Partners in History 2: connections and collaborations in regional heritage

This application to work with All Our Stories (AOS) projects builds on the University of Hertfordshire's commitment to academic-community partnerships in history and heritage. Over the last three years, the University's Heritage Hub (HH) has supported research and development work essentially connected to and shaped by the communities the University serves http://heritagehub.herts.ac.uk/. Phase 1 Connected Communities funding allowed us to expand and accelerate our activities, taking University researchers to museums and community events, and bringing members of local history groups, schools and individual researchers into the University. We are now in a position to consolidate this experience. Through a partnership with AOS groups in Smallford, Sopwell and Wheathampstead, we will explore new ways of doing collaborative research and embedding skills and knowledge across regional and academic communities.

The first strand of activity, a programme of bespoke training and mentoring, has been determined in consultation with the AOS groups. Two early career researchers (ECRs), experts in oral history and archival prospecting, will lead this aspect of the project. With support from the PI, the team will enhance the initial training in oral history for which the AOS groups have already budgeted. In particular they will mentor groups throughout the research process, developing skills (the art of questioning, an ear for the telling story etc) and building confidence. Through partnership with Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) a similar and responsive programme of activities will be provided around archival resources.

The project re-affirms our commitment to break down divisions between researchers inside and outside the University. We believe that the University can play a vital role in connecting projects and research across the region and beyond. Our ambition here is to go beyond a 'local for locals' framework and encourage participants to feel part of an (inter)national endeavour. For that reason we include two further strands of activity, both of which are designed to enrich the AOS groups' research contexts and will also be relevant to AOS projects across the region and beyond it. Digital story-telling (via DigiTales) and digital mapping (via Historypin) can make research into a multi-way, international conversation. Community and University researchers will participate in a genuine process of knowledge exchange, as close to equals as the structures allow, creating new forms of spatial and relational knowledge with public and academic value.

AOS funding has empowered many community heritage groups. The University's HH will provide this project with a channel to share that experience with those who did not apply for AOS funding or whose bids were unsuccessful. Through shadowing and, where appropriate, sharing activities with successful projects, other organisations will gain practical skills and confidence to participate actively in exploring the region's heritage, perhaps developing their own funding applications. Digital storytelling and Historypin are two specific vehicles for exchanging knowledge and building ambitions. Through creating material they will enrich research collaborations and expand the opportunities for participants, including AOS groups, to locate discrete projects in variegated regional and global contexts. Our intention here is to give substance to a notion of communities connected in a shared historical landscape. This stream of the project will also address issues of fragmentation and sustainability beyond the formal life of AOS activities.

The project will create additional AOS outputs, specifically in the form of digital mapping and storytelling, and build capacity, resilience and sustainability. The process will give the ECRs in particular a close insight into working with community groups, while also creating substantial knowledge about local and global histories.

This project will engage a series of different participants, ranging from the three AOS groups, University researchers and students, to an international audience for the project outputs. Skill-sharing and knowledge exchange will extend beyond the life of the project, directly informing future work by each group, shaping University thinking on community engagement and offering a model for research collaborations.

Through mentoring and training we are advising AOS groups on the best ways to present their material, encouraging them to consider the design, approach and audience of any written outputs in print/digital media. Our plans to introduce the groups to digital storytelling and digital mapping will give their projects an additional digital dimension, reaching audiences beyond the county. Contributions on the NCCPE forum from the PI and ECRs will share outputs with other Connected Communities researchers and AOS groups. Our project, and the skills of the ECRs attached to it, can be rolled out to other AOS projects across the country. Using Historypin to capture the spatial dimensions of the research will encourage participants anywhere in the world to contribute, while DigiTales connects Partners in History 2 with the Museum of the Person in Brazil/Portugal http://www.museudapessoa.net/_index.php/home.

Our project will benefit community groups and researchers in the region who as yet have not considered devising a structured research project or applying for external funding. This added layer of participation will enrich the experience of AOS groups by bringing different contexts and perspectives to their own research; engagement with digital storytelling and mapping will build confidence in those other groups and have an impact in sustaining community research beyond the AOS scheme. Our project will therefore have an impact beyond the chronological and geographical interests of the AOS winners.

In 2013, the University's Heritage Hub website http://heritagehub.herts.ac.uk/ will gain a blogging facility. Progress reports and discussion - contributed by AOS researchers, University researchers and students - will inform heritage organisations and non-academic audiences, encouraging them to engage in AOS events. The Hub's database of regional heritage organisations and researchers will be used to publicise events and outputs and invite participation as appropriate. HALS Making Memories website http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/ provides another channel to link to projects and demonstrate the processes and benefits of academic-community research.

We have already started to discuss follow-on plans with the Wheathampstead and Smallford groups. A process that fosters research ambition will have an impact on both the groups and their wider communities, leading to new projects and research collaborations. This method of collaborative community research will break down boundaries between the University and the community it serves with implications beyond the immediate remit of this project.

Those students who volunteer on the project will increase their skills and employability through practical work, e.g. oral history interviews, writing or researching, attending monthly 'surgeries' to support the projects, networking and organising events.