This is summary guidance for the format, style and nature of the content on the 100ruralyears.uk website.
For full contextual information please also refer to our Story Guide and Editors Guide.
Story Content
Created By: Volunteer Citizen Historians
The content requirements for stories should be clear from the Story Guide, but we need some additional pieces of content also for when we present story summaries (on the Themes page or within social media embeds).
The further content we require is:
- An abstract or summary of the story
- The ‘name’ (or pseudonym) of the author
- A head-shot of the author
- Some biographical description – primarilly this will help to give the story provenance; readers will know how and why they can trust and believe in the author’s telling of the story. Also, the authors are themselves a part of the story, and we should take the opportunity here to celebrate their role in our history.
ACRE Network Member Content
Created By: Network Member staff or ex-staff
Part 1: About The Network Member
Centenary Countdown
The agreed calendar date on which the Network Member will celebrate their centenary. This isn’t always definite, or easy to agree, but some notional specific date should be set so that we can provide the ‘countdown’ feature.
Banner Image
This should be an image that uniquely identifies the Network Member; perhaps a view of an identifiable area with specific landmarks, or a mini-collage of views. It is important that it is distinctive and speaks to the area that the Network Member covers. We should avoid ‘generic’ countryside views or else we risk all of the Network Member pages looking ‘much of a muchness’.
It will also help if the image can speak to a specific rural issue in which the Network Member has seen success. For example, the (original) banner image for Yorkshire shows a scene in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (which speaks distinctively of Yorkshire) – the statue also, in at least one viable reading, speaks of ‘community’ which resonates well with our Themes.
It would make sense to write the discussion (see below) before looking to source the banner image.
We must have the right to use any such image, so either one that you have taken yourself or else one licensed under ‘Creative Commons’. Creative commons images can be found in flickr.com (with an appropriate search), or in fact all images on geograph.org.uk are creative commons licensed. In these cases we need the link to the original image (so we can credit them properly).
Image rights extend not only to the rights of the photographer, but also to those people, buildings and brands that appear within the image.
People have a right to privacy in their homes and gardens, but may be photographed in public places. That said, if they are recognisable in the photograph then their permission is required in order to then publish the photograph. It is best to avoid having people in the photograph, or to ensure they are only incidental (eg. far away and not ‘readily identifiable’).
Unfortunately, these days, there can be issues with building rights. English Heritage is fairly accomodating regards non-commercial use but some cathedrals may not be. There should be no issue with most buildings but the rights situation should be checked when it comes to anything with an ‘architectural significance’.
Brands (eg. McDonald’s Logos) must be avoided in the image as corporations defend their rights aggressively as a rule; although this will perhaps be of little concern in practice.
Be aware that your rights as a photographer are asserted with respect to ‘public lands’ (eg highways) – but it is often not always clear whether you are standing on public land when taking a photograph. This is unlikely to be a concern in a rural context (places like Canary Wharf and Trafalgar square are notoriously NOT public spaces!) but it is worth bearing in mind if you are taking photographs to enrich our pages.
Rights are often waived for non-commercial use, but that is the perogative of the rights-holder. It doesn’t relieve us of responsibility to check the situation.
Discussion
There is space for as much text as we care to write. This website is about celebrating challenges and successes, so even though this section may well speak about the work of the Network Member the emphasis should be on the ‘big wins’ that we have seen in the area. We should not simply copy, or re-cut, the descriptions that can be found on the Network Member’s own websites – since that already exists. We should be telling a compelling story that causes people to engage with the work of the Network Member and creates a motivation to find out more.
If appropriate we can include additional images and media (video or audio) clips.
This section will have an ‘Our History’ overview of around 500 words along with any number of ‘more info/case-studies’ (which can be any length) and which appear in the purple ‘drop-down accordion’ type device. We will ideally detail at least 2 case studies of significant success/projects for the Network Member.
Part 2: Resources
This is practical detail that people will need if 100ruralyears.uk achieves its purpose to impel people to discover more about our work and our history.
