GWF contribution to Centenary

[Chris_Baker]

Could and should the Great War Forum do anything special as part of the centenary? If so then what should it be?

[ianjonesncl]

Chris

Given the masses of research into individuals undertaken by the forum members, could this be brought together in some form of wikki ? One for the techies out there, but basically a thought would be members could post onto a single page the service records and details of the individual they have researched.

[chaz]

Ian, nice thought but couple of points, would probably only benefit close family, also , would this not take up valuable web space , would it need seperate funding or better still a free web page host? not being negative but finances are allways a consideration.

my thoughts, a sat nav, coordinate, directions page to sites of interest.

how about a 'Battle of the day' banner similar to 'remembering today'.

I dont want to step on toes of those dedicated researchers, Chris included, but a researchers page in that regimental specialists could be named for example I can get to the Wardrobe or Glosters museum if I want to but may have a Northmberland family member that so far for a search I get so far on the www but once there who do I contact, will it be worth while sending someone there only to find its not actually him.

[ianjonesncl]

Ian, nice thought but couple of points, would probably only benefit close family, also , would this not take up valuable web space , would it need separate funding or better still a free web page host? not being negative but finances are always a consideration.

Chaz

Probably a freebie - though by no means an expert in this.

I think it would go beyond close family members - certainly I often read the research members have undertaken though I have no direct interest. This site has done something similar:

http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/thosewhoserved/

Ian

[Bernard_Lewis]

Great idea Chris! Not sure how it could best be done across the piece but deserves some thought.

My plan is to nip through the contemporary war press for Swansea and produce some small snippets of what was happening/being said at the time. I'd like to think that this could run from July 1914 (Sarajevo) to 11 November 1918. An 'On this day in Swansea'. A mix of stuff on the local lads, local battalions, local news (refugees, rationing, conscription etc.) plus national news ('Success of the Big Push' etc).

Not yet pitched to the local paper (South Wales Evening Post) but plan to get a yes/no in the next year or so so that I can start digging.

Bernard

[dfaulder]

I have often wondered if there is a need for "a comprehensive online index to the Great War", covering Who, When and Where.

It would be a vast project, but by being online the work can be shared out and can incorporate or reference existing work.

• When: The Great War can be divided into phases (see LLT), each phase could then have a Google Map overlay showing say the Divisions involved. Any heirarchy (of subphases > actions > Skirmishes) is possibly controversial - but might be developed further
• Where: Some form of set of overlays could show the movement of the front-line during each phase and the site of major actions. Again there is a heirarchy (that gets messier as you drop throug it): Front > Sector > ??.
• Who: LLT gives a useful Order of Battle for British Units. There is an established heirarchy here (e.g. for Infantry) Corps > Division > Brigade > Battalion > Individual

I envisage some sort of tool being developed which can allow people to access (via very carefully focused search?) the major online resources and (separately) a less fussy search which pulls up things like GWF posts relevant to the original search. They key is to be able to access it via any of the above dimensions. Thus typical questions:

• My Great Grandfather was in the 1/4th Loamshires
• My Great Uncle died in March 1918
  
• My Grandfather fought at Oppy Wood

Where can I find out more?

Either (old style) we look for someone to create some commerical online tool which is very rigid, or (better - more realistic) we look to see what can be done with existing online tools (forums, wikis, blogs, flickr, google maps etc.) So:

• My Great Grandfather was in the 1/4th Loamshires - access via a comprehensive Order of Battle (Wiki based?)
• My Great Uncle died in March 1918 - access via a comprehensive timeline (Calendar based?)
• My Grandfather fought at Oppy Wood - access via a comprensive gazetteer (Wiki or possibly directly via Google Maps and the LH side panel)

All three access methods (dimensions?) would need comprehensive cross-referencing. In effect we would be defining a huge number of information points (each one on a blog post or wiki entry) each point being defined by the questions who, when, where, drawn off the above three heirarchies (ORBAT, Timeline, Gazetteer). These information points then lie in their own hierachy. I suspect this is best done manually rather than relying on some so-called intelligent piece of software! So for instance:

• Mega Point (BEF, Spring 1918, Western Front), has subpoints such as:
• Major Point (2nd ? Army & ??, Battle of The Lys (March- April 1918), South Ypres Sector?), and so on
• ..., to
• Minor Point (148th Brigade, 26 April, 1918, Vierstraat)

How far each of these heirarchies (which at the lower levels could be quite fluid) is developed depends on the interests of contributors and available information.

