WeiPoint at Birmingham History Day
Saturday 30th November saw Weipoint invited to present at Birmingham History Day.
This annual event is hosted at the University of Birmingham and organised by the Centre for West Midlands History’s Dr Malcolm Dick, an expert on Birmingham history during the enlightenment. Birmingham History Day commemorates the efforts of individuals and businesses within the city to research and preserve Birmingham's important history, as well as efforts to provide opportunities for the public to engage with this history.
The event saw a packed schedule. Corrina Rayner and Tom Epps represented the Library of Birmingham, discussing the acquisitions that Birmingham Archives and Collections had made in the last 12 months, as well as the partnerships and projects the Library hoped to unveil in the future. The staff of Birmingham Museums discussed their own acquisitions and exhibitions on popular protest in Birmingham that would unveil in the near future. Passionate Historians, experts in their field, communicated their research on a variety of matters from Birmingham’s past. Professor Peter Marsh discussed the picturesque Highbury Hall, while Dr Kate Croft discussed the wives of the inventor James Watt who so defined much of his life. WeiPoint, then, was amongst a distinguished company.
The WeiPoint team, Dr Wei Wu, Harry Wilkins, and Quan Chen, discussed WeiPoint’s future aim to make Birmingham history more accessible and understandable for the city’s international and non-English speaking audience. Dr Wu took the opportunity to open with a poignant recollection of his own experiences as an international student and businessman. He recounted how he was partly inspired in his venture when he found that he could not explain to his parents the significance of the clock tower, ‘Old Joe’, on a visit to the University of Birmingham. Upon realising that he knew very little about the heritage of the city he would spend seven years living, studying and working in, Dr Wu decided that he should learn more. Quan Chen was able to discuss the rationale behind WeiPoint’s design efforts: as her minimalist artistic designs seek to use iconic images and structures linked to Birmingham’s History to bridge any language gap. After all, anyone will recognise the Birmingham Bull. Her many designs, based on fifty prominent (and some less prominent) places within the city, aim to ensure Birmingham’s heritage is never far at hand by incorporating minimalist designs in everyday items. Harry Wilkins discussed WeiPoint’s aim to provide non-English language tours at Birmingham heritage sites, beginning with the Back to Backs. He talked about some of the challenges surrounding our aims: translating Birmingham slang into languages such as mandarin can be very difficult, and many English-speakers can be tentative about efforts to bridge a language-gap after so long not being able to communicate with a certain population.
Birmingham History Day was an excellent chance for WeiPoint to reach heritage and historical professionals. Perhaps Birmingham History Day 2020 will see WeiPoint return, able to talk about what else we have achieved in the upcoming year.