Idea for a collaborative online First World War project

[Santino]

So I had this idea for a way of re-telling the events of the First World War on a day-by-day basis, one hundred years after they happened. It would basically be a blog, updated daily with contemporary news reports and other primary sources. It would focus on all aspects of the war, including the bits not normally covered like the North Africa campaigns and various bits around China and the Americas.

Ideally there would be a heavy reliance on letters, diaries and other personal documents, including repeated use of some writers so that their own stories can be told.

If someone else is already doing this I'd happily just read that instead.

No idea how to go about recruiting people to help on this. Also might need advice on copyright issues.

So, I have the following questions:

• crap/not crap idea?
• is anything else like this being done?
• what sort of legal issues are there with using contemporary news reports, personal letters, published works (e.g. memoirs, poems) and other things?
• anyone want to help?
• basically, how would I go about doing this?

 

[Random]

There's already a Twitter account reporting WW2 "live". I reckon come the anniversary someone will do the same for WW1. Maybe these people? https://twitter.com/IWM_Centenary

edit: sounds fascinating but I can in no way help!

 

[hiccup]

It's not a crap idea, but the challenge would be in collating and editing the material to be published. It would probably be worthwhile contacting existing WW1 resources e.g. http://www.firstworldwar.com, http://www.greatwar.co.uk, enquiring about re-using their content, and asking them if/how they could help.

Lots of similar things happened for WW2, e.g. http://ww2today.com/, https://twitter.com/RealTimeWWII, https://twitter.com/theWWIIproject, https://twitter.com/ukwarcabinet so I'd be amazed if other people weren't planning similar stuff around the WW1 centenary.

Maybe set up a test version of the blog and try to source and write a couple of days-worth of material, both to get a better idea of what would be involved, and as something to show people to demonstrate what you're doing and what you need help with.

 

[DotCommunist]

National Archive has loads of ww1 war diaries from different spheres and services. even a POW section

 

[marty21]

good idea - and as Random said - there's a twitter account doing this for WW2

 

[toggle]

So I had this idea for a way of re-telling the events of the First World War on a day-by-day basis, one hundred years after they happened. It would basically be a blog, updated daily with contemporary news reports and other primary sources. It would focus on all aspects of the war, including the bits not normally covered like the North Africa campaigns and various bits around China and the Americas.

Ideally there would be a heavy reliance on letters, diaries and other personal documents, including repeated use of some writers so that their own stories can be told.

If someone else is already doing this I'd happily just read that instead.

No idea how to go about recruiting people to help on this. Also might need advice on copyright issues.

So, I have the following questions:

• crap/not crap idea?
• is anything else like this being done?
• what sort of legal issues are there with using contemporary news reports, personal letters, published works (e.g. memoirs, poems) and other things?
• anyone want to help?
• basically, how would I go about doing this?

if you do go ahead with this, you can give me and bakunin a shout.

he's currently working on some stuff that i pointed him in the direction of, regarding the tunnelling companies, lot of cornish miners in the tunnelling companies.

i know next to bugger all about this, my current project is local politics, ending in 1912. but learning about this period is somethin i will very likely need to do for the next project. so i'm in. i may be able to ask one of the lecturers in military history for some advice regarding sources at some point. he may help or he may tell me to bog off. he's got a rep for being a really nice bloke, so the former is more likely and i can pull up anything you'd want from records in the SW or databases that it's easier to get access to through uni.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

sounds interesting. I've recently started reading up a bit more on WW1 as we pretty much skirted round it at school (I had to give up history before O-Levels, and we did odd chunks here and there before that, so got the Russian revolution in, but not that much about the rest of WW1)

As far as copyright goes, I know that stuff runs out of copyright after X years, and think that's different for published words / pictures.

Although I'd be surprised if IWM wasn't already thinking about this.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I've seen a couple already...this being one...
http://www.firstworldwar.com/onthisday/july.htm

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I don't think a better, more collaborative one will diminish the internet though

 

[Random]

Hang on, what about the anniversary of the Russian Revolution! That has to be it's own project. Although I suppose none of our relatives were involved in that one.

 

[DotCommunist]

Hang on, what about the anniversary of the Russian Revolution! That has to be it's own project. Although I suppose none of our relatives were involved in that one.

wouldn't want to dig in case it turned out I'm descended from a White. the shame of it.

 

[Random]

wouldn't want to dig in case it turned out I'm descended from a White. the shame of it.

