Rhyfel Byd 1914-1918 a’r profiad Cymreig / Welsh experience of the First World War 1914-1918 (www.cymru1914.org) is a mass digital archive of the primary sources relating to the First World War in Wales. It was funded by the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) from February 2012-October 2013. The project has digitized archives, manuscripts, photographs, art works, and oral histories held by the archives and special collections of Wales to create a coherent, consolidated digital collection revealing the often hidden history of the impact of the War: an invaluable resource for teaching, research, and public engagement that is available to support many aspects of the commemoration of the centenaries of the First World War. The Research Programme in Digital Collections at the National Library of Wales has carried out research into the use and impact of the digital collections of Wales, and these studies have identified key interventions in the digital life-cycle that can increase the impact of digital resources by a wide variety of stakeholders. The development of Cymru1914.org incorporated these findings. This presentation will discuss the development of this digital resource, and in particular, it will highlight ways that considerations of end-use and impact were built into project planning. This includes selection of content, interface development, community engagement, and planning for long-term sustainability of the finished digital resource. We will also discuss detailed analysis of the use of the resources since its launch in November 2013, in order to understand the full extent of the use and impact of the resource internationally.

1. Cymru1914.org: Understanding Use
and Impact of a First World War
Digital Archive
Prof Lorna Hughes, Dr Owain Roberts, Paul McCann
Research Programme in Digital Collections
National Library of Wales
Ymchwil
Research
lorna.hughes@llgc.org.uk
@lornamhughes
5 September 2014 | Digital Humanities Congress 2014

2. Ymchwil
Research
IMPACT
Mike Beauregard – CC BY 2.0 - inside Canyon Diablo meteor crater
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31856336@N03/12419204375/

3. AN AFTERTHOUGHT?
Ymchwil
free was an afterthought by turn off your computer and go outsideR CeCs BeYa-NrcC-hS A 2.0
www.flickr.com/photos/turn_off_your_computer_and_go_outside/9264162137

4. Ymchwil
Research
200,000 pages
newspapers
photographs
archives
cymru1914.org
cymruww1.llgc.org.uk (Project Blog)
@CymruWW1
50 hours of audio
20 hours of audio visual
70% English
30% Welsh
Freely available online
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

5. What does existing
research tell us?
Ymchwil
Research

6. Key Impact Factors
Ymchwil
Research
(Hypothesis)
• Lowering barriers to access
– Free access; ease of resource discovery; clarity of resource
description; accessibility
• Factoring in long-term uptake and embedding
– Access to data; citation support; visibility to key communities;
stakeholder engagement
• Sustainable, open technical platform
– Open data and API; using scalable, open technical platforms;
integrated into institutional priorities for long-term sustainability
• User-led design
– Ensuring appropriate content; interface design; iterative user testing

7. Ymchwil
Research
Lowering barriers to access
Long-term uptake and embedding
Sustainable, open technical platform
User-led design
Key Impact Factors
(Hypothesis)

8. Ymchwil
Research
Available
collections
What rights
issues are
there?
What are
the
Research
Questions?
CONTENT THAT PACKS
A PUNCH!

9. Ymchwil
Research
User Interface development

10. Ymchwil
Research
Did it work?

11. Ymchwil
Research
Google Analytics – Preliminary Results
1 in 5 users spend more than 10 minutes on the site
Session Duration % Sessions
More than 1 min 43%
More than 3 min 33%
More than 10 min 20%
More than 30 min 9%

12. Ymchwil
Research
Page Depth

13. Supported by post launch
Ymchwil
Research
interviews

14. Ymchwil
Research
Backed up by tweets!!!

15. Ymchwil
Research
How users get to Cymru1914.org

16. Ymchwil
Research
Source Sessions
% New
Sessions
New
Users Bounce Rate
Pages /
Session
Avg. Session
Duration
bbc.co.uk 2,964 55.06% 1,632 20.38% 20.49 725.45
t.co 1,303 53.11% 692 54.80% 7.29 236.47
facebook.com 1,011 56.08% 567 34.32% 16.61 670.88
whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com 718 52.79% 379 25.21% 16.50 652.36
jisc.ac.uk 541 66.91% 362 41.22% 16.55 523.59
llgc.org.uk 458 43.01% 197 16.81% 26.51 804.26
walesremembers.org 457 30.85% 141 19.04% 36.74 1475.82
m.facebook.com 442 76.92% 340 57.24% 3.83 150.00
rootschat.com 378 31.22% 118 10.58% 28.76 1113.63
genealogyintime.com 354 78.53% 278 31.64% 12.78 458.86
1914-1918.invisionzone.com 300 48.00% 144 31.00% 18.88 650.98
kenfig.org.uk 274 3.65% 10 49.27% 13.20 490.16
glamorganfamhistory.wordpress.com 231 13.42% 31 2.60% 53.73 1818.97
cymruww1.llgc.org.uk 180 29.44% 53 27.22% 16.97 698.53
search.bt.com 143 64.34% 92 35.66% 18.27 743.58
uk-mg-bt.mail.yahoo.com 129 35.66% 46 11.63% 46.90 1716.10
semalt.com 116 100.00% 116 94.83% 1.35 2.11
m.bbc.co.uk 87 74.71% 65 28.74% 4.48 175.56
en.wikipedia.org 82 89.02% 73 50.00% 8.16 188.41
cgnfhs.org.uk 76 51.32% 39 40.79% 14.67 580.47
rwf-forum.co.uk 74 4.05% 3 18.92% 8.99 581.14
snorbens.wordpress.com 72 58.33% 42 19.44% 16.82 504.54
cherry.shef.ac.uk 67 2.99% 2 16.42% 16.25 941.46
merthyrww1.llgc.org.uk 64 6.25% 4 26.56% 20.02 737.91
centenarynews.com 59 79.66% 47 11.86% 20.14 427.98
12,066 52.69% 6,357 31.74% 17.83 646.45

17. Ymchwil
Research
Sustainability and re-use
Online exhibition using
Omeka, using digital
archives from
Cymru1914.org
Dr Paul O’Leary
Aberystwyth University
merthyrww1.llgc.org.u
k

18. Ymchwil
Research
www.walesatwar.org
Funded by

19. Cymru1914.org: Understanding Use
and Impact of a First World War
Digital Archive
Ymchwil
Research
Prof Lorna Hughes
University of Wales Chair in Digital Collections
National Library of Wales
lorna.hughes@llgc.org.uk
@lornamhughes
September 5th 2014 | Digital Humanities Congress 2014