CWGC: Changes, Updates & Access difficulties

Discussion in 'War Cemeteries & War Memorial Research' started by Monty, Mar 18, 2004.

  1. jonheyworth

    jonheyworth Senior Member

    Fine now but there have been days when it hasn’t worked
     
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  2. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    It has been like that since Wed.

    F
     
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  3. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Cheers everyone.
     
  4. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    From this thread on the Great War Forum, looks like CWGC did not renew their Certificate of Authenticity which expired on 2/7/20.
    Problems with CWGC documents

    Many people seem to have pointed this out to them via facebook etc.
     
  5. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Maybe this is why we were all experiencing problems recently:


    Visual Identity | CWGC
    OUR NEW VISUAL IDENTITY AND REFRESHED WEBSITE

    THIS IMPROVED PLATFORM, DESIGNED USING OUR NEW VISUAL IDENTITY, HAS BEEN CREATED TO MAKE IT EASIER THAN EVER FOR YOU TO EXPLORE THE STORIES OF THE WORLD WARS WITH US.

    OUR NEW VISUAL IDENTITY

    Welcome to the new look CWGC website. This improved platform, designed using our new visual identity, has been created to make it easier than ever for you to explore the stories of the World Wars with us.

    CWGC is a historic organisation with more than a century of expertise, but we must always be looking to the future and the growing importance of our role in supporting visitors to return to our unique sites of remembrance. It is in this spirit we are looking to our next chapter with this new identity that puts our Commonwealth roots at the heart of who we are and what we do. From today all of our digital channels will feature this new design and you will soon see it elsewhere too.

    We have changed a lot since our founding in 1917. We’re using increasingly creative ways to welcome people to our sites and today engage with people on a wide variety of digital platforms.

    With this in mind, we are embracing our evolving task with a more modern feeling identity, that still reflects our heritage.

    The new logo draws on the symbol of the Commonwealth, a core part of our identity. The pillars represent our six member nations standing together in a common cause. The curved top is reminiscent of the headstone shape we’re known for, yet it’s interrupted in the middle, just as two generations were during the World Wars.

    WHAT’S NEW ON THE WEBSITE?
    Alongside the new look, we have worked hard to improve the search tool that lets you explore the 1.7 million people we remember and the sites where they’re commemorated. You can now get better results from partial details and the cleaner new design will mean that it is easier to navigate and learn more about the projects and stories of the CWGC. Visitors will also benefit from improved mobile functionality for using the website while out and about.

    Liz Woodfield, Director of Information and Communications at CWGC said:
    “Our fresh new visual identity reflects clearly the direction and image of the CWGC as we look to the future. We believe the more modern feel to this new identity reflects our forward-looking approach and gives greater weight to our Commonwealth story. We hope that the public enjoy the refresh of our website and new logo, it is designed to be recognisable and meaningful, and to appeal to future generations, whilst also celebrating our organisation’s remarkable story.”



    Search page:
    Find War Dead | CWGC | CWGC

    What an individual's page now looks like:
    Casualty Details | CWGC
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2020
  6. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Also looks like previous links might be broken (again!?)... certainly the few I've checked under Guards in Bde of Gds take me to :
    Screenshot 2020-07-22 at 16.06.20.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2020
  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Getting some that do, and some that don't.
    Hopefully just an update to a massive database repopulating & not something to do with changes to URLs over the years)

    (eg.
    This chap OK.
    2737504 Edmund SEARE, Welsh Guards )
     
  8. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Now appears to be sorted.
     
  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  10. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Me too. Seems to be the links to my Gurkha soldiers that have been affected.
     
  11. Skoyen89

    Skoyen89 Senior Member

    CWGC 'Find War Dead' problems

    Hi
    I tried to get some of the concentration reports, headstone details and grave registers for soldiers from 2/7 Queens killed in the Salerno landings but whereas I can find and open the records I cannot access the attachments which until now have been provided. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is it linked to the change of format of the CWGC website?
     
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  12. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    I was thinking the same today (well yesterday now), you get the basic record but none of the backup that is so useful, I'm interested to see if its still there but just hidden away
     
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  13. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Just checked and have got the same problem. Have emailed CWGC.

    Tim
     
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  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    This type of thing did happen after they changed their platform format. The docs did reappear again later on, so fingers crossed. It seems we may have lost the casualty certificate download option though.
     
  15. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Priorities, people.

    The site may have lost a trifling degree of functionality, but will you look at that new 'visual identity'!
     
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  16. jonheyworth

    jonheyworth Senior Member


    You and me both mate
     
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Steady now CF. :)
     
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  18. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I always look back after posting something mordant like that and regret it slightly, but it really does rub me up the wrong way when public bodies spend I-don't-know-how-much-but-likely-a-ton of money on cosmetic changes and rebranding exercises while neglecting the basics of what they were established to do. I was always quite impressed with the CWGC, but this kind of nonsense lumps them in with the National Archives and the Imperial War Museum: bodies that believe 'taking strides towards inclusivity' and 'establishing novel and robust streams of revenue' are more important than increasing access to the public property with which they have been entrusted.

    Even my modestly sized local museum (one of which I'm very fond) has managed to reduce the number of exhibits on display despite having been given increased floor-space. To take one example, their beautiful eighteen-century gallery with the mezzanine floor lined with old natural history specimens (think the Horniman Museum in miniature) has been placed mostly off-limits and filled with model dinosaurs that roar when you press buttons.

    No to all this.
     
  19. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    When the IWGC (as it originally was called) was created its basic task was to ensure that the fallen, where possible, should have a properly marked grave in a dignified setting and, where not possible, their name should be commemorated on a suitable memorial; and graves , graveyards and memorials should be maintained "in perpetuity". In this they have succeeded admirably over more than a century. They were not tasked with being a research tool or a knowledge source. However, in fulfilling their primary task they inevitably accumulated large amounts of data and being a 'public' body they have a secondary responsibility to make this available to the public. Until relatively recently they made a fair fist of doing this but it was never the basic role for which they were established.
    It seems to be a 'disease' of large 'public' organisations that once they are well established and ticking along performing their primary functions parts of their administration start to seek to innovate, partly to justify their continued existence, partly in order to keep themselves in line with current fashion and sometimes I fear to get some useful items on the management's CVs. As a result there are projects to create "improvements" for which there was no real justification. I fear that the CWGC have succumbed to this.
     
    Charley Fortnum likes this.
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    To be honest, I could not agree more. Let's face it, with the current political climate were are experiencing, it is only going to get worse.
     
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