The scurrying emigres fleeing like lice and filth before the purifying torch held proudly high by the international proletariat!

They came to Northampton. And there they bred.

 

[toggle]

wouldn't want to dig in case it turned out I'm descended from a White. the shame of it.

i know my ex arsehole was.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

wouldn't want to dig in case it turned out I'm descended from a White. the shame of it.

I am. There's no shame in it. I really do mean it when I say I'm from the most downwardly mobile family in the Northern hemisphere...from palaces to social housing in a blink of an eye.

 

[DotCommunist]

I am. There's no shame in it. I really do mean it when I say I'm from the most downwardly mobile family in the Northern hemisphere...from palaces to social housing in a blink of an eye.

I can imagine going from russian nobility to london w/c housing would be something of a shocker!

 

[Mrs Magpie]

It wasn't in one generation, Dotty! The blink of the eye was relative.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I don't think a better, more collaborative one will diminish the internet though

absolutely.

although most museums are a lot better about collaborating than they used to be.

Not sure what's happened to any diary / letters my grandfather wrote - he was in the RFC then RAF in WW1 (he died before I was born, so never met him, and dad never talked about him much)

If there is anything (there are some gaps in the archive, as their house got hit by an incendiary bomb in WW2) then uncle will have it

 

[Mrs Magpie]

my grandfather....he was in the RFC then RAF in WW1

Mine was in the RFC and then Holzminden POW camp.

 

[toggle]

i still need to see if my mother can dig up the family history her cousin did. appantly both her grandfathers were in the battle of jutland, one was on the boat that rescued the other.

 

[Firky]

http://ww2today.com/

 

[Firky]

Hands up who's followed that twitter account and thought things like, "WHAT! Why is Italy invading Greece?" then realising what it is.

 

[Bakunin]

I can see if I can find out where my great-grandfather was stationed during WWI. This is an advantage to having six generations of bootnecks, if any chest-beatingly patriotic types say in a sneering tone:

'Well, peacenik, where did your family serve us in the war..?'

then all I need do is smile sweetly and ask politely:

'Which war, exactly..?'

 

[Random]

I can see if I can find out where my great-grandfather was stationed during WWI. This is an advantage to having six generations of bootnecks, if any chest-beatingly patriotic types say in a sneering tone:

'Well, peacenik, where did your family serve us in the war..?'

then all I need do is smile sweetly and ask politely:

'Which war, exactly..?'

"War of the Austrian or the Spanish succession?"

 

[Bakunin]

"War of the Austrian or the Spanish succession?"

There was probably one of my lot at Hastings or Thermopylae. The family history reads like some Tragical Misery Tour of the world's major battlefields.

 

[Pickman's model]

I can see if I can find out where my great-grandfather was stationed during WWI. This is an advantage to having six generations of bootnecks, if any chest-beatingly patriotic types say in a sneering tone:

'Well, peacenik, where did your family serve us in the war..?'

then all I need do is smile sweetly and ask politely:

'Which war, exactly..?'

Regiment > war diary - job done

 

[Pickman's model]

Given the heterogenous nature of urbanites I wouldn't be surprised if like me there were a number of people posting here who had forebears fighting on different sides: so any information from eg an austrian or turkish perspective could be very interesting.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Given the heterogenous nature of urbanites I wouldn't be surprised if like me there were a number of people posting here who had forebears fighting on different sides

This probably applies to my family with the Battle of Borodino in 1812. I know one relative was definitely involved on the Russian side and there are two French branches of my family so it's possible.

 

[Random]

This probably applies to my family with the Battle of Borodino in 1812. I know one relative was definitely involved on the Russian side and there are two French branches of my family so it's possible.

Probably have to go back further for my family. Maybe about 600 years, to a Welsh-English war, seeing as how some are from Monmouthshire, some from Dorset.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The furthest I've gone back is 1027. The Russian bit of the family was founded by a Viking who settled in Russia in 1027 with his pillaging spoils from the North African coast. Semyon Afrikanovitch. This has meant that various members of the family have had variations on the name Simon. My grandfather wanted me named Simeona but thankfully my mother put her foot firmly down.

 

[toggle]

I can see if I can find out where my great-grandfather was stationed during WWI. This is an advantage to having six generations of bootnecks, if any chest-beatingly patriotic types say in a sneering tone:

'Well, peacenik, where did your family serve us in the war..?'

then all I need do is smile sweetly and ask politely:

'Which war, exactly..?'

well, i believe i can tell you what some of my family did in the civil war.