http://collections.ic.gc.ca/great_war/
Reviewed: December, 2002
Mounted: March 31, 2003
By Lisa W. Grant
Newfoundlanders, in spite of negligible prior military experience, heeded the call of empire at the onset of the Great War. Women prepared supplies for soldiers, the elderly occupied themselves in fund raising efforts, and willing able-bodied men were quickly trained before being rushed off to support England on the battlefields of Europe. In the end, almost 12,000 enlisted, about ten percent of the male population and over a third of all males between the ages of nineteen and thirty-five. Newfoundlanders' patriotic commitment to the war effort at home, their involvement in great battles and individual accomplishments on the European battlefields, and the horrific losses suffered by Newfoundland's regiments are paid tribute to on the Newfoundland and the Great War web site.
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage created the site, in association with historians at Memorial University. The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage site is one of the best kept in Canada, with a wide variety of exhibits and features devoted to exploring all aspects of its history. They produce sites directly, usually in some combination with Memorial University, which co-sponsors and hosts the site, and they facilitate site development by a number of affiliated historical societies and local archives, etc. http://www.heritage.nf.ca/
Scope/Content: The greater a website's depth, the more useful it is likely to prove for historians and the general public alike. Newfoundland and the Great War lacks a stated purpose or a clearly defined audience; however, both are implicit throughout. And one need not be an experienced researcher to benefit from this user-friendly site. Its wide variety of materials includes specially commissioned articles, historical photographs, music, and video clips. There is an on-line scrapbook and a link to the virtual museum of the Beaumont Hamel Memorial. In combination these sources create a complete and cohesive package allowing anyone to develop his or her own conclusions about Newfoundland's role in the Great War.
Authority/Bias: Pressures from site sponsors or organizations involved in creating a site can detract from its objectivity. While the site clearly pays tribute to soldiers and others who represented Newfoundland in the Great War, overall it offers a unique insight into the memories of a lesser-known colony's role in the era before it became a Canadian province. Memorial University of Newfoundland maintains the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage web page, where this exhibit is lodged. It was sponsored by Industry Canada's Digital Collections Program and undertaken in conjunction with the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives.
One drawback of the site is its lack of contact information for the project manager, project members, programming consultants, or graphic artists. However, the site clearly displays contact information for contributing institutions like the Heritage Society of Grand Falls/Windsor, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Center for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies Archives. Thus, one might assume, the site's creators hope that if interested visitors wish to continue to research the roles of Newfoundlanders in the Great War they will do so via these institutions, rather than contacting the site architects directly.
Timeliness/Permanence: Newfoundlanders role in the Great War has been a source of pride. It is highly likely that the site, which provides a positive web presence, will enjoy a degree of permanence. Furthermore, affiliation of a site with an educational institution generally increases its staying power. Yet, the site for some peculiar reason fails to provide the date of its inception, or for any subsequent updates/revisions. Thus, it is difficult to accurately determine a program for updating information for the site. This may prove a general problem for topically oriented sites such as this one, which seem to be treated much like a publication; once posted they are seldom revisited or updated by their creators.
Value Added Features: Newfoundland and the Great War is loaded with value added features. Its home page displays concealed links to its creators, as well as a table of contents for all material contained therein. The introduction and overview page contains annotated links to the site's four main pages and the options of a site map are available on every page. Furthermore, the four primary areas of the site are always available via a clearly labeled tag on the upper right corner of every page.
Technical Aspects: Bells and whistles can impede or increase access to a web site. A properly tagged site should come forward on any inquiry utilizing commonly available search engines. Newfoundland and the Great War is the first site in every search with the search words Newfoundland and War, making the site readily available for anyone with an interest in the subject. Furthermore, it is compatible with both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, thereby ensuring its fullest availability to virtually anyone with access to the Internet.
Aesthetics/Visual Clarity & Appeal: Appearance can add or detract from one's ability to use a site. Every page in Newfoundland and the Great War presents an integration of text and photographs. Generally, photos appear offset from the larger text, which enabled its creators to include a complete citation adjacent to each photo and thereby establishing cohesiveness and flow throughout the site. Furthermore, fonts are held consistent throughout, though the font size of citations might prove too small, especially for older researchers. Absence of background photos or colors, which might distract some users, is a positive feature. Text and photos appear in black and white with a background of either burgundy, forest green, sea-blue or brown shades, which blend together nicely to create a sense of visual cohesion throughout the site.
