Borderless Wilderness Border – Multimedia Education and Production Project
Funded by Euregio Karelia Neighbourhood Programme 2001-2006

Objective of the project

The project was to gather experience and knowledge regarding creating and implementing a bilingual cross-border, unbiased multimedia product. The multimedia product was to be built in cooperation with entrepreneurs and educational institutions.

Main activities

• Creation of a bilingual cross-border multimedia product to distribute the product in the same format in Finnish and Russian, on both sides of the border in North Karelia and the Republic of Karelia • Construction of an information office-type service, which could be used to distribute media content to other forms of media. • Organising of training events on integrated media design and language and cultural training for students from College Outokumpu majoring in radio and TV work and graphical design, • Organising of a training trip to Petrozavodsk.

Achievements

A bilingual multimedia product was created and published during the project as planned. The Lajka magazine and www.lajka.net website were created as a joint venture by College Outokumpu, Lab 42 Oy, Vocational institution no. 17 and Karjalan Sanomat. The website was published and the magazine circulated in the same format on both sides of the border. Lajka created a new type of media where the same issues were presented in a similar way in Finnish and Russian. The content included human interest topics, cross-border cooperation, tourism, entrepreneurship and people. The Lajka magazine did not reach its set circulation target as the advertising sales targets were not met. In addition, complications with customs processes led to a reduction in the number of magazines delivered to Russia. Content similar to that of information office was assembled on the internet; however, the development of the actual information office service was not completed. The training section of the project offered College Outokumpu perspectives that would help in advancing communication industry training and the development of school-specific learning plans. During the project, the school’s international activities were boosted and contacts were created with different counterparts in Petrozavodsk. The educational institution’s activities with Petrozavodsk have continued in different forms following the project’s conclusion.