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Reflections on the Imperial War Museum's permanent digital memorial
The document details the 'Lives of the First World War' project, aimed at creating a permanent digital memorial by engaging the public to share life stories of individuals who lived during this period. It outlines the project's objectives, audience-building strategies, and key outreach activities, as well as its legacy, which will be integrated into the Imperial War Museum's website by spring 2019. The initiative remains free to access and encourages contributions to preserve these historical narratives.
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Reflections on the Imperial War Museum's permanent digital memorial
- 1. Reflection on IWMs’Permanent Digital Memorial Catherine Long Public Engagement Officer Lives of the First World War and War Memorials Register
- 2. - What isLives of the First World War? - How does it work? - How do we build an audience? - What is the legacy of Lives of the First World War? Overview
- 3. What is Livesof the First World War?
- 5. Objectives of Lives Towork with the public to piece together Life Stories to form the permanent digital memorial which will be saved for future generations. Lives of the First World War is free to browse, free to join and free to add to Life Stories – and always will be.
- 6. Key Messages Official place fordiscovery of stories Ensure people understand the impact of conflict More important than ever before Commemorate lives of individuals
- 7. Partnership and Supporters LivesAcademic Advisory Group 2012
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- 9. Launch – 12May 2014 • Pageviews 315,509 • Sessions 47,701 • Regs 10,482 • Subs 121 • 1m/12m split 65/35 • Life story improvements 4791 • Image uploads 2257 • Email verification 91% • Mails into customer care cir.550. 75% within the hour
- 10. Launch Day Press Dayof the launch, - BBC Breakfast (National) on the half hour - BBC Radio 5 Breakfast - BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, - Woman’s Hour, - 22 regional BBC radio stations - ITV lunch time /evening news - BBC London evening news. - Telegraph, Times, The Sun. The following days: - The Daily Mail - Various international news - BBC London’s Robert Elm’s Show - RTE Ireland History Show. 3 weeks following launch, incl. - Who Do You Think You Are Magazine (First World War edition), - Huffington Post, Stylist, Family Tree Magazine and within June’s Inside the First World War Sunday Telegraph supplement.
- 11. How does Livesof the First World War work?
- 14. ‘Dear Sir, Please excuseme writing but if one does not ask they don’t know. On the 20th June 1919 I received a letter of thanks from you for the photograph of my dear boy killed in action. I have been to the Imperial War Museum but cannot find the photos of our boys only those in groups – perhaps I have somehow missed them – but if it is of no use to you I should be glad to have it sent back. I do not want to feel he is just put on one side. I am sure you will quite understand my meaning. It’s a mother’s sacred love for her dear one. I should like to feel I can tell my friends that he is there with all his comrades. He was only a boy but God love him he well did his duty. Sorry for troubling you. Yours faithfully (Mrs) E A Tickle’
- 16. • Created byFriends of Lives of the First World War • Connect Life Stories together • Examples: family, school, sport, workplace, location, military unit, memorial COMMUNITIES
- 19. Teachers Hub –launched in June 2015
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- 23. Development Beta testing: February– 12 May 2014 May 2014 (during beta testing): Communities 12 May 2014: Launch June 2014: Remember button October 2014: Timelines on life story pages May 2015: Member-to-member messaging July 2015: First remote volunteers recruited September 2015: Adding new life stories / merging life stories
- 24. How do webuild an audience for Lives of the First World War?
