The Memory Workshop

The Memory Workshop is a collecting and digitisation project within our UCL Urban Room at UCL East. Using the idea of lab-based learning, the workshop records oral histories within London and facilitates digitization of community and other collections on campus in our mini-studio. Student and partner users of the workshop can digitise vinyl records, VHS and cassette tapes as well as edit their own digital materials. This work is part of Urban Room’s commitment to supporting impactful student research and developing collaborations with artists, residents and organisations around the Olympic Park where UCL East is located.

The Memory Bike

The Memory Bike is a bicycle-mounted recording and listening station and digital acoustic archive which supports the documentation and recording of local voices and everyday soundscapes. Housed in the UCL Urban Room, the bike is a digitzation facility and collaborative archive and an extension of the Memory Workshop.

The Memory Bike has been designed by students and researchers working in The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment and The School for the Creative and Cultural Industries, it is supported by UCL Special Collections.

Find out more in the Memory Workshop and Bike handbook.

Watch The Memory Bike on YouTube.
 

Equipment 

The Memory Bike is equipped with a comprehensive set of oral history recording tools, conveniently packed into our ready-to-go backpacks. This includes Zoom recorders, SD cards, microphones, headphones, as well as a mobile table and stools to facilitate interviews and oral histories.

Supported Projects

Full Cycle
The Memory Bike at the Woodgrange Market

Full Cycle

A project by Frames of Mind celebrating the unique cycling heritage of Forest Gate.

Creekmouth
screenshot of creekmouth animation showing sketch of family on a raft in a flooded village

Creekmouth

The Memory Workshop supported this oral history and animation project documenting the loss of Creekmouth Village in the 1953 flood.

Voices of East Bank
UCL East staff and East London community members smile next to the UCL Memory Bike

Voices of East Bank

The Memory Bike has been at the heart of a project to gather an online archive of stories about east London’s heritage, communities, and languages.

Flotilla x Oral History
Pink sign with red letters saying Flotilla x Oral History

Flotilla x Oral History

Equipment from the Memory Bike was used to capture oral histories from women participants in Melanie Manchot's artwork Flotilla.