Dundee has 48 hours to change the world

Published On Wed 5 Mar 2014 by Grant Hill

Photo opportunity: 6pm on Friday, 7th March in the DJCAD Cantina, Crawford Building, Perth Road.

At 5pm on Friday, 7th March 2014, a global event will begin at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) that gives participants just 48 hours to change the world.

The Dundee Service Jam is one of over 100 such events taking place across the world with the aim of bringing designers, students, artists, professionals and communities together to address serious global issues by creating new design methods that will be used in a collaborative way to develop life-changing service ideas.

The Global Service Jam movement began in 2011 and has grown ever since, with over 120 locations and nearly 3,000 people taking part around the world last year. Dundee participated for the first time in 2013 and hosted the 9th largest jam in the world. With around 70 participants, the Dundee event had more attendees than either Los Angeles or New York, and was the biggest jam in Scotland, and only second to London in the UK.

Like other locations all over the world, from Kampala to Kathmandu, Amsterdam to Athens, Stockholm to Shanghai, the Dundee Jam will provide an inventive, engaging, and fun environment for participants to work on new ideas relating to healthcare, commercial enterprises and community services.

Like a music jam, a design jam is also about improvisation and working fast and risk-free to try out new ideas and new ways of working, all while generating a buzz of excitement through connecting with other ‘jammers’ around the globe using various social networks.

The Dundee Service Jam is led by a group of students, staff and graduates from DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, who have secured generous sponsorship to help ensure that the event takes place.

Jewellery & Metal Design student Kirstie Snowdon, one of this year’s organisers, said, “The point of a jam is that it’s active and engaging. The people of Dundee can expect to see us out on the streets, testing our ideas and involving people in creative design. Whatever happens, there will be a lot of fun on the streets!”

Ross Crawford, a graduate of the Interior Environmental Design programme at DJCAD, was one of the organisers of last year’s jam and said, “We had business people, social workers, students, designers and many others of all ages working together on challenging design issues. And the big challenge is – do it in two days! The excitement generated was incredible, but for me the highlight was connecting in real time by video with other jammers from Beirut to Bogota.”

Dundee Service Jam opens at DJCAD at 5pm on Friday, 7th March and closes by 6pm on Sunday 9th March.

More information is available from www.dundeeservicejam.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/GlobalServiceJamDundeeScotland and www.twitter.com/gsjdundee.

Tickets can be obtained from www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dundee-service-jam-2014-tickets-10614200359?ref=ebtn. 

For media enquiries contact:

Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 / 07581534927