Juergen Vervoorst, The National Archives

29 October 2014

Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities

TNA/ RLUK Conference Birmingham 2014

People unlock Collections – User Participation at The National Archives

Volunteering ↔ User Participation

CO 1069/301/17

1. Caribbean Through A Lens: a new approach with digitised collections

The National Archives, CO 1069/301/9

Consulting, fostering and community commitment

Chase Neighbourhood Centre, Nottingham

Cuming Museum ExhibitionSouthwark, London

‘Caribbean Through a Lens’ on Flickr: Upturned Train Case: The laughter of womenINF 10/ 379 re-used by P. Richardsca

Caribbean Through A Lens - The National Archives

Caribbean Through A Lens – Huddersfield/ Kirklees

2. Operation War Diary: Recruiting an army of Citizen Historians

Operation War Diary

WWI 100 at The National Archives

Operation War Diary: the task

Operation War Diary: the launch

In its first week after launch, the Operation War Diary website saw:

• 104,167 pages classified• 116,638 people tagged, including large numbers of non-officer ranks• 212,832 dates tagged• 144,021 activities tagged• 24, 644 weather conditions tagged• 148,402 people visitors to the site • 746,972 diary pages viewed• 85 diaries completed • Equivalent to approximately one person’s year of effort

3. Identifying Heroes: the BT 99 (1915) Project

The National Archives, NSC 5/7

The National Archives, COPY 1/515/232

1915 Merchant Navy Crew Lists Project

BT99/3100, List 11

Thank you to my colleagues:

Sara Griffiths and Sandra ShakespeareSarah Leggett and William SpencerJanet Dempsey