1. Project overview

Qisetna collect stories from the Syrian diaspora living in the UK. For their project, they set about conducting research across several UK regions and contexts, both rural and urban, to understand the current situation of the Syrian diaspora better, and reach Syrians from the older generation. They then sought to create new content online by producing a series of podcasts under themes such as music, food, places and proverbs, in collaboration with Syrian diaspora in the UK, particularly those from the older generation. This new collection was uploaded on a bilingual website to make
it available to younger audiences through social media networks.

2. Project stats

3. Key successes

• The involvement of artists (musicians, novelists and poets) has been a huge success, which supports cultural understanding and co-operation between Syrian migrants and the host communities.
• Adapting to a virtual and digital environment very quickly.
• The final event was a big success. It was a crucial platform for sharing experience and knowledge about culture with wider audiences. It also served as a tool to reduce the generational gap between migrants (old and young), and to speed up inclusion into their host communities.

4. Key learnings

• It is important to have Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART) indicators at the initial stage of the project, and to let partners understand the specific and targeted  objectives, in order to make the project more focused.
• It is important to have clear criteria for the implementation of the project and selection of beneficiaries, especially at community level. Involve every stakeholder and follow up with visits, phone calls and email correspondence (copying in every stakeholder involved). This is to enable transparency and commitment.
• It takes time to build dialogue and meaningful relationships with communities, particularly those who have experienced trauma. Through this project, Qisetna are learning a methodology and tools for approaching and building relationships with Syrian communities in the UK.

5. Top tip

The project has laid good foundations for socio-cultural and behaviour change, and the empowerment of vulnerable cultures. However, additional time may be needed to yield a lasting result. Behaviour change may take place over a longer period.

6. Link to digital outputs

• Project Tasjeelat

7. Attribution

Digitally Democratising Archives (2022) by The Audience Agency supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Digitally Democratising Archives (Opening Archives) was an action research project, designed and led by The Audience Agency, supporting 10 organisations to explore archives, community engagement and digital tools. It was funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2021/22 as part of the as part of the Digital Skills for Heritage’s Connect Heritage programme.

More help here

Digitally Democratising Archives: Case Study 7

Bearwood Community Hub: Podcast: Celebrating Bearwood Women — with the support of Sandwell Community History and Archive Service (CHAS), and local community groups, this project invited women in Bearwood to add their voice to the historic record and create a new podcast: Celebrating Bearwood Women.

 

Training digital volunteers to create podcasts

To capture Glasgow Women’s Library’s 30 year history a podcast series has been recorded with the support of digital volunteers to preserve institutional knowledge from organisational “elders” to help promote the library’s heritage and share the importance of the unique, grassroots nature of the organisation.

 

Podcast: How do I make a podcast on a shoestring?

Starting your own podcast might seem like a daunting prospect, but in this podcast, we want to show you how easy it can be. Join Heritage Digital and three esteemed guests from the heritage sector as we discuss what you’ll need to get going on your podcast journey, including the ideas and the tech, and the questions you’ll need to ask yourself along the way.

 

Except where noted and excluding company and organisation logos this work is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) Licence

Please attribute as: "Digitally Democratising Archives: Case Study 2 (2022) by The Audience Agency supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 4.0