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- 26. Visitor - Browse thewebsite for free Member (free account) - Access over 7 million free records - Connect evidence and add facts Friend (subscription: £6 per month, £50 per year) - 7 million Free records - 15 million Premium Military records - 327 million Premium Civilian records
- 27. Volunteers 22 volunteers Being ableto research and record … extraordinary stories of courage, hard work, sacrifice and determination … is a huge privilege for me and spurs me on. I particularly like it when my research helps a member of the public to 'find' and commemorate a relative who was last heard of over 100 years ago. Ann Within the group we have folks who have years of experience behind them in the fields of family, military and social history. We all share a two-fold commitment: the first is to ensure that information in Lives is accurate and evidence-based; the second is to help other members to get the very best out of it. Michael
- 30. Public Engagement Examples ofOutreach activity 2014 – BBC World War One At Home Tour 2014. We delivered 7,071 taster sessions to 15,116 members of the public 2015 – Arts and Humanities Research Council World War One and its Legacy workshops. We led sessions with 30 participants in Nottingham, and 20 participants in Canterbury. 2016 – Stonyhurst College Somme Schools Conference. We engaged with 150 students and 20 teachers
- 35. Anniversaries and KeyDates - 2017 January – March - Silvertown Explosion - Women’s Land Army created - National (later Imperial) War Museum founded April – June - Battle of Arras - First daylight Gotha bomber raids on Britain - Battle of Messines July – September - Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps officially established - Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) - Continuing conflict in Middle East October – December - End of Third Battle of Ypres - Battle of Cambrai - Women’s Royal Naval Service created
- 36. Social Media Channels createdin October 2013 Lives of the First World War Facebook: 11,000 likes LivesOfWW1 Twitter: 14,000 followers
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- 41. What is thelegacy of Lives of the First World War?
- 42. Legacy Lives of theFirst World War will remain live and active, until spring 2019, when IWM will take ownership of the Life Story database, assets and stories. This data will be integrated into iwm.org.uk to create a permanent legacy for the project, which will always remain free for the public to access. Between now and the end of the project, we will continue to encourage public contributions to the site, via press, social media and engagement events.
- 44. Whose Life Storywill you discover? - Find your own family members, or people who share your surname - Find people listed on local war memorials - Choose a name from the site to research
- 45. Discover their stories… Remembertheir lives livesofthefirstworldwar.org In partnership with Findmypast
Editor's Notes
- #4 The permanent digital memorial to men and women from across Britain and the Commonwealth who made a contribution to the military or civilian war effort – whether they died during the war or survived the conflict. This includes those who were born in other countries, e.g. USA, but served with British and Commonwealth organisations.
- #5 Video often first impression of Lives IWM history – crowd sourcing for 100 years
- #6 We only charge for access to premium genealogy records that are always behind paywalls on the net. Position within 14-18 centenary activity – focus on stories as part of commemoration activity: faces to names on memorials, building pictures of names from a family tree. Platform for individuals to share research – centralise and preserve memories and records for perpetuity. Reliant on public contribution to enrich life story records. Evidence based – ‘how do I know this truth?’ Pass on a rich and accurate legacy to future generations. Before you can add a fact to a life story, we ask that you first find and share the evidence that proves it.
- #7 Lives of the First World War is the official place for people to discover the life stories of the over 8 million men and women from across Britain and the Commonwealth, who served in uniform and worked on the home front. With the First World War passing out of living memory, it is more important than ever before that we remember their lives for future generations. Discover the remarkable stories (personal, local and extra-ordinary) and commemorate and remember the lives of the people who lived, died, fought and contributed to the First World War. Since its foundation in 1917, IWM has continued to ensure that people understand the impact of this global conflict and how it shaped the world we live in today. Join us in creating and sharing this dynamic, permanent digital memorial.
