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OBA (Openbare Bibliotheken Amsterdam) - a network of 26 public libraries based in and supported by the city of Amsterdam since 1919 - has been working on the development of OBA NEXT: a library of the future in the new to be developed area in Amsterdam Zuid Kenniskwartier. The commercial and office space, knowledge hub and new to be developed living environment, will be the centre for a new library in digital times, which is a reinvention of the library as we know it.
OBA NEXT is to be a house for citizenship and democracy, bringing knowledge, science, information and stories. Participation and the way people are actively involved is key in the design of OBA NEXT.
The Challenge Journey
The Challenge Journey
Who are the community/citizens working on the Europe Challenge?
The OBA is in transition, and its mission is to find out how to stay future proof in a changing context of sharing knowledge (not only books, papers and magazines). We need to figure out what the public needs, what they want, how they see their library in the future. We imagine it will be a third space, a place to learn new skills, to meet people, to find ways to verify sources, etc. In the search for answers and inspiration we got to meet different communities of young people who are connected by their interest in new technologies, like VR and AR. They gave us an insight on: what if a public space isn’t defined by ‘bricks’, what if you don’t need a physical space to meet each other? What happens when you engage citizens through new technology to look at their society with a different perspective? What solutions would they come up with, if you provide them with a different set of possibilities?
Photo by Studio VRij
How did you identify and engage your community?
We started with a citizens Thinktank on November 15th in the OBA. We invited the VR & AR communities that we wanted to engage, to talk about what future communities would look like, what new technology could bring to communities. The main topics were digital illiteracy, digital inclusion and the emancipation of new technology. The communities want to share their knowledge and enthousiasm with people that usually don’t get in touch with new tech like VR: it’s expensive, unknown, people might see it as a luxury instead of a possible solution to a problem. We decided to get people in touch with the technology, and ask them what you would use it for in daily life/ in solving an issue.
What is your overall challenge topic? Which concrete challenges have your communities decided to address and why?
The challenge is about digital inclusion. The tech communities wanted to address this problem. We asked them to involve other communities and reach out to people to come up with ideas for the use of VR in solving problems. So the challenge is twofold: one community wants to emancipate VR & AR, the other community learns about this technology and gets to imagine what they would use it for in daily life issues. The outcome of this challenge will lead to a VR solution that will be made with both communities. However, this process won’t start earlier than half March. We did collect some ideas already, to work with.
How are your communities driving the challenge and what tools are they using?
We’re working on the exact format and methodology with our partner who is hosting the VR Days. We want to have people from different communities interacting with each other, and we found a really nice way to do that: with the Oxytocina Hubs, a project with VR technology to connect people in different spaces.
How are your communities reimagining public space?
One of the ideas was to build a VR museum about LHBTQ+, to share information and educate with people all over the world, especially for countries where LHBTQ+ isn’t accepted. Other ideas were on co-creating art together
Photo by Studio VRij
How do you see the solutions to your local challenge being replicable / adaptable for other people and in other European contexts?
The beauty of a VR solution is that it is in a public space that is available for people all over the world. It defines a different form of commonality than a local initiative, based on geography. To us the OBA library is a very logical partner in this kind of solution, because it’s been a goal to emancipate knowledge since ever. And the bigger the amount of communities that can share knowledge and connect with each other, the better. We are working on selecting a case to build a permanent VR installation in the OBA.
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