Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches Launches New Website
Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches (TAD) has launched a new website which aims to enhance user engagement and ensure sustainable access to its content. The original website was launched in 2010 and featured songs, stories, customs, traditions and beliefs in Gaelic, Scots and English. An exclusive first view of the site was given to pupils from Sgoil Dhalabroig (Daliburgh School) in South Uist, a place which provided early collectors with some of their most valuable recordings.
New features on the website include: transcriptions of Gaelic recordings; photographs and detailed biographies of some of the best-known contributors and fieldworkers; blog posts; and Gaelic-medium resources for schools and nurseries developed by TAD.
Alongside the front-end upgrade, there has been a parallel project developed and delivered by the University of Edinburgh, to migrate TAD’s data to the international archiving platform, ArchivesSpace. This move ensures there will be online access to the recordings and associated data for many years to come.
Commenting on the new site, Floraidh Forrest, Director of TAD said: “We are absolutely delighted that the new-look TAD website has gone live and that the children at Sgoil Dhalabroig were among the first to use it. It is attractive, engaging, and user-friendly and we think it’ll draw new users to these precious recordings and enhance the experience for our current users. We were able to carry out this work with financial assistance from Bòrd na Gàidhlig for which we are very grateful.
The new site features information on some of the key people behind the collections and their fascinating stories which we’re sure users will enjoy. The addition of transcripts is something we wanted to implement following feedback from our users. This function will make it easier for more Gaelic speakers to understand the recordings. We are pleased to have almost 700 transcriptions available on the new site, which represents over 58 hours of audio material and around 520,000 words.”
Donnie Munro, Chair of TAD’s Steering Group said: “TAD is an online resource of international cultural significance, and I am personally delighted to see it reach this latest milestone. I’d like to commend the TAD team for their hard work and to thank our partners at the University of Edinburgh for funding and delivering the migration of the TAD data which will mean users can keep enjoying these recordings well into the future.”
Head of Special Collections at the University of Edinburgh, Daryl Green, is also pleased with the results of this fruitful collaboration. He said: “Through partnership in this culturally significant online resource, we are committed to ensuring continued access to the Tobar an Dualchais material. The continued collaboration to ensure sustainability of the site and the collections within is part of the shared mission of TAD and the University in preserving and promoting Scotland’s languages and cultures.”
Shona MacLennan, Ceannard of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, commented: “We recognise the importance of Tobar an Dualchais in making our culture and voices accessible in our own communities and to the wider world. This is reflected in our ongoing funding for them, and their partners involved in the development of the website. The site is very attractive and we anticipate that it will greatly enhance user numbers and be a welcome enhancement for users of an already invaluable resource.”
TAD’s new website went live on Tuesday 15th of June. New content including recordings, transcriptions, updated biographies as well as new blog posts will continue to be added to it on an ongoing basis and feedback from the public on the functionality of the website will be encouraged.
For further information, please contact Elsie Maclean, TAD's Marketing Officer, at en.smo@uhi.ac.uk