About the Societies

Karolinska förbundet (The Carolinian Society)
The Carolinian Society (founded in 1910) is working for research and knowledge diffusion concerning this vital and versatile period of Swedish history, that has been evaluated in many different ways by the posterity. The Society counts approximately 1000 members and gives non-profit support to several research projects.

The website is giving a short introduction the Carolinian era to visitors, as well as the Society and it’s events and meetings.

Svensk Presshistorisk Förening (Society for The History of The Swedish Press)
The Society supports and stimulates press and media history research in Sweden through presenting a scholarship, arranging seminars, lectures and other events concerning the history of the press and media. The Society stimulates international contacts and also works for the preservation of press and media archives. The Society’s secretary is the archivist at the Swedish Press Archives, at The National Archives in Stockholm.

The website is primarily exposing the Society, the scholarship and also the yearbook, that contains articles about the history of the press and media.

Kungl. samfundet för utgivande av handskrifter rörande Skandinaviens historia (The Royal Society for The Publishing of Handwritten Manuscripts Concerning The History of Scandinavia)
The Society has its origin in 1815 and got its bylaws enacted in 1821 by king Karl XIV Johan. The Society was in 1830 and the following yearsin several years almost the only publisher of historical source material. In 1896, the Society's bylaws were revised, and two yearly meetings were assigned.

Since then the Society has been publishing one manuscript yearly. The Society has 160 Swedish and 39 foreign members. The members have all been chosen according to their academic qualifications representing historical disciplines as well as archives and libraries.

The website primarily promotes the latest publications.

Personhistoriska samfundet (The Swedish Society for Personal History)
The Swedish Society for Personal History (Personhistoriska samfundet) is a scientific association wishing to promote the study of biographical research in Sweden. To this end it has been publishing, since 1879, a journal called Personhistorisk tidskrift. This journal reflects the Swedish society of different centuries through the fate of individuals or groups. The journal is issued twice annually.

The website gives an introduction to personal history, the Society and also the journal. Out of the four websites this has the most content.

After this introduction of the four societies I will next give an analysis of their present websites.

Four historical societies - a comparison

Four Swedish historical societies, all connected to the National Archives of Sweden, have websites dating from 1999 to 2004. The historical societies are all dedicated to certain subjects or historical eras in Swedish history. They are:

• Karolinska förbundet (dedicated to the era of The House of Pfalz, king Charlez X, Charlex XI and Charles XII)
  
• Svensk Presshistorisk Förening (Society for Swedish Press History)
  
• Kungl. samfundet för utgivande av handskrifter rörande Skandinaviens historia (Society for publishing handwritten manuscripts concerning the history of Scandinavia)
  
• Personhistoriska samfundet (The Swedish Society for Personal History)

From June 15 2008 these websites are all connected to Google Analytics, and my ambition is to analyze the results to give a perspective on the websites, on their relevance for the historical societies and to suggest further development of the websites. In my next comment I will start by introducing the societies to give a background to their work and activities.

Why the web?

Cultural institutions in Sweden produce growing digital collections. Most of them do, since many years, have a website. The awareness of how to manage websites is growing, especially among authorities like the National Archives and the National Library. The demand for 24/7 access to public service online has caused the authorities to remake their websites, to provide functionality. The result is successful and the public service is provided, but to what extent? Information is provided, but what about access to our cultural heritage? Is that goal achieved?

In the process of adapting websites to functionality, the ways to convey national, regional and local history, has been confined to Content Management Systems (CMS), not just technically but functionally. The digitized object in the collection, whether it may be a book, a photograph or a piece of furniture, has been conformed into a publishing system, a database, the interface of the database or the preset interface of the website. The technology has set the rules for publishing.

At the same time smaller institutions have been left behind in the process of creating functional and accessible websites. Many are still depending on temporary projects and lack a strategy for web publishing with a longer perspective.

Conclusion
Digitization is at large an issue that has been dealt with, within cultural institutions. Objects have been digitized for reasons such as preservation and accessibility. However, the public interface, can easily put an end to serious ambitions. Accessibility can turn into inaccessibility. A web strategy can be a main solution to these concerns, and a way to give grounds for the online presence.