- #8 Academic Advisory Group ‘The crowd will be diverse and interesting’ ‘The scale of the project will pose challenges for drawing boundaries around it’ ‘Is beating the drum for free, non-paywalled access – very pleased to be involved’ UCL
- #9 Lives partnership – IWM responsible for promoting the resource, engaging with audience; FMP responsible for developing and maintaining the website List of organisations who have contributed to Lives (funding – Charles Skey: Teachers Hub; providing access to records – Pearce CO Register; promoting resources – FWW Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme)
- #13 Remember function Contributors Sharing capability
- #14 Connecting IWM stories and resources
- #15 Evidence
- #16 Engaging IWM material with wider audience Hornsey Historical Society
- #17 Community of 110,000 users, but also communities of individuals with connections Stables family, from South Yorkshire – 9 members HSBC War Memorial, London, to former employees (also Barclays, Co-op) Football Remembers (also cricket, rugby) Bottesford, Leicestershire – HLF community projects 90th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, officers and men of FWW
- #20 Teachers Hub launched in June 2015 to support secondary teachers to use evidence based historical enquiry and real life stories. From date of launch to 21 December 2016 , Teachers Hub has received almost 8,500 page views. Resources include introductory presentation, relevant life stories and activity plan. These include creating a mini exhibition, encouraging creative responses (poetry, art, drama) and primary source analysis. By creating free accounts, teachers and students can also add photos and stories passed down through the family, or contribute research on a former pupil or local serviceman. Themes include Remembrance, Beyond the Western Front and The Battle of the Somme. We will be creating a Third Ypres offering for the centenary of Passchendaele. Tailored to Key Stage 3 history curriculum. Responsive to the national curriculim (Injuries, treatment and the trenches – Edexecel) Volunteer teacher – help to shape content of the Hub and promote resources with her peers.
- #22 Records: Free records: CWGC, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Midland Bank Military Record: Service records for British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force Civilian records: UK census returns from 1881-1911, Marriage and Death indexes Conscientious objects register 1914-1918, National Roll of Honour Ireland, Harold Gillies Plastic Surgery Archives
- #23 Signpost to further research tools and guides Context for life stories – theatres of war, military abbreviations, Royal Navy structure, a day in the life of a munitions worker
- #24 Beta testing - individuals joined at Who Do You Think You Are Live – Olympia Engaged individuals to test the Lives site pre-launch, provide feedback Many of those individuals went on to be active users, and later volunteers
- #26 Firstly by understanding who our audience is. Curious – stimulated by media stories and comes via search engines. Interested in the First World War but needs a content theme to stimulate this interest. Call to action – ‘Search, discover and share millions of remarkable life stories and find out more about how the First World War shaped the world we live in.’ Seeker – will be used to using tools like ‘Lives’, will probably already have discovered their connection to the FWW and will delight in finding them publicly available on Lives. Call to action – ‘Find your family’s life stories among the millions of records from museums, libraries and archives across the world’ Explorer – will use Lives to find out if they do have a personal connection to the FWW. Through Lives they will have access to search tools and a unique collection of content. Call – ‘Explore how you are connected to the millions of life stories waiting to be discovered online’ Expert – a key content contributor, the Expert uses Lives to carry out new research and as a repository for all their information. Interested in gaining recognition for their work from other Lives audiences including expert peers. Call – contribute your knowledge by linking records from across the world and help change for future generations the way people discover how the FWW impacted on the world we live in.
- #28 Support 110,000 users to get the most out of their Lives experience Forum responses, improving life stories, removing duplication, adding new life story pages
- #29 All volunteers have individual projects along with supporting other users. Trevor and a few others – Jutland Remembered as of 30th January 22,765 names from the Battle of Jutland now in Ship communities – 23,853 names in total identified Volunteers sharing Jutland research with volunteers at the National Museum of the Royal Navy
- #30 Remember WW1 awards – November 2016 Army and Navy Club National Recognition award for preserving the legacy of the First World War.
- #32 Traditional notion of supporting family research Computers available at both IWM London and North granting users full access to Lives records on site.
- #33 Stonyhurst College Somme Schools Conference Interacted with school children through object handling and story with connection to their school
- #34 Woking Family History Fair – November 2016 Promoting Lives and WMR alongside each other
- #35 BBC Breakfast – wider engagement about IWM activity with Lives signpost Martin Middlebrook papers – ‘The First Day on the Somme’
- #36 Tie engagement and social media with key anniversaries – tap into existing interest and drive traffic towards Lives Also, 2017 is UK-India Year of Culture – we are posting each Wednesday about an Indian story
- #37 Engaging with new audience, reinforcing connections with existing users
- #38 Post popular Facebook post – Harry Patch, anniversary of his death 25 July 2016 In excess of 400 likes, 250 shares and 25 comments
- #39 Light and shade – 22 Push Up Challenge
- #41 Ties in with user and volunteer research, guest blog posts and public engagement