Why Is Everyone Not A Demographic ?

Along the way in trying to get formal support for the Ragged University, I have encountered endless bureaucracies which, if taken onboard, distance you from the work at hand. In the case of Ragged University, it is about building communities of learning networks where people share their knowledge and skills in social spaces. As far as engaging with the bureaucracies goes, I have wound up analysing the processes instead of engaging as the culture itself seems to be a key factor in why so many social and community activities are dying out in our landscape.

Ragged University and People Know How by Glenn Liddall

Alex Dunedin of Ragged University and I were introduced through a mutual acquaintance who simply said “You both need to talk” because we are both involved in the idea of cultivating community and trying to create opportunities for people where they are most needed. Alex is a gifted listener and ideas person, keen to listen to people, appreciate the time and energy they have invested in their subject, and try and support them to get where they want to be – wherever that is. Read more…

Where Information Goes In And Nothing Comes Out

Over the last five years I have been making a study of what is needed to create a community education project or network. The Ragged University project is about promoting and propagating all communities rather than building a monolith; this is another part of it as a multi-valued project which is interested and inspired by people sharing their knowledge in social spaces. A ‘recipe book’ is being created to distill helpful information and insights for all people out their who want to run their own ‘Ragged-University-type-project’. Read more…

Ragged University Has No Funding: Anyway, It Is Not About Money

Recently I was met with disappointment when I had to inform someone that there was no money to pay for expenses so that they could talk at a Ragged University event. I got the sense that they wanted a token, a symbol of worth, that they were appreciated such as some petrol money or the like. It was uncomfortable. Read more…

Collaboration Between Edinburgh Palette and Ragged University by Karl Graham

Since the beginning, Edinburgh Palette has offered space and support for a diverse cross-section of artists, designers and charities, and an equally varied range of projects. We were therefore delighted when The Ragged University selected us as the venue for the Mad World exhibition. The University has a long-standing tradition of openness and inclusion, which has parallels with the core values of Edinburgh Palette. Read more…

Floating Classrooms: A Model For Mobile Teaching

The nature of the Floating Classroom project is to develop the affordances around going into communities and opening up spaces which are equipped to cultivate threads of interest which reside in those communities. This means having everything that a classroom might normally have in a higher education context, except on a mobile basis. Read more…

Adapting to Marginal Spaces: Floating Classrooms

For many community organisations and education projects a main issue is finding space. In this age where adult education is being constantly diminished by the forces of economic financialism, strategies of adapting to marginal spaces are essential for viability, survival and community.