Peter E. Sidorko & Y.C. Wan

University of Hong Kong Libraries

4 September 2012

The Hong Kong Memory Project: A Collaborative Journey into

Hong Kong’s History

Build a digital repository for the collection, conservation, presentation and dissemination of Hong Kong’s history, culture and heritage

Collect from different sources materials in textual, graphic, audiovisual forms and present on the web to readers in an interactive and user-friendly way

Provide free and open access to the general public, students, teachers, and scholars, in Hong Kong and other parts of the world

The Hong Kong Memory Project

Hong Kong in briefKey CollaboratorsBackground The ProjectDeliverablesTasks AheadFeedback

Agenda

Hong Kong in Brief

Situated at the south-eastern tip of ChinaA total area of 1,108 square kilometres,

comprising Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsular and the New Territories

A population of about 7.1 million, mainly ethnic Chinese

A Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China

The world's most livable city, according to the Economist’s annual livability index, 2012

Profile

‘A barren rock with hardly a house upon it’, some 170 years ago

Ruled by the British for more than 150 yearsFrom a place of no particular importance to a

financial, trading and business centreA city with many histories, each written for

its age, with different audiences in mind and from different points of view

A Vanishing City

Hong Kong Government

Hong Kong Jockey Club

Centre of Asian Studies &

University of Hong Kong Libraries,

The University of Hong Kong

Key Collaborators

Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the government department which provides leisure and cultural activities for the people of Hong Kong

It operates the Hong Kong Public Libraries (76 libraries), Hong Kong Public Museum (18 museums), civic centres, parks, performing venues, etc. all over Hong Kong

Education Bureau helps coordinate the School Memories Programme

Hong Kong Government

One of the largest racing organizations in the world

Operates on a not-for-profit business model whereby its surplus goes to charity

Over the past decade, it has donated an average of US$128 million every year to charities and community projects

Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)

A research facility established in 1967 to promote interdisciplinary research on Asian topics within the University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong Culture and Society programme was one of the Centre’s three flagship programmes

CAS was incorporated by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences on 1 July 2009

Centre of Asian Studies (CAS)

Established in 1912 to contribute to the teaching, learning, research and knowledge exchange pursuits of the University of Hong Kong

Its collection of Hong Kong materials, particularly print ones, is the largest in Hong Kong

Has been digitizing its contents since the mid-1990s (http://lib.hku.hk/database/)

Partnered with CAS on a number of Hong Kong-related projects

University of Hong Kong Libraries (HKUL)

From a Government Initiative

to a Collaborative Project

Background

Project initiated by Dr Patrick Ho, former Secretary for Home Affairs of the Government, in 2002

Conceived as Hong Kong’s response to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme which calls for the preservation of valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world through digitization to guard against collective amnesia

LCSD was asked to take up the ‘Hong Kong Memory’ project in mid-2004

A Government Initiative

LCSD started the project by setting up a small project team

Proceeded with a feasibility study; awarded the contract to a multinational hardware and software company after conducting a tendering exercise

The company took up the IT part and commissioned a historian from CAS to look into content development

Feasibility Study

Feasibility study report accepted in 2005 by LCSD, which to our surprise, did not proceed with the project with government funding

HKJC was asked to fund the Hong Kong Memory project instead

HKJC was supportive to the funding request but insisted that content development of the project should carry more ‘weight’

Recommendations set forth in the feasibility study report were abandoned

Funding

In early 2006, CAS & HKUL proposed to HKJC taking up the project for 5 years: CAS handling contents and HKUL providing IT support

In August 2006, HKJC approved funding of up to US$6.8 million to the project for the first 5 years (Nov 2006 to Oct 2011)

At the same time, LSCD agreed taking up the project after the first 5 years

In 2011, HKJC agreed funding the project for 2 more years (until Oct 2013) using the unspent balance of the 2006 allocation

Collaborative Project

Six Years On

The Project

Project coordinators from CAS and HKUL are responsible for daily administration of the project; submit quarterly report to HKJC

Hong Kong Memory Working Group advises on the project’s development

Joint Meeting on the Hong Kong Memory Project, quarterly meetings coordinated by LCSD and attended by representatives from LCSD, HKJC, CAS and HKUL

Management Framework

Mostly full-time contract staff13 full-time staff are now working on the

project, most of them in content developmentDesign work mostly outsourcedHigh staff turnover

Staffing

Guidelines for applicants to prepare funding proposal and budget

7 assessment criteria for all funding proposals, regardless of the amount of funding sought