Methodological Issues: Web material has to be subjected to the same scholarly criticisms as traditional paper text based material for its relative point of view, originality, and comprehensiveness. Newfoundland and the Great War is organized by medium as Articles; Images; Audio; and Video, interlinked with each other as follows:
ARTICLES: This section is divided into two main sections Home Front and Newfoundlanders at War:
HOME FRONT includes: The Politics of War, which contains excellent details on all of the key political leaders during the Great War era, as well as a historical narrative concerning the role of religion in popular Newfoundland politics, conflict between the out-port men and the townsmen, and the effect of war on Newfoundland society from 1919-1934. Volunteerism deals with Newfoundland groups involved in the war effort-Paramilitary Groups, Women's Patriotic Association, and Fraternal Organizations. For example, the full text of A Pair of Grey Socks, a 1916 poem dedicated to the many women who knitted socks for the men serving overseas is given. The third theme, Patriotism, is loaded with multi-media features, including: photographs, video clips, and a link to a virtual scrapbook.
NEWFOUNDLANDERS AT WAR, by far the biggest component of the articles portion of the site, provides in-depth analysis of battles fought by Newfoundland soldiers. The section on the Newfoundland Regiment is divided into Training, which depict recruits clothed in military garb and completing training exercises prior to departure. Sentimental photographs, and video clips set the stage for the impact of the overseas portion on the site where Newfoundlanders, without apparent thought or reservation, willingly sailed off to defend Britain-many of them never to return. Overseas outlines major battles in which the regiment was involved, including diaries and personal letters from soldiers, newspaper accounts of the Regiment in action and photographs from battlefields. The most moving effect of the site is a link to the Beaumont Hamel Virtual Memorial, marking Newfoundland's greatest loss. Thus, the site has exhausted all possible avenues of historical research in order to account for Newfoundland's involvement in the Great War.
Royal Naval Reserve provides a concise look at the Newfoundland Naval forces sent to fight for Britain. The web site creators provide a link to 'For King and Country,' by Darren Hillier, which successfully supplements information in Newfoundland and the Great War coverage of naval issue. Both sites include numerous primary and secondary sources. Forestry Corps, looks at an understudied contribution by Newfoundlanders during the war, with the same reliance on historical sources to illustrate its point, while Volunteer Aid Detachment relates the role of Newfoundland women who served in the Great War as nurses, illustrates the memories of these women by utilizing the letters of one of the earliest women to ship out, a first-hand account of women's role in the war. Commemorations explores memory as related in the material history of monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers, both in Newfoundland and overseas, including establishment of the National War Memorial and the Memorial University of Newfoundland the Beaumont Hamel and the Newfoundland War Memorial overseas. An associated bibliography provides users with information on where to continue research. This section is both interactive and appropriate for classroom use, therefore satisfying the community outreach component of a good public history web site.
Images is concerned solely with photographic history of the War. More than 200 historically significant photographs are presented under the same headings as the essays, to which they are linked, as well as a Virtual Scrapbook. The Newfoundland Regiment section includes a portrait index, a wonderful addition allowing researchers to search for individual portraits using a drop down menu of indexed family names. Once you have found an individual, the web site produces a photograph and associated biographical information from service records. Community outreach and educational programs could effectively use this tool, due to its jargon free-visually appealing nature.
Audio has three sound clips: The Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band: 13 audio tracks, including the Ode to Newfoundland, as well as the history of the regimental band are also included in the liner notes of the CD. Contact information and the citation of where the recordings were made are also present in this portion of the web site.
Tickle Harbor: Battery Included: The Valley of Killbride audio track complete with liner lyrics, history of the music, and appropriate citations. William Yetman: Interview: this interview is available in audio format as well as a complete transcript. There is a small biography of Mr. Yetman and the appropriate information in order to complete an accurate citation. Audio clips contained in this section are dispersed throughout the Articles section of the site, which adds a sentimental dimension to the textual portion of the web site.
Video: Twenty very brief and quite grainy black and white, silent video clips give one the impression of impending loss of life. They are presented as thumbnails situated on the left side of the page. The running time, the size and quality of downloadable information, the option to play from the site, and the title of the clip mirroring the thumbnails are on the right. All are from 1915, and copyright information, which appears on every page, says: "For the Folks Back Home," Authors: Wayne Sturge and Tony Murphy (1999 Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador). Video clips from this section are also dispersed throughout the site.
