Gathering the voices: disseminating the message of the holocaust for the digital generation

This paper outlines the journey that has been taken in developing the "Gathering the Voices Project". We first discuss the rationale for the Project, the partners we are working with and the expected outcomes. The project is using informal learning approaches to engage with the general population. Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is working in partnership with the Gathering the Voices Association (a voluntary group) with the purpose of collecting and digitising oral testimonies of Holocaust survivors who came to live in Scotland. We have completed the pilot phase of the Project and are now in the second phase which is collecting and digitising the testimonies and investigating new innovative ways to deliver the objectives of the project. We want to record their description of their lives and that of their families in Nazi dominated Europe and, especially, their experiences once they gained sanctuary in Scotland for educational and public engagement purposes. Throughout our project, we are seeking the participation of the community in the creation of our educational and public engagement outputs. Our key outputs are involving students in the creation and development of multimedia learning approaches for schools and a travelling exhibition that will take our materials out into the community, as well as providing resources for future educational and Holocaust related events. We have also been fortunate in receiving funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Sense Over Sectarianism (Scottish Government), the Federal Republic of Germany, and local community trusts in Scotland. The anticipated learning outcomes use a variety of pedagogical and blended learning approaches, including: collecting and digitising the oral testimonies of Holocaust survivors in Scotland; creating an informative and easy to navigate website including extracts from interviews and photographs of personal artefacts, and hosting a Game/App Jam at GCU. The strategic overall aim of this project is to ensure that resources developed during the project are widely disseminated to a broadly diverse user base. We also intend for the resources to be available for future National Holocaust Day events in Scotland. The British Library has also confirmed that they including our website as part of their Curators' Choice UK Archive.