The Society's main chief function is, and has always been, to publish Personhistorisk Tidskrift (Swedish Journal of Personal history) - a prestigious scientific journal which can be found in the
major libraries all over Sweden.
The Society's by-laws from 2002 says: "The Society is a scientific society which purpose is to raise and maintain interest for biographical research." The total amount of members in the Society does not exceed 200 at the moment. About 150 institutions subscribe to the journal as well. There is however a growing interest in personal history and biographical research. During the period of July 22 and August 21 2008, the website has had 103 visits. Almost 87 % are new visitors. 65 % do stay a moment at the website, in average 1 minute and 12 seconds. The main part of the visitors come from Sweden, a few from France, Finland and Norway. Only 15 % of the visitors return for a second or third visit.
Just over 50 % of the visitors come straight to the website, the rest through searchengines of various kind. The visitors mainly look for information about the journal.
Conclusions
Considering the very low amount of members in the Society, the number of visits is relatively high. Interestingly enough the great majority of the visitors are new to the website. There is a possibility that more and more members discover the website, but more likely people in general (though with a special interest in personal history and biographies) end up at the site through searchengines, when looking for biographic information or related topics.
As of the moment the website's purpose is to provide information about the Society, enough to raise interest in the journal and if possible recruite new members. Since the Society's main purpose is to publish the Journal, the website should be developed further towards becoming a more effective tool in recruiting members and subscribers as well as developing good relations with the very same target groups.
One particualr issue is to make the visitors extend their visits, and also return more than twice to the website. A conrete goal is to make the average visitor staying 2 minutes at the website within 6 months. To reach this goal two immediate changes on the website would be necessary:
1) To emphasize the advatages of becoming and being a member of the Society, or being a subscriber, straight at the home page. That is to focus more on the prestigious scientific journal, Personhistorisk Tidskrift.
2) To provide more content to people who might become members or subscribers, content that will also be of interest to those who are already members or subscribers. A suggestion is to provide specific information about writing personal history and biographies. Also to provide articles from older issues of the journal. The coice of articles should ofcourse concern issues of particular interest to the Society.
A third step towards a more strategic website would be to adress people who might not even consider becoming a member, but are interested in Swedish history (people and events) who are searching for facts and are looking for credible sources. Through raising awarenes about the Society to a broader audience, the goal of spreading and maintaining interest för personal history and biographies will be achieved.
All these questions leads to a change in the Society's area of interest. The focus on the scientific journal might have to shift a little, to meet the demand for information and content on the website.
For the moment, the Society has to make a desicion about how to use the website. If they choose to work more colsely with the website, a first step would have to be to implement a few changes according to the conclusions above, to put up some goals, and in four to six months start measuring the changes and the successfullness of the new strategy.
tisdag 26 augusti 2008
lördag 28 juni 2008
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.
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.
söndag 22 juni 2008
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.
tisdag 17 juni 2008
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.
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.
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