1807 Commemorated website

Client: 1807 Commemorated Project
Dates: June - July 2009

Overview
The central aims of 1807 Commemorated, a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, is to both map and analyse public debate and activity regarding the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council contracted the 1807 Commemorated project to provide a series of regional workshops for practitioners and a website resource with downloadable 'Toolkits' and a Q-sort format survey.

Approach
Heritage Technology was commissioned by the 1807 Commemorated project to create the web resource in May 2009. The website was to have a low-key look, minimising the use of images and photographs that are often prevalent in resources on the topics of abolitionism and slavery.

The main aims of the website were to:

  • Present details of the project's aims, background, partners and staff.
  • Provide access to specially-developed 'Toolkit' .pdf downloads, designed to aid heritage and museum practitioners present and engage with the topic of the slave trade and the bicentenary of its abolition.
  • Make available a survey that examines perceptions and responses to the topic (more details below).

Survey
The web-based survey, mentioned above, was to take a Q-sort format. The Q-methodology is a research technique used in psychology and other social sciences to study 'subjectivity', or people's viewpoint on specific topics. Users are presented with a series of statements on a topic and asked to register a response based on whether they agree, disagree or feel neutral towards the statement. A second stage asks the user to arrange the statements based on the strength of their positive, negative or neutral reactions. The results are analysed by factor analysis.

Several techniques of presenting online Q-sort surveys are available. However, since this form of survey is potentially a very visual form of interaction, it was decided that Adobe's Flash platform was most the appropriate platform. This software would allow users to drag the statement 'cards' into piles and arrange them graphically on the screen - undoubtedly a simpler, more intuitive exercise than dealing with abstract tick boxes on a standard html page.

Links