A new video has been launched that showcases Professor Simon Tanner’s work with the Europeana network to enhance and realise their Impact Assessment Framework.

The video, Workers Underground, explores the application of the new methodology to Europeana’s collection and documentation of untold stories and unseen objects from the First World War.

The film shares personal stories from those who have contributed to the digital collection as well as data from Europeana’s quantitative surveying, demonstrating the human impact of the research.

From impact theory to active application

Professor Tanner collaborated with Europeana over the last 3 years to build their strategy and clarify their objectives in relation to impact. This recent work put in place practical recommendations to to implement his Balanced Value Impact Model. This allows Europeana to carry out, measure, document and communicate the impact of their digital platform for European cultural heritage. 

The work also produced a case study of the Europeana 1914-1918 project.

'What mattered was the stories'

Harry Verwayen, Deputy Director of Europeana said: “Professor Tanner’s model made us think beyond the mere output (i.e., traffic on your website) of our activities, towards what we believe the outcome of these activities will lead to, and the changed behaviour on the receiving end.

"It made us aware that it was not the digitised data that we collected about the First World War that mattered; it was the stories created from it that connect people.”

More can be found on their blog: http://pro.europeana.eu/blogpost/a-fresh-perspective-on-exploring-impact

Workers Underground - a visual impact assessment journey of Europeana 1914-1918 from Europeana on Vimeo.

Find out more about the new framework here:

http://pro.europeana.eu/files/Europeana_Professional/Publications/workers-underground-an-impact-assessment-case-study-europeana-1914-1918.pdf

Explore the Europeana 1914-1918 project here:

http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en

What is Europeana? 
Europeana.eu is the EU digital platform for cultural heritage. More than 3,000 institutions across Europe have contributed to Europeana. These range from major international names like the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the British Library and the Louvre to regional archives and local museums from every member of the European Union. Together, their assembled collections[5] let users explore Europe's cultural and scientific heritage from prehistory to the modern day.

What is the Balanced Value Impact Model? 
The BVIM is an impact assessment framework built for assessing the values and benefits of cultural heritage collections to their communities, especially when delivered in a digital format. It has been implemented by the Wellcome Trust Digital Library, Europeana and other memory institutions. It is a research outcome from Professor Simon Tanner in the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. More information may be found here and Professor Tanner is happy to be contacted with regard to other potential implementations: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/simon-tanner(4ddfa3d8-3871-4bd4-bc97-1d96995c3871).html