PowerPoint Template 29 January 2014

Reflection on IWMs Permanent Digital MemorialCatherine LongPublic Engagement OfficerLives of the First World War and War Memorials Register

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What is Lives 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

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What is Lives of the First World War?

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.

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Video often first impression of Lives

IWM history crowd sourcing for 100 years

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Objectives of LivesTo work 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.

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.

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Key Messages

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.

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Partnership and SupportersLives Academic Advisory Group 2012

Academic Advisory Group

The crowd will be diverse and interestingThe scale of the project will pose challenges for drawing boundaries around itIs beating the drum for free, non-paywalled access very pleased to be involved

UCL

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Partnership and Supporters

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)

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Launch 12 May 2014Pageviews 315,509Sessions 47,701Regs 10,482Subs 1211m/12m split 65/35 Life story improvements 4791Image uploads 2257Email verification 91%Mails into customer care cir.550. 75% within the hour

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Launch Day Press

Day of the launch,- BBC Breakfast (National) on the half hour - BBC Radio 5 Breakfast- BBC Radio 4s Today Programme, - Womans 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 Londons Robert Elms 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 Junes Inside the First World War Sunday Telegraph supplement.

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How does Lives of the First World War work?

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Remember function

Contributors

Sharing capability 12

Connecting IWM stories and resources13

Dear Sir,

Please excuse me writing but if one does not ask they dont 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. Its a mothers 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

Evidence14

Engaging IWM material with wider audience

Hornsey Historical Society 15

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

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Teachers Hub launched in June 2015

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. 19

Teachers Hub

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Records

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

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History

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 worker22

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

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 volunteers23

How do we build an audience for Lives of the First World War?

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Audience Groups

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 familys 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.

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Visitor- Browse the website 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

Volunteers22 volunteers

Being able to 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

Support 110,000 users to get the most out of their Lives experience

Forum responses, improving life stories, removing duplication, adding new life story pages27

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 Navy28

Remember WW1 awards November 2016Army and Navy Club

National Recognition award for preserving the legacy of the First World War. 29

Public EngagementExamples of Outreach activity2014 BBC World War One At Home Tour 2014. We delivered 7,071 taster sessions to 15,116 members of the public2015 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

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Traditional notion of supporting family research

Computers available at both IWM London and North granting users full access to Lives records on site. 31

Stonyhurst College Somme Schools Conference

Interacted with school children through object handling and story with connection to their school

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Woking Family History Fair November 2016

Promoting Lives and WMR alongside each other

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BBC Breakfast wider engagement about IWM activity with Lives signpost

Martin Middlebrook papers The First Day on the Somme34

Anniversaries and Key Dates - 2017January March Silvertown ExplosionWomens Land Army createdNational (later Imperial) War Museum founded

April JuneBattle of ArrasFirst daylight Gotha bomber raids on BritainBattle of Messines

July SeptemberWomens Army Auxiliary Corps officially establishedThird Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)Continuing conflict in Middle East

October DecemberEnd of Third Battle of YpresBattle of CambraiWomens Royal Naval Service created

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

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Social MediaChannels created in October 2013

Lives of the First World War Facebook:11,000 likes

LivesOfWW1 Twitter:14,000 followers

Engaging with new audience, reinforcing connections with existing users36

Post popular Facebook post Harry Patch, anniversary of his death 25 July 2016

In excess of 400 likes, 250 shares and 25 comments37

Light and shade 22 Push Up Challenge38

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Blog

Ties in with user and volunteer research, guest blog posts and public engagement

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What is the legacy of Lives of the First World War?

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LegacyLives of the First 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.

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Whose Life Story will 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

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Discover their stories

Remember their liveslivesofthefirstworldwar.orgIn partnership with Findmypast

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