Many creative and communication practitioners are using digital technologies for their research. This proposal will harness what is being done outside university-based research to showcase innovative uses of websites and blogs, films, events and objects in the sharing of ideas to a range of communities. It marks a shift away from considering digital technologies as subject matter or method to critical transmission tools and sites of knowledge. It sets out to establish the idea that how researchers make, curate and represent knowledge (beyond talk and text) can engage and involve new audiences, both inside and outside traditional research settings. The proposal does this via two main activities; a new applied collaborative research project 'Freedom of Movement; the bike, the bloomer and the female cyclist in 19th Century Britain' and an international symposium (with accompanying user-led workshops and exhibition). The research project brings to life hands-on knowledge making process involving new archival research and analysis of existing contemporary cycling data with the making of women's cycle garments from 130 year old patents in collaboration with craft practitioners (tailor, artist and filmmaker). It combines new digital technologies (laptop, camera, video), social networking sites (twitter, blogs), classic tailoring techniques, tweed fabric (with a twist) and a period hand-cranked sewing machine. Documenting the process digitally, giving talks and exhibiting and performing the results in a range of public contexts (such as festivals and a popular central London bike café and workshop) will bring to life multi-dimensional engagements with ideas, practices and technologies, extending the organiser's skills and offering new entry points into social science research for diverse communities. The international symposium showcases cutting edge projects, provides a platform to debate and discuss the benefits and consequences of practice, develop new skills (via user-led workshops) and generate new relationships for potential future collaborations. Day one will feature presentations, performances, talks and/or tours. Speakers will be encouraged to experiment with the idea of a symposium as a multi-dimensional knowledge platform, mediating conversations, facilitating new entry points into their ideas, exploring the context of transmission and stimulating new outcomes (which may not follow conventions of a speaker and seated audience). Day two will include a series of user-led skills workshops which will enable further discussion and hands-on experience, while encouraging more people to get involved and showcase their work. Objects, photos, websites, films and other materials will be exhibited after the event. The proposal's focus on new ways of making, curating and representing knowledge is timely due to the current political shift toward open access, as outlined in the Government's 'Open Data White Paper' (Maude 2012) and Willetts's (2012) call for a 'seismic shift' in sharing knowledge. While these calls to action focus on open data access and liberating journal articles from paywalls, this research approaches the issue in a different way; via the potential (and pitfalls) of new forms of knowledge representation made possible through new digital technologies, platforms and materialities. It will enable knowledge exchange between a range of industry, policy, creative and academic communities, developing critical skills and networks for future collaborations, thereby demonstrating the impact of new forms of knowledge transmission and exchange. Findings will be shared with practitioners, policy makers and researchers through a series of outputs: a dynamic website and blog, an international symposium, user-led workshops, a short policy report, two conference papers, a journal article, a series of short films and two exhibitions.

Cycling can contribute to physical and mental health and wellbeing among the older population by providing an active means of independent mobility to connect with the community and engage in social activities. But whilst cycling accounts for 23 per cent of all journeys for people aged 65 and older in the Netherlands, 15 per cent in Denmark and 9 per cent in Germany, it represents only 1 per cent of all journeys in the UK. This research starts from the premise that older people in the UK are often portrayed as citizens who lack the capacity to cycle and that this translates into design guidance that fails to consider how the built environment could be transformed to support cycling amongst an ageing population. As people age, cycling becomes more physically challenging, forcing many to stop. Some people do adapt to changing physical circumstances and continue to cycle in older age. However, many lack the desire to cycle because of risks associated with its practice in an unsupportive environment and fear of personal injury. Projects to improve cycle infrastructure coupled with the growth in availability of assistive technologies such as electric bicycles ('e-bikes') could have a significant role in creating opportunities for older people to return to cycling or prevent them from giving up. The aim of this research is to better understand how built environment and technological design is shaping the willingness and ability of older people to cycle, how they interact and experience the built environment when cycling, and how this affects their wellbeing. Attention will focus on elements of design at different scales from buildings, to neighbourhoods, to wider town networks and also on bicycle technology and equipment. The research will investigate the range of policies and programmes and guidance available across the EU targeted at promoting more inclusive cycling amongst the older population and compare this with activity in the UK. A range of existing UK data sources will be analysed to identify trends in participation in cycling across the in the UK and the extent to which recent projects and programmes are encouraging older people to cycle. A mix of innovative methods to understand the relationship between cycling in the built environment and wellbeing will be used with residents approaching later life (aged 50-59) and in later life (60+) across the Bristol, Oxford, Reading and Southampton areas. First, biographic ('cycling life-history') interviews will be conducted in order to understand the role of past experiences of cycling and the influence of life events such as family and social relationships, employment and wider social, economic, environmental and technological change; Second, mobile interviews and observation will be conducted with participants as they make a regular journey by cycle in order to capture their everyday experience of cycling and to measure how interaction with the built environment affects mental physical and mental wellbeing; Third, new and returning older cycle users will be invited to take part in a unique 8-week experiment to measure how their (re)engagement with both conventional and electric cycling in the built environment affects their physical and mental wellbeing. A rich dataset incorporating qualitative (textual, cartographic, video) and quantitative (numerical measures of wellbeing) data will be used to develop a toolkit for use by policy makers and practitioners. This will advise how the built environment and technology could be designed to support and promote cycling amongst current and future older generations and provide evidence of how this could improve independent cycling mobility and health and wellbeing. The toolkit will include briefing notes linked to design guidance and a documentary video, made with participants of the study, distributed directly to policy makers, practitioners and stakeholder and made available on the Web with the aim of generating maximum impact.