SLAIS
COMMUNITY ARCHIVES AND IDENTITIES
PROJECT MANAGEMENT BOARD
13 MAY 2008
AGENDA ITEM 3(E): WEBSITE
a) Two audiences, two websites
The Community Archives and Identities project aims to reach and engage an audience that extends beyond
the academic field of archival research. This wider audience will hopefully include both other academics
working in the broad field of cultural heritage studies and policy-makers but also the staff (where applicable)
and volunteers of community archives, particularly from BME communities and including but not limited to
our case studies. We felt that a classic UCL webpage, oriented towards the concerns of academic colleagues,
might not be the best way to communicate with this audience. As a consequence we have decided to create
two websites.
i.
The UCL page: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/icarus/community-archives/
The purpose of this page is to disseminate information about the project to an academic audience and also to
communicate with the Project Management Board about progress of the project. Project Board Members can
access the project documentation, briefing papers and minutes of board meetings.
ii.
The external page: http://archivesandidentities.com
The purpose of this page is to communicate with a wider audience, using interactive technology that is
difficult to incorporate into UCL pages. Encouraging particpation from a range of audiences reflects our
desire to run the project in as open and collaborative a fashion as possible. The aims of this site are:  To provide regular updates on the progress of the project and any outcomes in a relatively informal manner.
 To stimulate discussion with archive professionals, community archivists and community archive users (and
any other interested parties) about issues that arise during the course of the project (e.g. the question of
appropriate langauge).
 To provide a forum for participating organisations and other collaborating groups to publicise forthcoming
events and to connect with each other.
 To help maintain contact with project partners before and after the case study period.
 Eventually, to invite feedback on the broad research findings.
Suggestions for additional useful content for either of these sites would be welcomed from the board members.
b) http://archivesandidentities.com: decisions and choices
i.
Going it alone
The options for using interactive technology within the overall framework of the UCL webpages were
explored with the relevant member of staff in SLAIS and the UCL media centre, to whom we were
redirected. Whilst they would have been able to provide a service for free and to offer some assistance with
site design, we felt that the constraints (on interactivity and on design) as well as the potential barriers to
access associated with having to use the university’s templates made developing an independent, external
site a better option. It was noted that other SLAIS projects (e.g. VERA) with comparable websites host them
through their partner institutions, rather than through UCL.
ii.
Choice of domain name
The domain name was chosen with a view to avoiding any confusion with www.communityarchives.org.uk.
The search terms ‘archives and identities’ only threw up links to this project, or to papers given by Dr Flinn
or Dr Stevens. The domain name and one year’s web hosting have been purchased from urevised.com at a
cost of £40. The decision not to preface the site with ‘www’ was not deliberate and can (probably) be
rectified if board members thought this were important.
iii.
Design
The design is based on a Wordpress template, selected by Mary from a range of pre-designed options. The
style of the existing template can either be modified, or a new template could be selected (slightly easier
from a technical point of view). Important features:
 Approachability/friendliness
 Ease of use / readability
 Consistency across a range of web browsers
Project Board Members will be shown the exisiting design and asked to comment on it. They will also be invited to
comment on other possible designs.
iv.
Publicity
Following this meeting we intend to launch the website with an email to all those groups and individuals
with whom we have discussed the project, either as (potential) case studies or as interested researchers. We
would appreciate suggestions from the board for other avenues for publicising the site (sites we might ask to
post a link, for example).
v.
Future plans
If the website is a success we hope to sustain it beyond the lifecycle of the current project. When the current
year’s web-hosting expires we will explore the option of paying upfront for web-hosting for five further
years.
Mary Stevens
9 May 2008