Innovative GIST Lab moves into the Workstation
The Workstation is now home to The GIST Lab, a hub for creative collaboration set up by The GIST Foundation, a charitable organisation that encourages and supports community-driven grassroots innovation. Now that GIST has a physical space in the heart of the city, digital workers can take advantage of a dedicated place to share ideas and know-how, to experiment with colleagues in the public, academic and third sectors, while working on radical projects that can deliver social and economic value.
The Showroom Workstation is championing this exciting venture as a way for new ideas to emerge and be supported on their journey to becoming established enterprises.
“The GIST Lab allows people with different expertise to get together and pool their knowledge and resources. Sheffield needs a place for the next generation of creative industries to call their own and the Workstation is delighted to be at the forefront of the revolution”, says Kelli Parnham, Workstation Manager.
GIST activity centres on a programme of events held at the Showroom Workstation, including GIST Magazine, formerly known as GeekUp. The GIST community has grown organically using blogs and social networking tools such as Twitter to spread the word, but always with an important element of face-to-face communication and discussion.
The opening of the GIST Lab marks a new era for the GIST Foundation, whose founder Jag Gill is spearheading the way for new collaborations and projects to emerge. He comments, “The GIST Lab provides a much-needed home for the independent and active ground-level community of practitioners that we've built up over the last two years. The Showroom Workstation's enthusiastic partnership on this project is testament to their commitment to grassroots innovation in the creative digital sector.”
The GIST Foundation is keen to stress that their organisation is not just for those who are tech-savvy and active internet users. Monthly GIST Social Media Surgeries are held for local, voluntary and community sector groups to get advice and practical hands-on information for putting social technology into action for their cause to help reach a wider audience. In a time of recession it is crucial that community groups as well as education and public sector organisations find innovative ways to collaborate and embrace new technologies to enhance their endeavours.
The GIST Foundation always welcomes newcomers, as Jag Gill explains, “The challenge now is to find collaborators from a broad range of disciplines and sectors who want to engage and experiment with technology to create social and economic value. Get in touch!”
For more information, or to visit the GIST Lab please see http://thegisthub.net