I suspect that this would be a difficult exercise and probably take us beyond 2018 (might even be the cause of WW3 - at least online)! I am not at all sure how it could be done but the starting point to me would seem to be trying to develop (or more likely find/adapt) the three main heirarchies (ORBAT, Timeline, Gazetteer) and bringing them into some form of public domain tool.

David

[RammyLad1]

A great idea Chris

A lot of members on the forum have produced some excellant websites for remembering the lads they have researched, how about linking these together in regional areas so that eventually the whole country is covered.

Bernard I have found that the local press is a fantastic source for information, not just with photos and obituaries of those who fell or were wounded but also how every day life tried to carry on. Unfortunately a lot of these local papers stopped being published years ago so I dont know if they could be re-published as aniversary issues.

Duncan

[Chris_Baker]

I haven't had an idea. I just asked a question!

[RammyLad1]

But its a good question and one that needs discussing

[Kate Wills]

I have an idea, not a very imaginative one, but I'm still trying to put my thoughts together.

One thing organisations such as ourselves also need to consider is what happens after the centenary. Ok, so we are alright up to 2018/19, but it would be useful to have some centenary ideas that produce a legacy that can continue beyond 2018.

[charlesmessenger]

My suggestion would be to publish 'today 100 years ago', beginning on 1 July 1914 and ending with the signing of the various peace treaties. It should cover world wide events and not just the Western Front. A team could be appointed to write the entries, with each member being allocated, say, one month of the war. All entries should be written in good time and be checked by a panel of 'experts' on the various theatres of war. We would then have something which would be a great value to those using the Forum for many years to come.

Charles M

[Alan Tucker]

Two excellent ideas from Kate and Charles.

As Secretary of Bham WFA I am shortly going to write to a long list of institutions/organisations/individuals in the city to raise the issue of the centenary in 2014 (as well as thereafter). To generate some kind of planning meeting from which I hope a calendar of events can be drawn up. Things will be happening all over the country as well as abroad so a Forum calendar of our own would be helpful. To add to what Charles wrote an informal daily thread where individuals can post happenings on that day one hundred years before would be interesting.

[Guest]

A top notch search engine for all the outstanding information available on the GWF would be a great contribution. Also maybe something that might help a charity like Help for Heroes?

Mike

[Roger H]

My suggestion would be to publish 'today 100 years ago', beginning on 1 July 1914 and ending with the signing of the various peace treaties. It should cover world wide events and not just the Western Front. A team could be appointed to write the entries, with each member being allocated, say, one month of the war. All entries should be written in good time and be checked by a panel of 'experts' on the various theatres of war. We would then have something which would be a great value to those using the Forum for many years to come. Charles M

Now that I like!

To add to what Charles wrote an informal daily thread where individuals can post happenings on that day one hundred years before would be interesting.

And that!

Roger

[RobertBr]

I agree that we should do something. It could also fit in with another issue that has been raised and is a concern of mine ie what happens to my data when I die?

A couple of observations:

1. To establish a comprehensive website for 19-14 to 1918 is a big job. In 2014 the emphasis will be on the outbreak of the war so perhaps that should be our emphasis (but not sole emphasis) and move on year by year and event by event eg Somme, Gallipoli.

2. Infantry Regimental/Battalion experts abound which is great if your relative was in one, if he was RFA (like mine), RA, RE, ASC etc its harder. Then to trace a soldiers location and movement it is often necessary to look at the bigger picture eg divisional data. We may need to produce both geographic maps and 'how to trace your relative maps'

3. A daily 'hows the war going' snippet (and link) on some national media (BBC) would be nice.

bob

[Bernard_Lewis]

Bernard I have found that the local press is a fantastic source for information, not just with photos and obituaries of those who fell or were wounded but also how every day life tried to carry on. Unfortunately a lot of these local papers stopped being published years ago so I dont know if they could be re-published as aniversary issues.