Much of this information can be readily discovered and added to the page (website address, postal address etc…) but it would be most useful to have confirmed:
- The most appropriate contact details (phone and e-mail)
- The right details (website address) of the archive(s) that the Network Member uses or belives will be of particular interest to the visitors to our website.
It would also be very helpful to receive ‘official’ logo image files so that we can cleanly present the Network Member’s branding (see Content Formats, below).
Part 3: Voices
This is where we show the recollections that have been gathered that relate to the Network Member, see the Recollections section, below.
Part 4: Treasures
Part of our purpose is to encourage folk to discover more about our history. This of course means encouraging them to visit places, especially archives – which is a hard ask as much of the materials available are in physical, real-world, form.
Here we want to provide ‘tasters’ to help impel those (physical) journeys. We want to include digital impressions (images) of really interesting archived materials. For example, an image of the cover of a publication along with a link through to a page within an archive (or Network Member)’s website where the entire publication can be found and read. And where then, further digitised materials can be discovered and the wealth of other (physical) materials is revealed.
For this we will need:
- An image (or media clip) presenting some aspect of the archive item.
- A web-link to a page where the whole item exists in digital form.
- A summary description of the item, and its relevance to us
Recollections
Created By: Any and everybody
These are the recollections of folk who live or work in the rural community, or of folk who have a memory of visiting a rural community. It should be clear which community (which Network Member) they relate to.
They ought also to relate to the wider purposes of ACRE and the Network Members to have relevance in this website.
They may (also) relate to the specific themes that our stories address, and if they do we need to be clear about which theme they relate to (this may be obvious, but its best to tell us in case it isn’t). If we can relate a recollection to a particular story, then it will turn up on that story page (as well as on the Network Member page) and so should help to encourage our website visitors to look at the Network Member page as well.
Because we fold-up the recollections on the pages they can be as long as we like (or as short). We can also include images and media clips within the recollections if they are available. It’s extra helpful to have supporting images or media where the recollection is long.
The recollections should be highly authentic, written in the first person from people who bore witness to the event. They should not be sub-editted by ACRE or Network Members.
Themes
Created By: ACRE volunteers
Stories are grouped by theme, and so for each theme, we present we will require:
- Its title
- A short description of the theme
Places
Created By: ACRE volunteers
We have an overview page for all of the Network Members (Places) which includes a discussion about ACRE itself.
The information page (see below) deals with explaining the nature of ACRE and The Network, so here we ideally want a detailed write-up about ACRE’s successes and challenges. As ever we will be able to include additional images and media clips, if made available.
Information
Created By: ACRE volunteers
The Info page is intended to orientate visitors to the website, who may or may not have an understanding of its purpose. It should be relatively brief and aimed at answering key questions:
- Where does this website come from, who is providing the information
- What is ACRE and the ACRE Network
- How can I find out more about ACRE and the Network Members
- What is the nature of the content in the website
- Why is this content being presented
- How can I contribute
Content Formats
Logo type images
At least 250 x 125 pixels
Ideally with a transparent background layer (png, tiff or psd file format)
If not available with transparency then jpg format is also good, but it should have been saved at maximum quality.
Typically taken from the official (marketing department’s) ‘branding kit’ of the supplying organisation (if at all possible)
Other Images
Any image format is good – jpg being the more usual.
Ideally 1920 x 1080 pixels, or 1080 pixels square for the headline image
We must also have a suitable ‘image credit’, and of course the permission to use the image from the copyright holder; or a reasonable ‘fair use’ claim.
Media Clips
Will be converted to mp3 (audio) or mp4 (video), but can be supplied in other formats. We will need similar ‘credit and rights of use’ as per images
Alternatively, we can embed YouTube videos if a link is provided. These should come from ‘reputable sources’ so that we know the video we are linking to will continue to exist; and will not be swapped out one day for ‘some other’ content. We much prefer to embed our own media, but can accept YouTube links if the content is very good (and from a reputable source).