DCDC14

1. IT Buddies, Virtual Volunteers and Super-Users:
Building an Online Community for
Britain from Above
Sandra Brauer
www.britainfromabove.org.uk

2. Partnership working with The REP and The Library of Birmingham

3. Online: The Aerofilms collection from 1919 to 1953

4. Britain from Above: The project in a nutshell
Key aims of the project were:
•A preservation programme to conserve, digitise and catalogue 95,000
negatives
•Free online access to the digital images on www.britainfromabove.org.uk
•Virtual volunteering and outreach activities focused around the historic
images
•A programme of exhibitions to celebrate the project and promote the
collection
•A publication telling the Aerofilms story

5. www.britainfromabove.org.uk: Help tell the story of these historic aerial images

6. www.britainfromabove.org.uk: User participation

7. Crowdsourcing: Unlocated photographs

8. Engagement framework and good practice principles
•Investigate and break down access barriers for target audiences
•Get to know the user base’s interests and motivations
•Provide open, fair and consistent rewards
•Encourage dialogue and interaction online
•Allow a peer relationship between staff and users
•Make it personal
•Investigate and break down access barriers for target audiences
•Get to know the user base’s interests and motivations
•Provide open, fair and consistent rewards
•Encourage dialogue and interaction online
•Allow a peer relationship between staff and users
•Make it personal

9. Moderation and online activities: Encouraging user participation
Great “spot”, Class31! We’ll update the catalogue with your data and post the new
record here in due course. You may be interested to know that the original Aerofilms
Ltd Register entry says “Wimbledon Close up houses”.
Yours, Katy
Britain from Above Cataloguing Team Leader
Friday 26th
September, 4:40pm
Great “spot”, Class31! We’ll update the catalogue with your data and post the new
record here in due course. You may be interested to know that the original Aerofilms
Ltd Register entry says “Wimbledon Close up houses”.
Yours, Katy
Britain from Above Cataloguing Team Leader
Friday 26th
September, 4:40pm

10. Knit for Britain from Above: Linking virtual and real world

11. User participation from existing audiences: Challenges

12. Traditional volunteers: Working remotely in the ‘real world’

13. ‘Super-Users’: At the heart of the ‘online community’
View ENE from Romney towards Folkestone and Dover
Tony D, Thursday 12th
September, 10:42am
Well done, Tony D, I had tried but failed!
Class31, Saturday 14th
September, 6:34am
On the left, you can see RAF Dymchurch Chain Home Radar station towers. I never knew it
existed until today. A similar site was at East Guildeford near Rye
Oktorockto, Friday 20th
September, 2:13pm
View ENE from Romney towards Folkestone and Dover
Tony D, Thursday 12th
September, 10:42am
Well done, Tony D, I had tried but failed!
Class31, Saturday 14th
September, 6:34am
On the left, you can see RAF Dymchurch Chain Home Radar station towers. I never knew it
existed until today. A similar site was at East Guildeford near Rye
Oktorockto, Friday 20th
September, 2:13pm

14. Behind the Scenes events: Fostering relationships

15. Britain from Above and user participation: Lessons learnt
• Digital not as an add-on but embedded in heritage engagement – It IS
worth the effort to mix online and face-to-face engagement
• Crucial for partnership working: clear joint objectives, thorough
communication, reliable commitment – don’t rush it
• Make sure your IT works – everywhere
• Ageing audiences and digital – whose problem is it?
• Virtual volunteering works differently – spend time getting your internal
policies right
• ‘Life gets in the way’ – motivating virtual volunteers is key
• Allow for trial and error – experimenting with new forms of engagement
in dialogue with users helps to get to know your user base

16. Sandra Brauer
sandrabrauer@outlook.com
@sanna_br
Enquiries about Britain from Above
aerofilms@english-heritage.org.uk
BRITAIN FROM ABOVE
HELP TELL THE STORY OF THESE HISTORIC AERIAL IMAGES
www.britainfromabove.org.uk
@AboveBritain #Aerofilms