Over Spring 2023, WCIA have been proud to participate in a UK-wide programme initiative ‘Our Heritage Our Stories‘, managed through Glasgow University alongside a range of partners, and funded through the AHRC (Arts & Humanioties Research Council).
OHOS’ funding has enabled WCIA to run a weekly programme of Wednesday afternoon ‘Archiveathons’ drop-in sessions over May to July 2024, and to recruit a group of student placements (via Cardiuff University), supported through the Temple Friends network.
Students have been able to progress a range of projects (see links below) ranging from digitisation of WCIA’s Hidden Histories publications, to researching the heritage of refugee and sanctuary movements in Wales.
The OHOS programme is supporting heritage bodies UK-wide in moving ‘Towards a National Collection‘ – identifying ways to pool the resources, knowledge and digitised materials produced by heritage and community organisations throughout the 4 nations, to reach the widest possible audiences through using AI (Artifical Intelligence) to connect collections. As one of WCIA’s student placements suggested, ‘a google for heritage’!
WCIA are a small organisation in a big project – why? WCIA’s contribution to OHOS aims to share practice and ideas that can be adapted and adopted by other small organisations in similar circulstances. How can small bodies with minimal staffing. harness the energies of volunteers and community goodwill to contribute towards preserving and understanding the UK’s rich heritage? How can we digitised and integrate our materials into nationally accessible programmes, portals or partnerships, so that they can be found beyond our usual spheres of reach? In a world where websites and online resources are replaced every few years, how can digital materials be conserved and accessible 10-20-50 years hence?
Find out more about the outputs of WCIA’s OHOS project, and the experiences of our Temple Friends and student placements below:
Student Placements May-July 2024
Temple Friends Heritage Volunteering