Covid Archive Project (Scotland)
Preserve your Stories & Experiences for the Future
Coronavirus has impacted on all our lives & in many ways is reminiscent of the Spanish Flu of over 100 years ago. The Spanish Flu is said to have killed 50 million people though further studies put this figure as closer to 100 million. Yet it was not covered by the media in the way that you might have expected! So many lives had been lost during the Great War that it was felt by the public & authorities that the country could take no more trauma, the result being an unnatural silence.
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As we all progress through the current Coronavirus Pandemic it does make you wonder how our own crisis will be portrayed in the generations to come, that is why the Covid Archive Project is so important.
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We would like to hear about your experiences! This could be through the sights, sounds, testimonies, thoughts, feelings & even oddities you have come up against throughout this crisis.
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Anyone who was living in Scotland during the crisis is welcome to submit images, audio recordings, short videos, drawings, writings, newspaper cuttings & anything else that you feel not only represents your own experience but would make an interesting addition to the Archive for future Generations.
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We welcome a group collection on behalf of your School, Organisation, Business etc (see below for further details)
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Some ideas are posted below to help inspire you:-
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Did you Home School your children & how was this experience? Was it hard to keep them entertained on a day to day basis & how have they dealt with the situation? Did your Children draw Rainbows for the window, why not share these drawings.
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Did you partake in daily exercise & what did this involve?
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Did you experience empty streets that would normally have been really busy & have you noticed differences in the amount of noise, wildlife or traffic
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Did you work in an occupation that kept the country going? If so what was your experience of this?
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Were you stuck at home alone & cut off from Family or Friends, how did this make you feel & what did you do to keep yourself occupied?
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Did you take up any new hobbies or pastimes to get you through?
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How was your career affected?
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Do you work with the NHS & how did this crisis affect you?
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What did you struggle most with?
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Was a family event or birthday impacted by the crisis?
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Did you clap for carers? Did this give you a chance to chat with new people within your community?
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What have your learned from your experience & what might you change moving forward?
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With so many shops & public buildings closing what did you miss most?
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Did you have to queue for supermarkets & when you got in was there a shortage of certain items, empty shelves or panic buying?
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Has your family or someone you know been directly affected by the virus?
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Or is there something else you would like to share?
You can submit your images, stories, recordings etc via the email address below. Give your submission a title, this could be the street or town name where a picture is taken or you could be more inventive. What you submit is open to your own interpretations, every story is different so feel free to tell your story how 'YOU' see it.
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I am sure we all have media on our phones or social media accounts already that would make a suitable contribution to the project!
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If submitting Audio or Video files these must not exceed 15mb in size or 60 seconds.
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All submissions by individuals will be on an Anonymous basis for privacy reasons. You can mention Christian names of people but please do not include anything else such as address, place or workplace which may identify people.
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If you have an item you wish to submit but are unsure how to do so, please get in touch via the Submit to Archive button below & ask us via email.
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Business & Organisation Submissions:-
Are invited to submit a folder of images, short videos, sound recordings, stories etc to the project, we want to know how you have coped with the pandemic & what adjustments you have had to make.
We ask that you have prior discussion with employees or organisation members & that they agree to be shown in any media submitted to this project or that media does not identify them.
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We are happy to share your story on our Facebook page & mention your experiences in any talks we undertake with historic or community organisations by prior agreement.
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You are also free to join our Facebook Group & post your coronavirus stories for yourselves.
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Terms & Conditions:-
On submission by email you are agreeing that you are giving your image, story, artwork or otherwise to this project so that future generations may learn from your experience. Therefore please do not share anything that you do not feel happy with sharing.
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If submitting written contribution please refrain from including anything with may identify a living person, for example Aunt Ann would be fine but Aunt Ann Smith from Ayr would not.
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For privacy reasons please only submit images where individuals are not identifiable e.g. where faces are not clearly visible. Should any identifiable images of people be received then pixelation technology will be used to obscure faces before the image is included in the Archive.
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It is at the sole discretion of the project manager to reject any media deemed as being inappropriate.
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Once your submission has been processed any email including name/email address etc will be deleted for privacy reasons.
The Complete Digital Archive will be stored on an encrypted hard drive with only the project manager having password access.
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On completion of this project we will deposit the holdings with an appropriate Archive with the agreement that the project must remain closed for a period of 40 years. After the 40 years has expired the archive project can be opened for viewing or display purposes.
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Checklist (what to send) :-
1. Image, Sound/Movie Clip, Story, Artwork, Poem etc (you can submit more than one entry but if doing so please try to name the file with your title)
2. Title of the item being submitted e.g. Jack & Jane home schooling, clapping for carers Glasgow etc.
3. Note that on sending in your submission you are agreeing to the above terms.
4. Email via the below button or to covid.archive.project@gmail.com
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Any organisation or business must sign discuss submissions with the Project Manager
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