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The Stevenson project, in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland, has built bridges between general and scholarly readers of a major, popular Scottish author. The project helped to change the ways in which members of the public understand the significance of editorial work and book-history. Providing readers with practical skills with which to approach varying editions of Stevenson's work, it promoted broader understanding of how we encounter the work of major authors. It has also influenced the ways in which the National Library of Scotland (NLS) communicates its central mission to the public, by demonstrating how to expand appreciation not just of literary works themselves but also of the Library's collections and its role in preserving and presenting our literary heritage.
Between January 2008 and July 2013 The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland resource [hereafter RPS] has been accessed over 1.99 million times by users from all over the world. Whilst the principal purpose behind the publication of RPS was to further the study of Scottish history, this level of access reflects widespread engagement with the resource from a broad spectrum of users outside the traditional university sector. In 2007, following an editorial and research programme which lasted over a decade, the Scottish Parliament Project at the University of St Andrews published a full edition of the proceedings of the parliament of Scotland between the 13th century and its union with the English parliament in 1707. This edition of parliamentary texts was published online as a free-to-access and fully searchable website. Its value in supporting informed public debate in Scotland during a period of rapid constitutional change has received the recognition of major political figures and has been noted in UK and Scottish print and broadcast media. The online edition and associated research behind its production has also contributed to the continued enhancement of the history curriculum within the Scottish secondary education sector and its use in the field of Scots Law.
Making a major contribution to English recovery research in the Unit, work associated with this case study has brought to a wider public:
1) the works of writers whose livelihoods were principally earned through manual labour or craft skills;
2) radical and neglected writing across a range of periods, genres and cultural contexts.
This has led to impact through enhancement of public understanding of literary and cultural value.
Underpinning research began in 1994; subsequently three principal routes to impact have evolved:
1) the development of open access online resources, in particular, `Labouring-Class Poets Online';
2) NTU publishing imprint, Trent Editions, which combines scholarly research with dissemination of neglected radical writing;
3) engagement with literary societies and related organizations.
The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland project, completed in 2008, and its subsequent research developments have achieved considerable impact through widening global public awareness of this historical resource. Its free-to-access searchable database is accepted as the definitive point of reference for pre-Union Scottish legislation. The project's materials and findings have had sustained impact on archival, heritage, legal and policy practitioners, providing significant input to a wide spectrum of present-day political, social, economic, environmental and cultural initiatives, from public debate and consultation through to formal enactment. The project has also contributed to the enhancement of the history curriculum in Secondary education.
The Oxford World's Classics (OWC), re-founded in 1980 as a paperback series and now also available electronically, includes many new translations from European languages with introduction and notes written for a non-expert reader by scholars drawing on their academic research. Three members of the Oxford Modern Languages Faculty (Cronk, Kahn, Robertson) have been particularly active in translating and/or editing volumes and in advising the Series Commissioning Editor on the basis of their respective research expertise. The impact is partly economic (sales, including export sales), partly cultural in making key works of European literature accessible to an Anglophone public reliant on translations and partly educational as the editions are adopted worldwide on secondary school, undergraduate and graduate reading lists. The OWC editions have made classic European literature available to an international market, reaching out to new audiences.
Heinrich Böll (1917-1985) was one of post-war Germany's leading writers and public intellectuals. The Edition of Böll's complete works, prepared by a seven-strong international research team which included Finlay, has had significant impact across a number of areas, including commercial publishing (spin-off publications, marketing opportunities); digital humanities (software and platform development for large-scale critical editions, significantly changing working practices); culture and heritage (in particular in the city of Cologne); the media and the public sphere (public debate on the writer's legacy and the Heinrich-Böll foundation's cultural programme in 30 countries).
Professor Nicholas Cronk, has in collaboration with others, created an app which is an enhanced edition of Voltaire's Candide, freely available, for use on tablets. Candide is a timeless and universal text with perennial appeal, and this digital edition renders it accessible to a wide variety of new readers. Cronk has been encouraging engagement with Voltaire's texts through more traditional channels but this latest innovation has won new readers for Voltaire, especially among a young generation often more familiar with new media than with traditional books. The app, with its dual level of annotations, illustrations, manuscript images, commentaries, and the Polyadès recording, has been well received by a wide range of readers, and functions in a curatorial capacity to preserve an important work of French classical literary heritage in a new, sustainable format. The Candide app represents a revolutionary tool for both independent learning, and also for classroom teaching.
The Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow has played a major role in raising public awareness and enhancing understanding of the work, global reputation and iconic status of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. This has been achieved by (i) forging Scotland-wide links between university, local authority and national collections of Burns-related material, making readily available the full extent of the country's rich holdings in this area for the first time; (ii) increasing and encouraging global awareness of and access to Burns's work through events, online resources and the use of social and traditional media; and (iii) convening an international network of Burns organisations and events. The Centre's exhibitions and performances have attracted upwards of 200,000 visitors and participants in the REF period.
This project has contributed to Welsh culture by increasing appreciation of the poetry of one of the finest exponents of the bardic tradition, by using that poetry to promote understanding of the literature and history of medieval Wales, and by collaborating with other organisations to further their promotion of Wales's cultural heritage. Impact has been achieved by innovative use of digital technology and by dissemination focusing on significant sites and artefacts featured in the poetry.
Research carried out primarily by Robert Crawford helped raise the profile of Burns's poetry in the media, serving to generate greater interest in, and engagement with, his cultural legacy. The Bard, Robert Burns, A Biography (2009) was featured in Scottish Government-sponsored public events to mark the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth, a major focus of Scotland's 2009 `Homecoming' event, generating significant additional tourist revenue for the Scottish economy. Subsequently Crawford's research was central to a £20M+ refurbishment of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, responsible for a significant increase in visitor numbers and bringing much-needed tourist revenue to the area. Finally, Crawford's research inspired Norman McBeath to new ways of thinking that resulted in the creation of a new art project. This case study therefore involves several types of impact: (1) promoting public interest in Burns and interpreting literary heritage to a broad audience; (2) assisting government initiatives to stimulate tourism and create economic prosperity at both national and regional levels; (3) inspiring new forms of artistic expression. The users of this research are the Scottish Government; the National Trust for Scotland; a freelance photographer; the tourist sector of Scotland and the reading and museum-going public.