And still the photographs come rolling in!
yet more phone calls, email and a letter from people who were in Craig-y-nos hospital offering photographs and amazing stories.I am trying to keep track of this online at my other weblog: www.craig-y-nos.blogspot.com but I have so much material that only a fraction gets put online.
Home again!
Week researching book in South Wales, a real emotional roller-coaster. People kept saying:"I have never talked about this before…" It was a cathartic experience with some breaking down and crying.
Came back to Scotland to find 53 phone calls, emails and letters waiting: all from people wanting to share their memories and photographs. My partner has been acting as my secretary and he says that after each traumatic phone call he needed" to sit down with a stiff drink".
It was with relief that I switched on the computer and moved into the virtual world. Several more have joined my video site on You Tube.
Oh yes, I got a letter from Brigadier Derek Kirk saying that my video of the Argyll's march through Stirling has gone into the Regimental museum in Stirling Castle.
Just when I thought I was getting comfy in new media, having cast aside traditional media, I discover this is being replaced by social media.
MediaGuardian are running a one day conference on March 22 which is described as a "multi-stream summit….challenges facing traditional media in the digital age…consider the impact of changing from new media to social media, the effect of IPTV and internet radio and the challenge of democratising content in the user-in-control era."
What's IPTV?
Research appeal
The local papers have picked up my request to interview people connected with Craig-y-nos. While it has resulted in a few people e-mailing/phoning me these have all- with one exception- been ex-members of staff.
The Wellcome Trust are being very helpful with background material.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Have had a request from someone who wants to buy a copy of my video of the Argyll & Sutherland Highland Regiment marching through Stirling. Have also had a request for a copy of Adelina Patti singing "Home Sweet Home" in my "Singing Ghost" movie.
These raise all kinds of issues: how much do I charge? do I offer a "Directors cut" version- lots of unedited footage, and what about copyright issues in the "Singing Ghost"?
Had a publisher on the phone this morning before 9 o'clock wanting to commission a book. We discussed it for a while and it was agreed I would get back to him after I return from Wales.
Two local papers in Wales are carrying today my appeal for my project "The Lost Children of Craig-y-nos" and e-mails have started to roll in to-night.
The Hidden Landscape
Have just uploaded my first video of 2007 and discovered that there is a whole sub-culture of videos on YouTube devoted to mushrooms! View it on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYQ2ac5KXD4
or my videoblog:http://www.annshaw.co.uk
Ann Shaw is an artist/writer based in Scotland working in new media. As a journalist she campaigned and wrote about many social and medical issues. She is a feminist and founder member of Falkirk Womens Aid, active in the trades union movement and former member of National Union of Journalists Equality Working Party, and founder member of Forth Valley Open Studios.
