Success Stories

Placentia: The Early Years

500 years of local Newfoundland history

When the Placentia Area Historical Society and the Placentia Public Library decided that it wanted to digitize its local history, they were well aware of the challenge ahead of them. Placentia, situated on the west coast of the Avalon Peninsula, about 120 kilometres from St. John's, Newfoundland has 500 years of history. The struggle over Placentia began in the sixteenth century when many European countries were fighting for the supremacy of the New World. Newfoundland's abundant fish supply was important to the European markets. Over the next centuries, many different nations such as the Normans, the Basques, the French, the English, the Irish and the Portuguese colonized and ruled over the island.

In order to digitize their local history, the Placentia Area Historical Society employed a group of local students to create and design their web site under contract to Industry Canada's SchoolNet Digital Collections. The Digital Collections program, funded by the federal Youth Employment Strategy, has enabled over 1400 young Canadians (ages 15-30) to gain valuable work experience in the multimedia sector. By converting significant Canadian content for display on the Information Highway, Canadian youth have not only gained skills for knowledge-based employment but have provided greater access to Canadian holdings located in archives, libraries, museums, associations and other sources.

Realizing the immense scope of material to be covered in a limited space and time, the team decided it was best to concentrate their efforts on a specific period in history. Thus, the web site covers the Placentia history until 1811 when Placentia was governed under the same laws as the rest of the colony. Also, the team separated the web site according to the different ruling nations allowing them to explain Placentia's extensive history in a clear and organized manner.

Having narrowed the field of study, the team was now faced with another and more significant challenge. Although Placentia has a diverse, well documented and interesting early history, the team had little, if any, graphics to complement the historical facts. Since the Internet draws its strengths from being a highly visual and interactive medium, the team had to create all the graphics to accompany such a wealth of textual information. To complicate matters, the graphic designer possessed almost no computer skills when the project began. But the team was not discouraged. The young graphic designer, Gower Brown, quickly became acquainted with design applications and produced over 300 images for the web site. Some were made from scratch, others from old archived images that needed to be manipulated and enhanced. Directed by Claire Olive Powell, a co-ordinator at The Placentia Area Historical Society, the five team members selected the material, planned the navigation of the content and wrote the text.

"They really came together as a team," says the proud team director Powell, "and they complemented each other's skills and individualism." The students not only benefited from the teachings of professionals but also from each other. They would often teach each other new web design skills or share important research and writing tips to make the process faster and more enriching. Powell praises her young team: "I admired their enthusiasm, their initiative and their fast-paced and vigorous approach to complete the project. They worked really hard and wanted to do a good job." With the help of a dynamic and eager team, the Placentia Area Historical Society has finally been able to publish their history.

After ten short weeks of hard work, the team launched their collection to much praise and positive feedback. The site is getting a lot of exposure. Local schools are integrating the web site in their curricula. Bookmarks bearing the URL address are being distributed to tourists and at provincial heritage fairs. Library patrons appreciate the easily accessible information and the Newfoundland Encyclopaedia added a hypertext link of the Placentia collection on their web site. Even a St. John's newspaper has expressed interest in publishing a story on the web site.

Presently, the young team of students is continuing their full time education at various institutions and some are also teaching multimedia programming to students on a part time basis. The students who worked on this collection were Patricia Calleton, Gower Brown, Trevor Pomroy, Kim Griffiths and Darrell Healey.

Visit the SchoolNet Digital Collections World Wide Web Site at http://collections.ic.gc.ca/