Raising awareness of Europeana in Malta

By Annalise Duca, AcrossLimits Malta.

Europeana and PR agency, AcrossLimits, are running a campaign under the Europeana Awareness project in Malta. The main aim of this campaign is to invite the general public, as well as cultural and educational organisations and policy-makers to explore, learn about and use Europeana.

Here's how we engaged the Maltese general public...

Social media was thought to be an effective and relevant way to generate interest in Europeana in advance of and then alongside a more traditional media campaign. A Facebook page was launched as the start of the campaign. This page lets the public know what they can find on Europeana. Updates are posted daily and highlight resources found on Europeana. AcrossLimits contacted all key stakeholders on the island to inform them of the Facebook page and to ask them to join it and publicise it to their networks. More than 400 people are now following the page.

The Facebook page was also used to promote a campaign competition. The competition enouraged people to explore Europeana by asking them to find an image that means something to them and expresses our theme – 'Malta’s European Cultural Heritage'. The competition allows people to explore Europeana and to find out what types of resources they can find there. Image nominations are now closed and the next stage is for people to vote for their favourite image. Over 350 votes have already been cast and voting closes at the start of next week. The person who nominated the winning image will win a tablet and the image will be recreated by the public on a huge canvas at the Malta National Book Fair next month.

One of the competition entries. The reason the nominee gave for choosing it was: 'This image shows the true colours of Malta, expressing a peace and tranquility that we transmit in our island.' © Heritage Malta

Alongside this social media campaign, a traditional media campaign has run in the press, explaining what Europeana is and promoting the competition and all other key factors of the campaign.

The campaign also took advantage of one of Malta’s key cultural events to promote Europeana and the competition elements of the campaign. On Saturday 5 October, AcrossLimits/Europeana had a stand at an event called the Notte Bianca. This event attracted 70,000 people and was a celebration of culture and the arts so it was a great opportunity to encourage the public to participate in the campaign, either by uploading their favourite Europeana image or by voting. As well as a huge turnout from the public, we also invited ministers and other key stakeholders to visit the Europeana stand.

Visitors to the Europeana stand at Notte Bianca

Another element of the campaign has focused on schools, allowing us not only to reach young people but more importantly to make schools and teachers aware of Europeana as a resource. We are running a separate competition for school students who are in Form 1 & Form 2 (12 and 13-year-olds). Students are encouraged to find an image from Europeana and to write a short story about it. 20 stories will be chosen and will be part of an eBook to be launched at Malta’s National Book Fair later this year. The writer of the best overall story will also win a tablet.

The banner used to promote the schools competition

The competition was promoted to all schools in Malta through a key stakeholder, the Ministry of Education, as well as being publicised in a national school magazine aimed at this age group. Not only does this give the campaign and competition credibility for teachers, it raises awareness of Europeana with key policy-makers. Schools were provided with supporting information and publicity material as well as clear instructions on how to participate. Entries are now coming in and we look forward to the final e-book!

Our work with schools encourages teachers and students to explore and use Euroepana as a tool for schools – however, since youngsters have always been exposed to Google, the way that Europeana works might be unfamiliar and even daunting to them. We hope that the competition might change their perspective and bring the younger generation and Europeana closer together!