{"id":1362,"date":"2011-03-24T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T16:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk\/runcoco\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2011-03-28T22:21:19","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T21:21:19","slug":"europeana-crowdsourcing-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-new.it.ox.ac.uk\/runcoco\/2011\/03\/24\/europeana-crowdsourcing-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Europeana crowdsourcing memories in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Erster Weltkreig promotional film, on YouTube<\/p><\/div>\n

The German National Library (die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek<\/strong><\/a> – DNB) launches a new crowdsourcing project today, “Erster Weltkrieg in Alltagsdokumenten<\/strong><\/a>” (The First World War in everyday documents).\"EWA_LOGO\"<\/a> Online, anyone can submit family memories and photos of letters, postcards and studio portraits that relate to that War. There are also a series of roadshows in 4 German cities where the public will be invited to come along with their material for the team to digitise on the spot. Although the emphasis is currently on the German experience, Europeana<\/strong><\/a> (who are funding this) are planning to roll this collection out to a number of other countries in the lead up to the centenary of 1914-1918.<\/p>\n

RunCoCo on Tour<\/strong><\/p>\n

RunCoCo<\/strong><\/a> (based at the University of Oxford) has been supporting the work of the DNB, offering training and guidelines and the CoCoCo<\/strong><\/a> open-source software that is being used to co<\/strong>llect co<\/strong>ntributions from the co<\/strong>mmunity.We will be travelling over the next 3 weeks around Germany, and updating our progress on this blog<\/a><\/strong> and on Twitter<\/strong>, follow #Europeana<\/strong><\/a> and @RunCoCo<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

The press campaign is built around a film based on a fascinating story from The Great War Archive<\/strong><\/a> (which the RunCoCo team ran in 2008). The friendship of RAF man Bernard Darley<\/strong> and German prisoner of war Otto Arndt<\/strong> was one which the team blogged<\/a> about. A short film about this unlikely friendship illustrates the Erster Weltkrieg in Alltagsdokumenten project’s intention vividly. Luise Arndt<\/strong>, Otto’s great-grandchild, finds out more about her grandfather on the Europeana<\/strong> website<\/a> and even gets in touch with Bernard’s family. The film is available to view on the website<\/a>, and can also be seen in YouTube<\/a><\/strong>, (pictured above).<\/p>\n

The press release can be downloaded from the Europeana press pages as a PDF<\/a>, and the text includes:<\/p>\n

Press Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

Project Launch: “Erster Weltkrieg in Alltagsdokumenten<\/strong>” – The First World War in everyday documents<\/p>\n

Pictures, letters and memorabilia wanted – Berlin, 24 March 2011: “The First World War in everyday documents<\/strong>” is
\nlaunched today with a call to the public in Germany to participate in building a
\ndigital European archive by contributing private memorabilia from the First
\nWorld War. We are looking for photographs, letters, diaries, short films, audio
\nrecordings, objects and their stories. Following the launch of the project, four
\nroadshows take place in Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart. The
\nproject is a partnership between Europeana, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
\nand Oxford University.<\/p>\n

Call for participation – We ask everybody to bring World War 1 memorabilia to the roadshows. They
\nwill be digitised professionally and added to the online archive, along with
\ncorresponding descriptions. Independently of the roadshows, everyone can
\ncontribute their digitised images and information to the website –
\nwww.europeana1914-1918.eu<\/a><\/p>\n

Until 2014, the year of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War
\nOne, we will collect memorabilia in digital form from many of the countries
\ninvolved in the War. The project aims to save people\u2019s family memories of this
\ntragedy that convulsed Europe and make them accessible to the world.
\nThe historian Prof Dr Gerhard Hirschfeld<\/strong> of Universit\u00e4t Stuttgart\/Bibliothek f\u00fcr
\nZeitgeschichte, highlights the significance of the project: “It is vital that we hold
\nonto private letters and documents to reconstruct the everyday life of wartime
\nand the mindsets of those involved. We need to give a voice to those people
\nwho otherwise remain silent. Their experiences as well as their fears, hopes
\nand fantasies are normally inaccessible to historians.”<\/p>\n

Memorabilia and stories are kept by families for a while, but after a century
\ntheir significance is starting to fade. This First World War digital archive makes
\nit possible to renew and share their significance.<\/p>\n

“By inviting people to actively contribute to its content, Europeana opens up to
\nusers on a new level. To bring together family lore and the memories of those
\ninvolved in World War One from different countries, who have experienced
\nthis time as allies or opponents, is a fascinating undertaking. World War One
\nresonates in the collective memory, and this project will spark renewed
\npopular interest and also scholarly research,” said Dr Elisabeth Niggemann<\/strong>,
\nChair of the Europeana Foundation and Director General of the Deutsche
\nNationalbibliothek, outlining Europeana\u2019s aims for the project.<\/p>\n

A new approach: crowdsourcing – One innovative aspect of the project is the application of crowdsourcing –
\ncollecting input from people at large and assembling a wide variety of family
\nmemorabilia which will be made accessible to the public and to researchers. In
\n2008, Oxford University produced a remarkable collection of 1914-18 papers,
\npictures, souvenirs and memorable stories, digitised by people across the UK
\nand the Commonwealth in The Great War Archive<\/strong> –
\nwww.oucs.ox.ac.uk\/ww1lit\/gwa\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Public digitisation roadshows:<\/p>\n