Okay, so I was wrong. I used to thing English Heritage were a crusty bunch who jealously guarded castles.
Like lighthouse keepers, you’re glad they’re there but nothing too much to get excited about.
Actually, that’s not totally the case at all. If you’ve children, you must take a look at their website for their family orientated programme.
Romans at Wroxeter in Shropshire I can vouch for. Select a venue and then take a look in the bottom right hand corner . There you’ll see a really great use of Flickr.
By posting into an English Heritage group you agree that you don’t mind if the image is linked to via the organisations’ website. That’s a brilliant idea. They’re also upfront about it too.
Forget leather patched tweed jackets, those people at English Heritage are actually pretty cutting edge.
Can this idea be used in local government? No question. Does it cost money? Not a penny. But what it does do is this:
- It provide an extra resource for people looking to browse for a place to visit.
- It creates a presence on a popular social networking site.
- It builds links with the community who can really feel as though they own a small slice of the website.
At a time when budgets are tight and very painful cuts have been made at English Heritage, this is good work by the history geeks.
Having worked for EH for over a decade many years ago, I can assure you that I never once wore a tweed jacket whilst working there 😉
And we did lots of family-friendly things in the North even as long ago as the 1980s – not least because one of my friends and colleagues developed the living history approach to education :-))
Don’t forget EH partially funded our Heritage Connect project which is also a big barrel of awesum! http://www.heritageconnectlincoln.com/
Thank you for the kind words Dan. Flickr is a fantastic place and you can do so much there. We’ve been using the Days Out group for a few years now to let people to share their photos and it also gives new visitors an opportunity to explore more of our properties online.
We’ve been using Flickr more and more recently and in particular have been looking at how we can use it to represent a wider range of our work through groups such as Industrial Heritage at Risk: http://www.flickr.com/groups/industrialheritageatrisk/
We also publish our own photos from family events, archaeological digs and from the archives of the National Monuments Record using our Flickr user account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/englishheritage/
You’re doing brilliant stuff at English Heritage with Flickr. Hats off and thanks for the comment and extra links.
I’m sure they’ll emerge organically, but it would be great to see a Flickr meet at an EH venue. Maybe for a special event. Maybe some special access to a place that isn’t often open : )
If it can work at Walsall Town Hall, it can work anywhere…
http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2010/06/13/helping-out-behind-the-scenes/
We have quite an active East Kent Flickr group who have had a couple of meets at Dover Castle and the Western Heights
http://www.flickr.com/groups/doverflickrmeet/pool/