Funding evaluation and approval by a 6-member evaluation committee

An external assessor is required for funding request exceeding US$25,000

Funding Application and Approval

A key concern of the GovernmentEngaged a legal consultant to compile a set of

copyright guidelines, based on copyright issues that may be encountered by the project

License agreement that allows the transfer of copyrights from the University to the Government

Copyrights

Project staff as contributorsIndividual researchers contribute, compile

and organize contents for the project with its funding support

Institutions/individuals contribute as content owners; project staff compile and organize the contents for the project

HKUL as a contributor

Contents

School Memory Programme, to promote the idea of ‘learning history by doing history’ to secondary school students, by providing them training in collecting, compiling, organizing and sharing school memories

Our Digital Stories, to facilitate ordinary citizens to record and share their real life history through digital technology by providing a simple and user-friendly digital tool and training workshops

Community Outreach

Developed by Beijing TRS Information Technology Limited

Hardware solutions from IBM

Web Portal System

System Components

25

Information

Retrieval System

Content Management System

Other Optional

Applications

e.g. Tagging,

blog, forum

Portal Administration System

12 production servers, 1 backup server and a testing and development server

Support 500 concurrent users in the initial stage

99.9% availability6T SAN storageFirewalls, with anti-virus, IPS and anti-spam

More Details

2 Usability tests of the mock-up website (created by the Greenstone software), conducted in 2009 in 2010 respectively

The third usability test, conducted in 2011, was a trial run of the production website

Usability Tests

Learning by doingSet up a company to host the website and

transfer it to LCSD after the first 5 years?Receive government subvention to continue with

the project after the first 5 years?Get LCSD involved in making major decisions?Involve in other Hong Kong history-related

projects at the request of HKJC?Cope with changes over the past 6 years

The Tough Part

Hong Kong Memory

(https://www.hkmemory.hk/)

Deliverables

Four Major Components

The website acts as a depository of source materials in different formats.

The 30 thematic collections are categorized by subject into 4 broad themes: (1) history and society, (2) geography and environment, (3) art and culture and (4) communication and media

1. Collections

History & Society (11 Collections)Local Festivals Around the Year

Geography & Environment (11 Collections)

Hong Kong Places

Art & Culture (5 Collections)Calendar Posters of Kwan Wai-nung

Communication & Media (3 Collections)

Shaw Brothers’ Collection

Formed with materials selected from one or more collections and organized around a topic or a story

2. Exhibitions

An Adventure in Kowloon City During the Victorian Era

A digital oral history archive which collects the life experiences, perceptions and sentiments of Hong Kong individuals

Interviewees come from different age groups, places of origin, ethnic backgrounds, social classes and occupations

Interviews cover a wide range of subjects such as industry, education, community, housing, art and culture, and social life in Hong Kong under the Japanese occupation.

3. Oral History

Hong Kong Voices

Featured Stories

2 satellite websites: one for schools (School Memories) and the other for inter-generational activities (Our Digital Stories)

Encourage members of the community to use its materials and to contribute to the project in various ways

4. Communities

School Memories Programme

Next Year Will Be Crucial to the Project

Tasks Ahead

Roll out the collections and exhibitions in 2 to 3 phases until the project is handed over to the government

Work closely with HKJC and LCSD to publicize and promote the website

Engage the collaborators to help promote the website

Meet the government’s timeframe/requirements in handing over the web portal system

Prepare and organize documentations of the project to facilitate handing over

In the Next 14 Months …

Wrap up the project by completing the collections, exhibitions, etc.

Further enhance the website in response to user comments in the remaining time

Get LCSD staff prepared to take over the website and further develop its contents

Manage the ‘feelings’ of our project staff

More …

“And Now, the End is Near …”

The Website Has Yet to Go Public

Feedback

From the StudentsIt took me several dollars to go to schoolI had already dressed up to go to the game centre to play Street FighterWhy did you call me urgently? Luring me to school to spend time on history Why don’t we invite teachers and alumni to sit down and have a chat?Unveil the secrets of our schoolThe noble memories of our school will not be lost for everDidn’t I love gaming? No more gaming for the rest of my life?Now I spend time at home on the history webpage until my PC is hungI forgot adding garlic whilst cooking, eating baked beans insteadI have my heart in history now

Peter E. Sidorko (peters@hku.hk)

Y.C. Wan (ycwan@hku.hk)

Thanks