Introduction.

What it is; where it came from; what it does...

It seems so long ago now - November 2007 - when I put my money where my mouth used to be - and went on-line on the giant world wide web with my own small attempt to spread the word about the history on the British nursing profession.

And here we all are, heading for November 2019 - twelve years after I held my breath (and anything else I could think of) and clicked  'Publish'  on my web design package 'options' keyboard..  My heart was in my mouth. My anxiety level off the top of any scale imaginable.  'God' what had I done?.... Was there an 'undo' button somewhere, an 'Abort, Abort'.. If there was an icon I couldn't see it. Perhaps it was labeled "Panic"... But I could not see one of those either!

Those were some of my initial feelings on the day the first ever edition of schoolsofnursing.co.uk news pages went online. 

In the event, the reality was that after several months extremely hard continuous pushing, researching and writing, I had achieved my goal. An online nursing history site that everyone who desired to could access anytime (and if so desired contribute to) and for free.

Twelve years later anyone can still do so.

To join, an active email and self selected password was and still is, all that is required.  Free to all users. No details ever passed on to anyone.

So what do we have today? Well, this is our membership welcome letter:-

And that is it..  Main site; Forum; Photograph Galleries.... A misleadingly concise statement if there was ever there was one.

Main Site: was first...long before any thing else went on line. The cause of all my woes! The blank sheet... But then the real seed was an existing website - the MSN Nursing badges group.  I first joined as a latter day member - but Microsoft were soon to pull the plug and there seemed nothing else.  Uploading had become supremely difficult - a real 'labor of love' - though love was far too strong a word for the struggle involved. I felt that, as a retired nurse teacher with a computing and research background, that I could do it better!

Hence - 'putting my money where my mouth used to be'....

Three months - and much serious work and designing what I hoped would become the basic site was on the table. Every one of the more than 700 schools of nursing and their satellites was safely recorded (and backed up) on my computer.

News Pages: There are now 51 illustrated pages - each now consisting of a general introduction column; a 'collectors corner' column; a factual (numbers) column; and a 'credits' - an acknowledgements - column. The illustrations are largely confined to collectors corner plus a regular insertion of two badges taken from those posted by members in their galleries - all are acknowledged.

The word count is around 2000 words per page - maybe 37 paragraphs per news.  All content is thoroughly researched spelling; grammar, and legal issues - usually copyright issues, for example,  which are always be considered.

And then the content is thoroughly and shamelessly plagiarized!  Well not really, permissions are always sought if necessary and acknowledgements are routine. The site is really written largely by members - not forgetting non-member contributors..

2000 wards x 51 issues - around 102,000 words - a not unreasonable university size PhD size thesis!

Generally a bi-monthly exercise - with frequency changing upwards if possible depending on available content.

The Forum: Is complex!

It is a built around a free software program from 'Simple Machines'.  This is a completely separate package facilitating joining/leaving and - allowing members to initiate and/or participate in discussions on any topic that they may wish to and to include photographs within any discussion. There is also a message board which allows direct printed communication between members.  Anyone can follow the threads, they are public, but only members can participate in discussions.

The forum is moderated and administered in real time.  A necessity to prevent unwanted material reaching the on-line (public) world. Some of this area is also automated as a double safeguard. Fruity language becomes just that - apples, pears oranges et al... Automatically!

To date there are 5,947 posts on 1,013 topics.  It is of course necessary to have administrators and moderators to ensure smooth running.  There is also an automated system of blocking unacceptable language.... Well, it is a nursing history site but the unexpected is just that - unexpected!
 

The Photograph Galleries: are vast: Built around a program called 'Coppermine'.

They contain 6,206 files (photographs) in 45 Albums covering  5 categories, with 723 user comments thereon. Viewed 129,329 times!

A truly vast collection.  Where else I ask myself, could one find such a collection of photographs -  covering all aspects of nursing history - in one place?

People; ephemera; buildings; uniforms - civilian and military: nursing and hospital badges - all geographical areas of the UK  and Ireland are covered, plus Military, international and allied professions and organizations - everything covered.  Apart form buttons and Ambulance badges - which we are working on.  All contributed by members (and a number of non-members to whom we are also deeply indebted).  In short - an on-line museum of nursing history.

In Summary
Three heavyweight programs, a Microsoft web publisher; a full blown forum from 'Simple Machines'; and the incomparable 'Coppermine' photograph gallery. All sewn together and bridged to enable seamless functioning between all. And they have been doing so for the last twelve years with scarcely a hiccough!


All together now!
Exactly my intent when designing the site.  I am acutely aware that my iteration of the site content sounds sometimes like it was all my own work.  Nothing, but nothing, is further from the truth!  Yes, I am the architect of the site - the design of the building, so to speak, is mine. The rooms; the door labels; and if you like, the paintwork are mine. And yes, I designed  the structure of the whole museum.  But the building was empty!  My sincere hope was that people - nurses especially - would want to come in, look around - and bring in their expertise, their photographs, and not least their memories to share with others...


And that is exactly what happened, over the course of 12 years maybe, but come they did , bringing with them the content of the on-line, internet museum. (718 Registered members to date) plus many casual visitors who choose to use the site without registering. Not everyone is delivered something tangible, some just visit, but even just browsing the site is to my mind helping to keep it alive - and perhaps spread the word. The most we have had in any one day
Is five hundred and five...  Not quite in an all singing, all dancing super league, but quite good, I feel, for a nursing history site.

And it is alive! And so are the histories of the nurses and their hospitals that we have, and will continue to record. Perhaps one day we will have a real life building.  The money involved would be phenomenal. For now we are virtual.

And not forgetting.

There has, of course, always been a small group of people who work diligently for the site.  In the very beginning there were only a few:-

"The need was for help from other nurses. The people who were part of the making of nursing history. We found this initially in Peter Maleczek - founder and leader of the 'nursing badges' group on the MSN Network. Peter ('backman') supported us unstintingly from the outset and encouraged other members of the nursing badges group to assist - primarily by allowing the use of their photographs of their badge collections. On this score it needs to be recorded that the collections of Peter himself (English, Scottish, and Welsh); the Irish nursing badge collection of Eric Wilkinson; Susan Sullivan; Barry Sutton - with his truly massive collection; and not least by any means, Bill and his collection of Kent nursing badges - plus the other members of the nursing badge group who have offered help - if we have not acknowledged you personally yet, it is only because we have yet to take up your offers (steal your photographs/seek your offered assistance) because (unlike Ali Baba) we only possess a few accomplished thieves."

 I am also very acutely aware that in an article such as this major contributors can seem to be left out.  Again nothing, but nothing, is further from my mind. Hence I have attempted to add a list in the form of 'Acknowledgements' herein at the end  of this article - remembering now that I am attempting to explain the very beginnings of the site. For now I need to emphasize that throughout it 'all together now' has remained our 'raison d' etra' - there seems no other way to collect our nursing history.

So - where are we now?

Well, according to our recent web Statistics - 'Most Online Ever: 505 (December 05, 2019, 10:46:14 PM).....  there were 5973 Posts in 1018 Topics by 722 Members.... On one day...

Not too bad for a British Nursing History website I think.... Maybe 'Must Try Harder'....

But I do, I do!
 

Copyright will Burgess@schoolsofnursing.co.uk