ScotlandsPeople is the online platform for Scottish state records, a site managed by Dundee based Brightsolid Ltd (previously known as Scotland Online), which manages content supplied by the National Records of Scotland, the Court of the Lord Lyon, and more recently, the Scottish Catholic Archives. At present there is no other site like it in the United Kingdom, though the GRO in Northern Ireland is actively seeking to replicate its success with the creation of a similar project next year. Quite why the Scottish GRO has been able to get such a service up and running now for a decade in the way that the English GRO spectacularly has not is a debate that may last for another ten years at the rate things are (not) developing down south - but the ScotlandsPeople project is a truly spectacular example of what a government can do when it puts the interests of its people first and foremost on both its cultural and history based agendas.
The ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh - a national resource fit for purpose |
To all the ScotlandsPeople team in both Edinburgh and Dundee, happy birthday, and I hope a wee bit of bubbly is flowing today! You've helped this proud Norn Irish Paddy take even more pride in being a Jock - here's to the next ten years of likewise helping others learn the true definition of nobility as they too seek to uncover their own Scottish roots!
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
A report was shown on Reporting Scotland:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mhfzl/Reporting_Scotland_10_09_2012/