Use of digital technology to represent the Ioliare Tragedy

Moray House27th March 2017

Anne Robertson, EDINA, Information Services

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HMS Iolaire

• Scottish Gov’s WWI Commemorations Panel identified this event as one to be marked and given extra attention

• Stornoway, Ilse of Lewis, loss of 205 local men returning from WWI

• Remains one of the worst maritime disasters in British waters

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http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

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What you can do with Digimap for SchoolsAdd photos, text, look at change over time

= create a sense of place

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HMS Iolaire – scene setting

• Early hours of 1st January 1919, WWI had ended two months previously

• Home leave was granted to thousands of Naval Ratings over Christmas and New Year

• For the men of the Western Isles long journey by train from south coast of England to Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Inverness then onto Kyle of Lochalsh where two ships waiting for the men - SS Sheila and HMS Iolaire

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Map based presentation of information

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Using place to portray an event

• Read an account – often events described happen somewhere;

• Identify place names, land marks, physical features, distances;

• Different scale can allow quite different representations– Large scale (e.g. 1:500) == small area, local detail– Small scale (e.g. 1:250,000) == greater area