How to Turn Your School or University Archives into a Dynamic Social Experience
School and university archives hold a wealth of history and knowledge, yet they often remain hidden gems waiting to be discovered. Imagine the potential if these archives were transformed into vibrant, social experiences that engage students, alumni, and the broader community…
School and university archives are not merely dusty collections of old documents; they are rich repositories of memories, milestones, and stories waiting to be rediscovered and shared.
In this article, we’ll explore how development teams, engagement professionals, and archivists can collaborate to breathe new life into these archives, resulting in strengthened ties with alumni and the broader community.
Digitise and Centralise
The initial step in unlocking the potential of your archives is to digitise and centralise them. Creating digital copies of physical materials, and consolidating them into a centralised repository, is the first step to ensuring access for alumni (wherever they are in the world) and enables you to leverage digital tools to create engaging experiences. Digitisation not only safeguards fragile materials from deterioration but also broadens the scope for sharing and interacting with historical content.
Furthermore, consider the organisation of both newly digitised materials and born-digital content. Address challenges like gaps in archival materials and implement procedures for managing both new and older materials effectively. (This can initially seem overwhelming, which is why we’ve developed a comprehensive whitepaper discussing the key considerations before embarking on your archiving journey. Feel free to reach out via email to request a copy, or download one from this page on our website).
Curate Compelling Content
Archivists play a crucial role in curating content that resonates with alumni. Highlight significant events, iconic figures, and unique artifacts that evoke nostalgia and pride. However, it’s essential to go beyond this– remember, people are most interested in content that includes them, that resonates with their personal experiences, or includes people they know!
Ensure that the platform you're using simplifies the creation of personalised content for members of your community. Features like automated facial recognition and OCR (optical character recognition) streamline the process, allowing for seamless identification of individuals and the extraction of relevant information.
Foster Community Engagement
Use your archives as a platform to foster community engagement. Encourage alumni to share their own stories, photos, and memorabilia, creating a rich tapestry of experiences that reflect the diversity of your alumni body. Ensure that the platform you’re using facilitates user submissions through a simple process and provides tools for monitoring and approving content.
Leverage social media platforms and create opportunities for conversations surrounding your archival content. Hosting storytelling events, whether physical or virtual, can also facilitate interactions and deepen connections among alumni.
Embrace Multimedia Experiences
Don’t limit your archives to static documents and photographs. Embrace multimedia formats such as videos, podcasts, and interactive exhibits to bring history to life. Incorporate oral histories, alumni interviews, virtual tours, and personalised galleries, to provide immersive experiences that resonate with modern audiences.
Leverage Technology
Harnessing technology is essential if you want to transform your archives into dynamic social experiences, but choosing the right digital archiving platform is key. Consider several factors when selecting a system:
Audience control
Ensure you have the ability to control who sees what. Privacy settings are crucial for protecting sensitive information, tailoring content to specific audiences, and getting a clear idea of what material resonates with which parts of your community.
Content Presentation
Opt for platforms that offer versatile presentation options, such as galleries, slideshows, or videos. This variety enhances user experience and engagement with archival content.
Ownership and Protection
Protect your institution’s intellectual property by choosing platforms that offer options for watermarking public-facing content, and robust data protection and redaction features.
Teasers and Urgency
Drive engagement by providing teasers of information, such as galleries available for a limited time only, to create a sense of urgency and encourage viewership.
Interactive Features
When selecting a platform, prioritise those that facilitate conversation and interactivity, empowering users to comment on archival content and engage in discussions that enrich the archive’s narrative. Features such as identifying people and past friends in content can enrich the archive whilst driving engagement. Go one step further by ensuring that your chosen platform automatically sends notifications to users when new comments are added or when a new picture of them is uploaded, prompting users to revisit the archive. This proactive approach not only keeps users engaged but also fosters ongoing interaction.
Dynamic Galleries
Save time and effort by selecting platforms that support dynamic galleries, automatically updating as new content meeting specific criteria is added to the archive. This ensures that your archive remains relevant without the need to spend time on updates.
Search Capabilities
Ensure your archive is easily accessible and content is easy to find. Consider platforms that include tools such as facial recognition and OCR (optical character recognition) to make finding content a breeze. Advanced search capabilities enhance user experience and encourage exploration of archival materials.
By carefully considering these factors and selecting a platform that aligns with your institution’s goals and values, you can harness the power of technology to create a dynamic and engaging archival experience for alumni and the broader community.
Cultivate Collaboration
Collaboration is key to success in revitalising your archives. Bring together your development teams, archivists, alumni, and current students to harness their collective expertise as well as driving new creative ideas. By working together, you can develop holistic strategies that leverage all your strengths to maximise engagement and impact.
Measure Impact and Iterate
Finally, don’t forget to measure the impact of your efforts and iterate based on data and feedback. Track metrics such as web traffic, engagement, comments, event attendance, and alumni donations to gauge the effectiveness of your archival initiatives. Solicit input from alumni through user data, surveys, focus groups and user testing to continuously improve the archival experience and ensure its relevance and resonance.
In conclusion, school and university archives have the potential to be much more than repositories of the past; they can be catalysts for building vibrant communities and fostering lifelong connections. By digitising, curating and leveraging technology to create dynamic social experiences, development teams, and archivists can work together to unlock the full potential of their institution’s history and heritage.
SocialArchive offers comprehensive digital archives tailored for schools, colleges, and universities—delivering much more than just digital storage. Our features not only preserve your institution's history but also leverage your digital archives to engage, manage, and strengthen connections with your alumni. If you want to maximise the potential of your archives, contact us at info@socialarchive.com or book a demo to see how we can help.