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British Newspaper Archive; Following our previous discussion
Topic Started: Nov 2 2011, 02:04 AM (465 Views)
wee shamrock Nov 2 2011, 02:04 AM Post #1

BN Archive Facebook

BNA Site


About
The British Newspaper Archive (BNA) website is a website that, at launch in late autumn 2011, will contain over 4 million historical newspaper pages from local, national and regional newspapers from across the UK and Ireland.

Company Overview
The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership project between the British Library and brightsolid.

Description
For the launch, this digital archive will contain up to 4 million pages from historical newspapers across the UK, with exciting plans to reach a total of up to 40 million pages by 2021. The BNA project is the biggest programme of newspaper digitisation ever to take place in the UK.

At launch, the majority of the newspapers will be from the 19th Century. As the digitisation progresses, however, the site will grow to contain 250 years (from 1700 to 1950) of newsworthy events from over 52,000 local and regional UK newspaper titles.

Email
gmillar@brightsolid.com


THIS IS A POTENTIALLY WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT FOR CGS!
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wee shamrock Nov 2 2011, 02:05 AM Post #2

They are scanning up to 8000 newspaper pages a day!!!




Progress Report for the British Newspaper Archive – 24-10-2011
Posted on October 24, 2011 by grant.millar

With a target of 4.25 million newspaper pages to reach for the launch in late 2011, the Stakhanov-like workers (up to 8,000 newspaper pages a day are being digitised) who are doing the scanning at the British Library’s Colindale site, continue to find articles of great interest and quirkiness.

In short, ‘all human life is here’: from a man who decided one day to walk round the world in an iron mask, to bullet-stopping corsets and the art of wide-sleeved shoplifting. These are just three of the quirky stories that offer us a glimpse of how some of our more colourful 19th Century ancestors spent their days – though the archives contain thousands of more stories in a similar vein.

However, it’s not just the ‘life’s rich tapestry’ stories which capture one’s imagination (fascinating as they are), as the composition of the newspapers themselves also have amazing tales to tell. For instance, we have black-bordered newspaper pages to mark the death in 1837 of King William IV. Jumping forward just over a century, the digitisers have also found that some of the old books of newspapers have been damaged by shrapnel – a legacy of the ‘London Blitz’.

The newspapers have been digitised and made searchable through a process of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which enables a searchable index of all recognised words to be built. As a result of using OCR technology in the digitisation process, the search feature on the website will be very powerful and accurate. The intuitive search interface on the website will allow visitors to filter searches by keyword(s), publication title, location and date range.

Searching the archive is free. To view an image, you can purchase time limited pay-per-view credits or opt for an unlimited annual subscription. Visitors to the British Library sites in London will be able to use the website for free.

While the British Newspaper Archive will be of interest to anyone interested in history, it will be especially popular with genealogists. In particular, the family notices in these old newspapers will be invaluable to researchers who are looking to find out more about their ancestors. Indeed, the benefits of using old newspapers in genealogical research was recently highlighted in three ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ programmes, when Richard Madeley, Len Goodman and Tracy Emin, all gained an in-depth insight into the lives of three family ancestors via two newspaper stories and an obituary.

At launch, the majority of the newspapers will be from the 19th Century. However, as scanning and digitisation progresses, the site will grow to span over 250 years of UK newspapers.

For the launch of the www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk website, there will be up to 4.25 million pages live on the site. Following the launch, thousands of pages will be added to the website on a daily basis.

If you would like to be kept informed about this project, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter – you can also sign up for the email newsletter.


BNA Blog
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wee shamrock Nov 2 2011, 02:07 AM Post #3

Sneak preview of the BNA site in Dundee this weekend . . .



If you’re in the Dundee area on Sunday 6 November, then you might like to drop in on a family history event that’s taking place as part of the Dundee Science Festival. The British Newspaper Archive will also be represented at this event, and will be offering sneak previews of the website and discussing how the project is progressing.

The event is FREE to attend, and runs from 11.30am to 5pm – no booking is required. The venue for this event is the DC Thomson Building in Albert Square (directly opposite the statue of Robert Burns).
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wee shamrock Nov 2 2011, 02:10 AM Post #4

The BNA preview is also coming to Glasgow at the 50 Plus Show at the SECC on Saturday 12 November:


50 Plus Show website

The event is ticketed, however Admisison is free if you register by 10 November on the site above.


Would be ideal to get a heads up on how the Archive's shaping up and how it might assist us in our research. :bananadance:
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steve Nov 13 2011, 09:20 PM Post #5

I had a Beta invite, here's a list of the newspapers included (that I can see)

As I feared, you have to pay for every page view you make. The final prices aren't there, but in the Beta, it's £6.95 for 100 views. (and they have that down as "each page costs the equivalent of less than 7 pence to view!")

There will be a 12-month unlimited option, but no mention of the price.

Here's what I think is the list of papers scanned.

(Excuse the weird code, it was the easiest way for me to copy & paste the list)

Spoiler: click to toggle
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steve Nov 29 2011, 10:04 AM Post #6

And it's live!

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
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joebloggscity Nov 29 2011, 10:13 AM Post #7
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 but sadly only really goes upto 1900 or so.... Was hoping it would be for most of the 20th century as well....
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steve Nov 29 2011, 10:41 AM Post #8

joebloggscity
Nov 29 2011, 10:13 AM
but sadly only really goes upto 1900 or so.... Was hoping it would be for most of the 20th century as well....
I've been doing a few searches and am gettting some papers in the range 1900-49 in the results.

I think it's the same guys who do Scotland's People - I'm sure they'll keep scanning if it's brining in cash.
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Camillo Nov 29 2011, 11:06 AM Post #9

Interesting Celtic articles from the Evening Telegraph in Dundee. Like the fact that you can search on articles with illustrations too. £69 for unlimited access is OK but will be better once the coverage extends further into the 20th century.
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tollcross Nov 29 2011, 11:46 AM Post #10

steve
Nov 29 2011, 10:04 AM
Would fully subscribe to this in a minute but i dont fancy being homeless and sitting in the model 24/7 looking up Celtic :sad:

Will stick tae the parking fees for being up the mitch, although subscribing tae it would be much cheaper but at least i kin go hame and get my dinner efter it :thumbsup:
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