JISC have now published the report summarising the findings and recommendations of the research project in a news release entitled : First World War: are we getting the complete picture? http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/digitisation/www1resourcesreport.pdf.
The release also highlights other recent work by JISC and partners, including the database of resources relating to the conflict, which was the other outcome of our research: http://www.jiscww1discovery.net/.
Oxford University's World War One Centenary: Continuations and Beginnings (http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/), provides access to open educational resources on the conflict, for use by schools and universities.
JISC and leading academics have also worked closely with Wikipedia to enhance entries relating to the war: http://jiscww1.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012/07/02/rewriting-history-the-jisc-wikipedia-world-war-one-editathon/.
Friday 7 September 2012
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Imminent publication of report
The research report on World War One sources and their use is to be published by JISC in early September. The report highlights the wide variety of hardcopy and digital sources relating to the war in UK repositories and calls for a refocus on the teaching of often neglected aspects of the war, such as the naval campaign, war and empire, the global nature of the conflict and themes such as medicine, nursing, technology and industry, labour relations and the home front. While trench warfare and Western Front narratives remain central to the story, the report recogises that the 'world' needs to be put back into the 'World War'. UK projects focusing on the war need to connect more readily with similar projects - and content - that exist elsewhere in Europe and beyond, as Europeana is trying to achieve.
The report highlights the need for additional support for cataloguing, without which collections cannot be identified and made accessible, and the agreement of common vocabularies to describe the experience of the war - a necessary precondition of the successful implementation of Linked Data aggregation of war-related multimedia content - photographs, oral histories, maps and documentary film - that is proposed as part of the 2014 commemorations. Already-digitised, but locally accessible content needs to be made available online for broader reuse in teaching and research to extract full value from past investment in digitisation.
Potential roadblocks include lack of clarity in licensing; and the absence of adequate local IT support, upon which information professionals depend.
The report highlights the need for additional support for cataloguing, without which collections cannot be identified and made accessible, and the agreement of common vocabularies to describe the experience of the war - a necessary precondition of the successful implementation of Linked Data aggregation of war-related multimedia content - photographs, oral histories, maps and documentary film - that is proposed as part of the 2014 commemorations. Already-digitised, but locally accessible content needs to be made available online for broader reuse in teaching and research to extract full value from past investment in digitisation.
Potential roadblocks include lack of clarity in licensing; and the absence of adequate local IT support, upon which information professionals depend.
Friday 2 March 2012
Progress report
Significant progress has been made on the project in the past month. The two project officers, Lynelle and Dan, have carried out research to determine the whereabouts of hard copy and digital archives, books, museum objects and other content relating to the First World War, and on the way that the subject is taught in schools, higher education and further education. Two online surveys have been sent to relevant individuals, institutions and to professional mailing lists, and nearly 200 replies have been received to date.
The surveys covered the thematic breakdown of collections, the availability of digital content, its IPR status and accessibility to the wider research and teaching community, as well as broader research themes and trends. Analysis of the feedback is ongoing, together with follow-up telephone interviews with academics and information professionals.
Several lengthy expert focus groups have also been held to gather feedback on other World War commemoration projects and events, trends in teaching, pedagogy, current use of existing aggregation services and online search strategies.
The surveys, focus groups and academic steering panel all point to the need to broaden the availability of First World War digital content to support teaching and research on the war as global history; underpin comparative studies with sources, including translated sources, from other combatant nations including France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand; to reinterate the importance of naval history in the story of the war; and to investigate the often neglected role of colonial servicemen in the conflict. Memorialisation and understanding the ever-changing perspectives of the war also emerged as a key theme.
Work is to begin on a database and website to provide public access to the findings.
The surveys covered the thematic breakdown of collections, the availability of digital content, its IPR status and accessibility to the wider research and teaching community, as well as broader research themes and trends. Analysis of the feedback is ongoing, together with follow-up telephone interviews with academics and information professionals.
Several lengthy expert focus groups have also been held to gather feedback on other World War commemoration projects and events, trends in teaching, pedagogy, current use of existing aggregation services and online search strategies.
The surveys, focus groups and academic steering panel all point to the need to broaden the availability of First World War digital content to support teaching and research on the war as global history; underpin comparative studies with sources, including translated sources, from other combatant nations including France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand; to reinterate the importance of naval history in the story of the war; and to investigate the often neglected role of colonial servicemen in the conflict. Memorialisation and understanding the ever-changing perspectives of the war also emerged as a key theme.
Work is to begin on a database and website to provide public access to the findings.
Friday 20 January 2012
Latest news
The first academic steering group convened on 16th January. This proved wide ranging, covering items such as the number, location and theme of the academic focus groups and their underlying methodology; draft content of the survey of existing teaching resouces and focus; and overlap with the work of the Imperial War Museum and with other projects such as CENDARI. The group was reminded of the importance of identifying, sooner rather than later, 'ready to go' digital resources for the aggregation designs planned by JISC.
The group heard that positive feedback had already been received from academics eager to participate in the focus groups. A roundtable discussion identified areas of research not mentioned in the project plan, including battlefield geography and archaeology, and women's history. The group agreed that the design of any controlled vocabulary will be important in encouraging users to investigate aspects of the war that are often neglected in the popular imagination, such as naval history, by pushing these subjects 'up the ranking'.
The group heard that positive feedback had already been received from academics eager to participate in the focus groups. A roundtable discussion identified areas of research not mentioned in the project plan, including battlefield geography and archaeology, and women's history. The group agreed that the design of any controlled vocabulary will be important in encouraging users to investigate aspects of the war that are often neglected in the popular imagination, such as naval history, by pushing these subjects 'up the ranking'.
Tuesday 3 January 2012
JISC World War One Commemoration Research Programme
This blog will describe the research project that forms stage one of a four stage programme directed and funded by JISC to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One in 2014. For further information on the broader JISC programme visit: http://jiscww1.jiscinvolve.org/wp/jisc-ww1-discovery-programme/jisc-ww1-discovery-programme-phases/
The project team from King's College London is led by Patricia Methven and Geoff Browell of Archives and Information Management and Professor William Philpott of the Department of War Studies. Significant academic input and advice will be sought from experts in the history of World War One from other departments at King's College, and from across the UK and internationally.
The project runs from January until March 2012. It aims to:
Research key aspects of future World War One (WW1) digital content development in readiness for the centenary commemoration of the conflict from 2014 onwards. This research is intended to provide understanding in 3 key areas:
The project team from King's College London is led by Patricia Methven and Geoff Browell of Archives and Information Management and Professor William Philpott of the Department of War Studies. Significant academic input and advice will be sought from experts in the history of World War One from other departments at King's College, and from across the UK and internationally.
The project runs from January until March 2012. It aims to:
Research key aspects of future World War One (WW1) digital content development in readiness for the centenary commemoration of the conflict from 2014 onwards. This research is intended to provide understanding in 3 key areas:
- WW1 content and collections available to education in analogue and digital form;
- Teaching, learning and research priorities and requirements of higher and further education in terms of the study of WW1 including a scoping of potential digital users and key stakeholder groups
- Synthesis of WW1 digital content availability and educational requirement(s), resulting in ‘priority’ recommendations of WW1 digital content development.
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