Personal sources from WWI and citizen science, opportunities for research and education. The project Transcribathon Europeana 1914-1918

Europeana 1914-1918 is a major project to digitise and publish primary and secondary historical sources on the First World War. In the course of seven years the project organised more than 200 collection days in 22 countries, including Luxembourg in 2012. Over 200,000 personal objects and documents were digitised and made available online.

In November 2016 a new crowd-sourcing initiative, www.transcribathon.eu, was launched, allowing people to work together in transcribing, annotating and geo-tagging thousands of handwritten documents and photos from the time of the Great War.

The talk will give an overview of the projects and discuss the experience gained from engaging people from different countries and backgrounds with historical sources, the possible impact in creating a European historical identity and the potential of the digital archive and Transcribathon tool for research and education.