Building Community Memory through On-line Technology Ted Leath March 2000

Communities Examining: Preserving cultural identity Documenting local history Promoting tourism Shared heritage

Current Tools Official records Customs Tradition Stories (both oral and written) Language Myth

Proposal Tools, implementation of these tools, processes and the documentation of processes involved in building community memory through on-line technology should be explored. In as much as is possible, these concepts, tools and processes should be easily transferable and applicable across different communities. It is hoped that a cohesive process and associated tools for gathering, indexing and archiving multimedia assets for community memory will emerge.

Work to Date (1) Approximately 3,700 images of Derry and the northwest have been digitised. Each image exists in 3 different formats – a high resolution image (kept off-line on CD) a low resolution image for web display and a thumbnail image.

Work to Date (2) An SQL database has been created for data associated with each image. Tools for the maintenance of this database have been installed and configured. The PHP3 scripting language has been installed and configured to allow dynamic database access and search facilities.

Work to Date (3) A fundamental core system has been implemented, and is publicly available. Preliminary feedback from community members is being received.