New phone app to gift locals a “poetic satnav” of Hackney and its history
“Magical”: the splash screen of a hackney autobiography‘s website, with illustrations by Joanna Layla
Apple’s now ubiquitous slogan from 2009, ‘There’s an app for that’, sums up the fleeting joy of finding a tool for some menial task or other. Many are used once and never again, only escaping deletion through end-user laziness – the presence of the ‘Mister Spaghetti’ pasta-measuring app on my phone is my own testament to this.
For locals looking for a deeper relationship with their software, new app a hackney autobiography, launched this month, hopes to create and curate a “poetic sat-nav” of the borough.
The app is published by social enterprise On The Record, following a two-year consultation with local groups and artists. It features sketches in different media by local authors and activists and four full listening audiotours, triggering stories and reminiscences in real time as you and your GPS-enabled phone stroll through Hackney neighbourhoods.
On The Record’s Laura Mitchison told me more about the tech, developed from scratch with ethical digital company millipedia:
“You can choose either automatic triggering or manual. When it’s on auto-follow, once you’ve launched a trail – say, for example, you’re doing Inside Out Homerton – once you get to Homerton Station it’ll start playing track 1, and then the narrators will direct you to the next stop. It feels quite cutting edge for a community history project.”
“It’s magical just to wander into a place, and then these mysterious voices arise unbidden into your ears. It’s quite a nice sensation, because then you’re relinquishing control to another consciousness if you’ve got it on auto-follow, guiding you here and there.”
On The Record’s Rosa Schling (left) and Laura Mitchison (right).
A web-based version makes it possible to follow the trail from afar, or if you’re otherwise unable to follow physically.
The project was inspired and informed by the work of Centerprise, the iconic Dalston bookshop and community centre that was a hub for intellectual activity in the 1970s and 1980s – as described in the Citizen shortly after Centerprise’s closure in late 2012.
Indeed, those interested in Centerprise can delve into the associated book, The Lime Green Mystery: An Oral History of the Centerprise Co-operative. A physical archive of the material gathered is held at the Bishopsgate Institute Library in Spitalfields.
Most Hackney natives will find new nuggets of info in the app – for example, I had no idea of the Polski Sklep on Homerton High Street’s former notoriety as Doctor Jelley’s Hospital, pre-NHS home of the eponymous ‘threepenny doctor’, dispenser of potions and dietary advice to the area’s working class.
Dr Jelley of Hackney, published by A People’s Autobiography of Hackney group at Centerprise – one of the inspirations for the app.
In another of the tours heard by the Citizen, today’s Dalston becomes a lively collection of cultural and political “frontlines”: contrasting the peaceful Eastern Curve Garden with Jewish and African Caribbean struggles in the area to bring the primary-sourced social history to life.
These are no dry historical narrations – the app’s tales are recited by relaxed, knowledgeable guides, and are scored with original incidental music written and performed by friends and volunteers. The almost disorienting ‘voices in your head’ effect achieved in the Homerton tour came from a brainstorming session hosted by mental health charity Core Arts, many of whose members had spent time in the local hospital.
There’s a sense of communal solidarity in the way the stories were put together. Community groups participated at every step, from mapping workshops to much wider involvement, as Mitchison explained: “The theme of food and frontlines [the title of the Dalston tour] came from exploring Jewish and Caribbean histories in and around Ridley Road Market.
“There was this clandestine anti-fascist cell called The 43 Group that were having street battles with Oswald Mosley and the fascist movement. We brought this Jewish story out to Caribbean community groups, and they were so inspired by it because it resonated with their experience of the frontline being Sandringham Road, which runs parallel to Ridley Road, and that was a place that African Caribbean communities were clashing with the police and the far-right in the 70s and 80s. Those kind of echoes were something the people we work with thought was important to draw out.”
The website is already live, and the native mobile app will be up on both the App Store and Google Play store – search for a hackney autobiography – in advance of On The Record’s launch party (see full details below.) Beyond that, a Contemporary Voices section sits tantalisingly on the site, and On The Record are keen to keep things updated and fresh. Hopefully Hackney has more stories to tell.
The launch party for a hackney autobiography – featuring a plethora of speakers from Centerprise and other places mentioned in the app – is at Sutton House, 2 & 4 Homerton High St, London E9 6JQ, on Sunday 7 May from 5pm to 7pm. Free but booking essential; contact info@on-the-record.org.uk to reserve your place.
There’s also a chance to preview Inside Out Homerton – one of the Audiotours featured in a hackney autobiography. To register interest, please contact info@onthe-record.org.uk / 07787243656 as soon as possible.
You can order ‘The Lime Green Mystery book’ from info@on-the-record.org.uk (free for community groups).