Travels with a Flipcam: bringing the community to people with dementia in a day care setting through visual technology

Abstract

This paper discusses the exploratory process of making a short digital film with two women with early-onset dementia in a day care setting. The film was produced as part of a larger participatory video (PV) pilot project within the day centre. My main subject here is the adaptations to the standard PV process which I made in order for the two women, Pam and Carol*, to be able to take active part. These adjustments took account of their individual abilities related to cognition, physical mobility and social confidence. I discuss the development of an asynchronous approach, which involved my going out into the local community to capture images of Leeds City Market using a mini-camcorder (Flipcam) and the subsequent addition, at the day centre, of voice-over commentary by the two women in response to the visual images they saw on screen. Extracts from their film narrative presented here suggest that participation in the film-making process helped to reconstruct their sense of cultural identity and social engagement. The resulting short film is now being disseminated to Dementia Studies degree students by way of their social networking site.