Overall Impression: Newfoundland and the Great War addresses the technological and methodological issues necessary for a successful public history site. Its scope and content present a cohesive package of textual, audio, and visual sources that enable the user to completely experience the role that Newfoundland played in the Great War. The relative absence of bias and the authoritative bibliography ensure users are challenged to further their research in a related subject area, using the historically accurate information of the site as a base. Unfortunately, one is unable to adequately assess its permanence, due to the absence of details regarding its creation and the subsequent lack of update information. However, given the nature of its sponsors and the positive web presence it creates for Canada's most easterly province, the site will likely be there for a significant period of time. The value-added features make it easy to use for people at all levels of Internet and research capabilities. Overall, the visual clarity of the site creates an ambiance of respect for Newfoundland's fallen soldiers in the Great War. Methodologically speaking the site is a phenomenal contribution to Newfoundland history. It is well researched and supported with a variety of primary and secondary sources presented in a creative and original manner. Furthermore, texts are interspersed throughout with photographs, which are also available separately. Video and audio clips are available in a similar fashion. Moreover, the site makes excellent use of exterior resources like the Beaumont Hamel Virtual Museum, the Portrait Index, and the Virtual Scrapbook. Thus, the Newfoundland and the Great War web site -the only one of its magnitude-provides Newfoundlanders with a strong virtual history of which we can all be proud.
Original Ratings:
Criteria |
Rating Score |
Scope and Content |
15/15 |
Authority and Bias |
12/15 |
Timeliness and Permanence |
10/15 |
Value Added Features |
15/15 |
Technical Aspects |
15/15 |
Aesthetics/ Visual Clarity & Appeal |
15/15 |
Overall Impression |
9/10 |
Interpretation of Materials |
40/40 |
Primary Source Documents |
15/20 |
Education and Outreach |
16/20 |
Community of Interests |
18/20 |
Original Overall Score: 180/200
Editors' Notes and Rating
Writing a review is a difficult balance between description and
analysis. While Grant’s review of the site Newfoundland and the Great
War is a thorough description of the site, a more
rigorous application of the rating system is appropriate. Grant, for
example, awarded sixteen and eighteen points to the criteria "Education
and Outreach" and "Community of Interests," respectively, although
neither are significantly addressed in the review. The one place where she does address these criteria-- at the end of her lengthy description of the articles available on the site-- she writes: "This section is both interactive and appropriate for classroom use, therefore satisfying the community outreach component of a good public history web site." How is it interactive? The only interactivity that these editors saw was the false interactivity of the mouseclick. And, while the material may be appropriate for classroom use, the Education/Outreach criteria of the rating system asks whether or not a site actively encourages such use through, for example, the development and distribution of curriculum and lessons that utilize the materials available on the site. Better examples of interactivity, outreach, education, and the promotion of a community of interest, would be if the site allowed visitors to submit their own stories and memories of the great war, or if the site facilitated a mentoring program between oldsters who lived through that period and youngsters studying it in school. These are real, tangible examples of interactivity, outreach, education, and community building
that the Web can help facilitate.
The editors, in addition, do not
think the technical aspects and aesthetics of thesite deserved all of the fifteen
possible points Grant assigned to them. The navigation is difficult at times; the font
size is very small in some places; and, the link colors (yellow and
orange) are difficult to read. While the articles are informative, and
the images, audio, and video add depth to the site, the editors did not
think the site helped people formulate their own view point on the
subject. In addition, the essays’ authors were not identified, thus
making it difficult to ascertain authority and bias, nor were secondary
and primary sources cited in the articles. Photographs from the period were largely used to illustrate the articles rather than support
an interpretation. We, therefore, recommend
dropping the points for "Authority and Bias" as well as "Scope and
Content" and "Interpretation of Materials," giving the site 130 total
points or three and a half earths.
Point Assessment for Newfoundland and the Great War
(more information on PHRC's rating system is available)
Basic Criteria
| Scope/Content | 12/15 |
| Authority/Bias | 10/15 |
| Permanence and Timeliness | 10/15 |
| Value Added Features | 15/15 |
| Technical Aspects | 10/15 |
| Aesthetics/Clarity | 9/15 |
| Overall Impression | 9/10 |
Public History Specific Criteria
| Interpretation of Materials | 30/40 |
| Primary Source Documents | 15/20 |
| Education | 5/20 |
| Promotion of a Community of Interest | 5/20 |
Total: 130 points -- 3.5 Earths
A native of Newfoundland, Lisa Grant is currently a Masters student at the University of Ottawa, completing research in 18th century medical History. In the fall she will begin doctorate studies at Warwick University, in England.
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