As the Centenary of the First World War approaches a plethora of projects and activities have begun to engage the public in the nation’s remembrance and commemorations. Many of these involve the collection of memories and experiences of the War passed down through families and across communities. Since 2008, the University of Oxford has harnessed the power of digital technologies to facilitate the collection of First World War memories and artefacts through an innovative community collection model, combining online and face to face engagement to crowdsource digital collections. Presented by Alun Edwards at The Museums Computer Group 'Museums on the Web' conference 2013 (UKMW13) https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ukmw13 Tate Modern, 15 November 2013. The theme for UKMW13 was ‘Power to the people’. The Museums Computer Group: connecting, supporting, inspiring museum technology professionals

1. Crowdsourcing a Community
Collection (and the After Effects)
An overview of the Oxford
Community Collection Model
Nov 2013
Alun Edwards,
University of Oxford
@HurricaneAlly

2. Crowdsourcing a
Community Collection
The Oxford Community Collection Model
Europeana 1914-1918 & 1989
RunCoCo
After
effects
Stories
…

3. This item is from The Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa); © MAUREEN ROGERS

4. This item is from The Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa); © MAUREEN ROGERS

5. First World War
Poetry Digital Archive:
Website
www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/

6. Crowdsourcing a Community Collection:
Pilot project
The Great War
Archive
(in the UK 2008),
University of Oxford
www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/

7. Some Technicalities
Poetry Digital Archive
•
•
•
•
•
Primary source material dispersed
amongst libraries and archives in
the UK, USA and Canada
Digitisation performed by holding
institutions according to project
benchmarks
Images digitised as High Quality
TIFFs and delivered as „good
enough quality‟ JPGs, Audio as
MP3, Video as MPEG 4
Catalogued by trained cataloguers
Quality Assured twice, including
by a key expert in the field
•
•
Dates, location, provenance, etc.
Images digitally watermarked
using DigiMark
Cost £40 / item
The Great War Archive
•
Primary source material held by
individuals in the UK and abroad
•
Digitisation performed by the
public using scanner/digital
camera or by the project team at
submission days
Digitisation guidelines provided
•
•
•
•
•
Not mandatory
All files types accepted
Initially catalogued by the public
Quality Assured and metadata
expanded upon by the project
team
•
Dates, location, provenance, etc.
Cost £3.50 / item

8. After
effects

9. Crowdsourcing a Community Collection:
Flickr
7,469 photos
602 members
www.flickr.com/groups/greatwararchive/
Flickr image by ARōs (Ana Rodrigues) www.flickr.com/photos/muntchka/3174352083/

10. http://europeana1914-1918.eu/

12. http://europeana1989.eu/

13. http://europeana1914-1918.eu/
What’s a collection day like?
5 September, 2012
Presentation title, edit
Page 13
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2012/0321/media-3234751.html
in header and footer

14. www.flickr.com/photos/kalidoskopika/1979907377/
What do you need?
OXFORD COMMUNITY
COLLECTION MODEL

15. Crowdsourcing a Community Collection:
Where do I start? …IDEA
http://runcoco.oucs.ox.ac.uk/

16. After
effects

17. After
effects
www.europeana1914-1918.eu

18. Preservation
Ephemeral documents, if not already housed in permanent public
collections, are at risk from loss or casual destruction
After
effects
Some owners decide, as a result of participation, to donate
originals to a museum
This item is from The Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa); © P Vainker

19. The friendly face of
public institutions
After
effects
Some of the public who
come to the collecting
days are not regular
museum visitors or
familiar with the
various forms of
research and technology
The new visitor benefits
from seeing dedicated
staff and an interesting
subject, and so does the
museum (widening their
public image and users)

20. After
effects

21. After
effects
After
effects
Soldiers of
Oxfordshire Museum
Banbury High School
Lancashire Infantry
Museum
Copyright © 2013 Lancs CC. All Rights Reserved

22. • Aim for two-way
engagement
• Be part of your
community
• Challenge your
assumptions
Strategies for achieving
each of these are
described, along with real
examples drawn from the
projects with which we
worked.
After
effects
http://runcoco.oucs.ox.ac.uk/resources/RunCoCo_Report.pdf
Sustainability
strategies:

23. How easily can treasure, buried in
the ground, gold hidden, however
skillfully, escape any man!
Project Woruldhord
http://projects.oucs.ox.ac.uk/woruldhord/
After
effects

24. Merton@750
www.merton.ox.ac.uk/alumni-and-friends/750th-anniversary-campaign
After
effects

25. After
effects
Age Exchange:
Children of The Great War
http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/
“…major intergenerational
theatre production where
young and old will perform
both theirs and others
memories gathered through
the many hours of
reminiscence sessions and
archive collation.”

26. Crowdsourcing a community collection
TWO FINAL STORIES

27. This item is from The Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa); © Jill Ross
Photo submitted by the
nephew of William
Gaunt, (seated here)
Nothing particularly unusual in
this photo – which had been on
the mantle-piece in William‟s
widow‟s house?

28. After
effects
SCHOOL IN ACCRINGTON, KS2 YR 6
Copyright © 2013 Lancs CC. All Rights Reserved
Heritage Learning Office, Lancashire County Cultural Services
working with:
•
Burnley Youth Theatre
•
The Dukes Play House, Lancaster
•
Ludus Dance
•
Chorley Boys

29. Questions?
RunCoCo for resources &
consultancy
@RunCoCo
runcoco@it.ox.ac.uk
http://runcoco.oucs.ox.ac.uk/
After
effects