Insights Into Legacy: Issues of Handover from a Partner-Initiated Project

We report on a six-year collaboration with a small community organisation to develop and deploy a permanent physical / digital locative media experience as part on an ongoing community regeneration project. We describe how this unfolded over four phases: approach and pilot; public deployment; supporting subsequent community-led spin-off experiences; and planning legacy and technology handovers. The project was distinctive for being a Knowledge Exchange project in which we were approached and formally contracted by the community to deliver the digital technology, rather than instigating and leading a research project. We identify seven considerations for handing over technologies that combine both digital and physical elements to communities of stakeholders that encompass businesses, councils, and volunteers, and how this illuminates the unique strengths and weaknesses of Knowledge Exchange projects within the wider design research landscape.