Nesta backs digital civic heritage project for people to add their own images and recollections
City of Edinburgh Council has created an online scrapbook for people to share written recollections and photos of life in the city, in the latest project to be backed by innovation charity Nesta.
Named Edinburgh Collected, it uses open data and amounts to a crowd-based online civic heritage project in which photos from the Scottish capital's libraries and museums are combined with those from contributors, using historical and current images.
The website is open for browsing by any visitors, but anyone wanting to add material has to create an account. The council has made an appeal for people to contribute to the site.
Support background
The council has received support for the project from Nesta as part of Open Data Scotland, which showcases the potential for linked, open data, and the charity's participation in the Code for Europe project, which supports the creation of shared digital services for city authorities to make connections with their citizens. Nesta has said it might be possible to upload audio and video files to the site in future.
Councillor Frank Ross, Edinburgh's digital champion, added: "Edinburgh Collected is an innovative way of creating history using technology. Nesta - through the Open Data Scotland project - gave us invaluable help in making this possible, and has been an ideal example of how using open data can really enhance the work that we do."
The charity has contributed to a number of other community online projects as part of its Make it Local programme, under which it encourages local authorities to work with digital developers on new services for their communities. These include the creation of the Birmingham Civic Dashboard, the Who Owns My Neighbourhood? project on land ownership in Kirklees, and the Sutton Open Library.
Pictured: Councillors Richard Lewis and Frank Ross at the launch of the Ediburgh Collected. From City of Edinburgh Council.
