HISTORY
COMMUNICATION
HISTORY
Bringing history to life Joseph Halliday explains how he created the interactive historical timeline on The Salvation Army’s international website (www.salvationarmy.org), balancing the inspiring stories of the past with the need to demonstrate that the Army of today is still writing its own powerful narrative.
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HE history of The Salvation Army stretches back more than 150 years and – though full of colourful characters, inspiring stories of commitment to God and wonderful, fresh expressions of ministry – it can sometimes be challenging to tell its story in a way that captivates a wide audience and communicates the depth of this legacy. Our objective when refreshing the part of the International Headquarters (IHQ)
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website that tells the Army’s history, therefore, was to join up the heritage with the contemporary. We – the IHQ Communications team – knew that many people viewing the content would have a limited knowledge of the modernday Salvation Army, and so we saw an opportunity. We wanted to make it clear to our audiences that the best days of the Army are not behind us; rather, that it is still involved in a pioneering, relevant ministry as much as it has ever been.
We also wanted to make sure that our motivation was clear throughout – The Salvation Army is driven by a love for God and a compulsion to put the gospel message into action. With these things in mind, it was decided that a thematic approach would work well, looking at how some of the specific strands of Army ministry developed, such as music, social work and young people’s work. We made use of an online platform called Shorthand, which aids in the creation of ‘immersive’ online stories. Through this, we are able to put large images and videos front and centre. This in turn demanded – alongside completely new text – the sourcing of fresh photos. We are grateful to colleagues around the world, especially the International
Heritage Centre (based at the UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland’s William Booth College), for their help in this project.
Finding your way around
To me, there are two ways to approach the site: as a general walk-through of our history, or to examine a specific area of our work. As a longform article, the site is easy to use – and readers may find they learn unexpected things, even if they know the Army well! Scrolling down the page (the site is compatible with mobile devices and tablets, so this can easily be done on those too) will take you through the past century and a half chronologically and thematically. This would be ideal for a newcomer to the Army, or for somebody
more involved in its work but less familiar with its story. As you scroll, you’ll come across large, full-screen images and videos that illustrate the theme at hand. These are intended to bring the words to life and show the true range of expression in the Army. For the intro, we spent time creating a time-lapse of the 14-year-old International Headquarters building in central London. We think this shows a modern setting to our movement before the next section takes the viewer immediately back to the location of the beginning of the Army’s story. In the ‘Music’ section, the illustration through photos and video shows the breadth of this ministry: choirs, brass bands, woodwind, gospel groups and more. We use full-screen images within the
‘International’ section. Here, different countries of the world ‘light up’ as the user scrolls, indicating the 10-year period in which the Army first began its work there. I am not aware of the Army’s growth being represented in this way previously, and to me it serves as an important reminder of the global family of Christ that we are a part of, and how diverse our ministry must be to be relevant. Video is an important part of the project, and the ability for the reader to be able to watch this without leaving the page is important in making it integral to the story. We were keen to use personal testimony where possible, and Devonte Thompson’s ‘Camp Story’, for example, CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 A P RIL–JU N E 2019 | ALL THE WORLD |
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