Duncan

I didn't mean full republication Duncan; I planned to wade through the originals and transcribe (in my own words in some cases) a short precis of just one or two of the top stories of the day with an emphasis on the Swansea and surrounds angle. Quirky things too.

Bernard

[grantowi]

Would it be possable to produce a search engine similar to Geoff's, but listing all who served - wether they died or not - linking to threads on the forum

Grant

[Kate Wills]

Nice one Grant - might take some upkeep though.

[keithmroberts]

I hate to be in any way negative, but we do have some limitations.

One is finance, another is the issue of setting up a separate website, as opposed to a thread, which would again require considerable resource of time and expertise to make it viable.

In fact I would argue that we would have to design something that could work in threads. We could have say a special section with sub fora or threads that are specific and narrow.

There are, day by day accounts of some battles to draw on, and there is the Bayliss Chronology of the great war volume, but we are talking of a massive undertaking if we sought to do something similar.

I suppose I quite like the idea, building on Charles and Bernard's thought, of maybe a month about LOCAL history of the war in 48 different locations. So I could work up a month based on the specific local paper that covers the Greengates area in Bradford for example, with activities of some of the men (and women) of Greengates, both in service, and at home. To make something like that work we would need some very clear guidelines, and effectively a project manager, once the plan was agreed. I don't think it could just build in the way that our normal threads progress, or it would surely become too messy.

Keith

[Chris_Baker]

Here's my thought.

We produce a monthly podcast and video, that remains freely available for evermore.

We set up a Great War Forum Youtube channel as the broadcast and storage medium.

The podcast/video is a 5-10 minute digest of events in the Great War during the month in question.

It is presented in a news bulletin style, blending international, national and snippets of local news.

The sound is a recording of a GWF person/persons reading the news items. I'm sure we could persuade a few notable historians to add a soundbite here and there.

The video is based on the sound but adds suitable imagery.

A podcast production manager volunteers to produce 4 episodes (that is, a months' worth) only, so no one feels overburdened.

Said manager calls for input, ideas and contents from GWF members and then co-ordinates production into the podcast/video.

Production takes place at least a month in advance so there is no panic.

A technical support team (again, GWF volunteers) assist in production. I guess this would be mainly advising on how to make a podcast, record and edit sound, create text and images to video, etc. But once we've made a few it should be plain sailing. I don't think we would need to buy anything as all the software needed is free.

GWF TV!

And if the GWF doesn't wish to do this, I will!

[SteveMarsdin]

I like Charles "low-tech" idea and Chris' "high tech" one.

I remember reading a local publication (from Driffield) that went through the war years (actually from just before to just after) in a chronological order, based on war diaries, local newspaper articles and letters, service histories etc and it really brought it home how attitudes of the time developed etc.

My concern is that although the centenary will bring WW1 more into the spotlight, will it be then " put to bed" and consigned to deepest history afterwards ?

[Bernard_Lewis]

Podcast sounds interesting though I've never done one and am not volunteering

Happy to help if I can and also work on Keith's suggestion if required. I could do Swansea?

Bernard

[keithmroberts]

My suggestion is geared perhaps to attract the many GWF members who have done localised studies. it could be either, geographical as i have suggested, or could be broadened to allow those who have studied groups of men, or particular units to describe the activity of , as i suggested, perhaps a month. I do think the wider suggestion made by Charles would just about be a reworking of the Bayliss book, although I appreciate that it is not on line. By picking up on members interests we could produce quite an interesting collection of cameos.

Chris has suggested a great idea, if there are the number of volunteers to carry it forward.

We have some time to work on the ideas - any others?

Keith

(Writing as a GWF member, not taking a view as a Mod - although anything under the GWF name needs to be considered by the Mods).

[Andrew Hesketh]

One relatively simple and do-able idea which links with the 'on this day' theme is to add a line to the Remembering Today feature. With forethought a bank of 'On this Day' statements could be prepared for daily display on the GWF banner. It might also be a nice team effort project for the pals. It would create a bit of extra work for Matt who does the techie bit on RT but if we speak to him nicely...

[dfaulder]

Can Invision give us another Calendar, but one that runs from 1914-1922? Then we could link to the actual days.

David