 2pm.
22 September (day)
OrkneyLab: The Futures Workshop
A small-scale workshop with all 3 members of the 'Relocating Innovation' research team, to explore futures and innovation in Silicon Valley, Budapest, and Orkney. The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness. Places limited. Download the flyer for details.
22 September (evening)
EQUINOX: An Evening For Orkney Futures
In collaboration with Alistair Peebles of Brae Edtions/Brae Projects. Public launch of the booklet 'Orkney Futures: a Handbook'. This event will feature futures and landscapes from Shetland poet, Jen Hadfield, and Lancashire author, George Green, as well as an audio-visual performance.
Useful references
Ingold, Tim (1993) The Temporality of the Landscape. World Archaeology, 25, 152-174.
Richards, Colin (1996) Monuments as Landscape: Creating the Centre of the World in Late Neolithic Orkney. World Archaeology, 28, 190-208.
Turnbull, David (2002) Performance and Narrative, Bodies and Movement in the Construction of Places and Objects, Spaces and Knowledges: The Case of the Maltese Megaliths. Theory, Culture and Society, 19, 125-143.
Researcher
Laura Watts is a senior research associate at the Centre for Science Studies, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University UK. Her previous research created an archaeology of the futures of the mobile telecoms industry. This work drew on her prior career as a designer and futurist working within a major telecoms manufacturer.
See writings, performances, poetry, and publications on her personal website.