Identity and the Millbay Residency

West Hoe Road

This week we completed more fieldwork on the Millbay Residency down on the quays in Plymouth. It was an opportunity to try the new single document format for Dialogue Journaling in Google Docs and Google Drive for the first time. Some inspiring imagery from Mark and the chance to map out more of the route with Clarisse took us to the eastern-most edge of our territory so far. It was the fork where West Hoe Road becomes Redford Road, and Mayflower College stands in the upturned letter Y where the Great Western Road begins its journey south.

Cawfee near the Octagon

But back to the beginning of the day, for a moment. The team arrived early on Tuesday 25th April, so we had to find a plateau to sit, write and plan. Cawfee at 104 Union St, Stonehouse, Plymouth PL1 3HL was open, and only a short step from the Octagon and the entrance to the EU-funded flood defence system called Millbay Boulevard. The marshlands of Bath Street were regenerated just below the surface here and new buildings were going up, like the Moxy Hotel on the new safer ground.

Journaling with Marshlands in Mind

Say why you’re here.

The book we chose to be a catalyst for our writing and image-making was Marshlands by André Gide. Gide started this novella with a Latin quote, ‘Dic cur hic’ which can be taken as an opening request in a dialogue to explain why you are out here in the city, and why you are working on your writing and research here. Tell me what you’re doing here? It fits place-making projects very well, because it has that word, ‘here’ in the phrase. Marshlands was also a work of meta-fiction from early in the twentieth century, and our residency explores the meta-idea of recording what you are doing, and including that record in the cultural artefacts we make.

Journaling on the Platform

Especially for this day, I had re-engineered the journaling template, first launched in the Routledge book, Travel Writing for Tourism (2023), into a single Google Doc. I had written about Google Smart Chips here on the magazine blog, but I still wanted to make the process more accessible. So, in the last week I re-wrote parts of my course book, Identity, to step you through the process. It has an activity that shows you how to use the new doc as a repeatable template. Now, if we link this doc as a file in a named space on Google’s new Chat App, then we have replicated a complete platform for team collaboration.

The training book, Identity, is available as a Google Play Book now. If you are interested in place-making, or the Millbay Residency in Plymouth, and would like a review copy of the eBook, then please make contact. You can direct message me on my IG, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook account. You will need a Google Gmail to follow the course module. These are free if you do not have one yet.

Identity in eBook and Pocket A6 Paperback

Please click on the book cover to view more details:

Paperback pocket edition on Amazon

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