THING Project 2009 -2012 Summary overview September 2010.

THING Project 2009 -2012

Summary overviewSeptember 2010

Project partners

County of Sogn og Fjordane

Norway – lead partner

Thingvellir National Park

Iceland

Orkney College

Orkney

Manx National Heritage

Isle of Man

Highland CouncilDingwall

KunningarstovanThe Faroe Island

GulatingetGulen MunicipalityNorway

Shetland Amenity TrustShetland

Norway

Gulating

Iceland

Thingvellir

Photo: Einar S Sæmundsen

The Faroe Islands

Tinganes

Photo: ppt by Barbara Crawford

ShetlandTingwall

Photo: Lynda Mallett

OrkneyTingwall

Isle of ManTynwald Hill

Photos: ppt by Andrew Foxon

Scotland HighlandDingwall

Photo: ppt by David MacDonald

THING – Thing Sites International Networking Group

Network established in 2008 – NORA pre-project

Reps of Thing Sitesin the North Atlanticregion

Letter of intent signedin Gulen in June 2008

Heidi Grande Røys, The Norwegian Minister of Government Administration and Reform and Nordic Cooperation. Photo: Anne-Karin Misje

Interreg IVB Northern Periphery Project 2009 - 2012

Objective:

”Exchange knowledge, specify, develop and test new and improved services for sustainable management and business development at the Northern European Thing sites. The project results should also contribute to a future nomination process of a serial inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List of the North Atlantic sites.”

Total eligible budget 989 001,85 Euro Funding from NPP 485 378,16 Euro

Work packages

Wp1 Management and coordination -

Norway – Lead partner

Wp2 Communication and dissemination - Orkneys

Wp3 Analysis of good practices and specifications for new service models - Shetland

Wp4 Pilot test web 2.0 inter-regional co-production

and co-profiling of services - Iceland

Research background The histories of the Thing sites

Comparative analysis – historic ties, local differences and international understanding.

Include historians, archaeologists, geophysicists, place-names scholars, saga experts

Tie-in to practice guidelines for interpretation and management

Improved interpretation methods across all sites Enhanced access to and understanding of sites Printed material about the Thing sites Webpage for various target groups Social media and Web 2.0 Publications aimed at tourism Pedagogical material UNESCO strategy for serial nomination Improved sustainability for Thing sites and their areas

Expected outcomes

Tynwald Ceremony 1896

Tasks completed Steering Group and Management Group formed Work Package leadership established Communication Strategy in place Dissemination Strategy in place Task Groups established and working Logo designed Media kit created Website, Facebook and Twitter up and running Graphical layout and document templates established Audit of Thing sites underway (data gathering key information) for ‘telling the

story’ Isle of Man pursuing UK nomination for World Heritage status Links established with other UK and International Thing groups Training undertaken (Marketing and media) Best practice guidelines drafted for archaeology and geophysics studies of

Thing sites.

Partner Meeting in Faeroe

- Focus will be on historical data interpretation and how to ’tell the story’ for partner sites now material collected

- Project administration and claims also high on agenda given recent tightening of audit processes

- Project planning for tourism and marketing and education material streams of workpackages commencing in Spring

Work to commence on individual websites and webpages Local Stakeholder meeting to be held November to take

forward workpackage projects Project outline to be brought forward for ‘Heritage Hub’

for Cromartie Carpark for telling of Dingwall ‘story’

Next steps

Thank you!