Strategic Objectives:

• Improvement of communications within the heritage sector
• Improvement of presentation and promotion of Trust services to the wider public

ICT Heritage Development
The Trust continues its work with the broader heritage sector through its support of ICT development by the ICT Heritage Development Worker. During the last year a number of important projects have been assisted including the new dialect group Shetland ForWirds and the new Scalloway Museum. The Shetland ForWirds project is being undertaken in partnership with Arcadia University in the United States of America who have offered to build a website on the Shetland dialect for free. Work has also continued on the ICT Heritage Strategy drafted last year and an updated version is due shortly.

New Shetland Museum and Archives
Communications staff have been involved in the development of display design for the New Shetland Museum and Archives and in particular with the selection of multimedia contractors for that particular aspect of the display.

Trust staff have also assisted in developing plans for the development and integration of museum ICT systems. The size of this project means that the ICT requirements are necessarily complex and the process of development of the various threads has been most interesting, opening up as it does a range of possibilities never before considered in a local context.

Transnational Projects
Shetland Amenity Trust's work with all the countries around the North Sea and the North Atlantic continues to develop. The Trust is now involved in three Interreg projects dealing with Norse sagas, boat building and interpretation of key heritage sites.

These projects not only bring in external finance to help develop local projects but also create opportunities for networking over a wide area at no additional cost to the Trust. The Trust now has a firmly established reputation as an organisation which can deliver projects to a high standard and our participation in projects is being actively encouraged by lead partner organisations and consultants.

Websites
Shetland Amenity Trust has embraced Internet technology from its early stages and is continuing to develop its web presence.

Of particular note is work being done to make information from the Trust's various databases available to a wider audience online.

Several important strands of the Trust's work such as archaeology, biological records and place names can be made much more accessible to the general public in this way and the work will include the design of a user friendly interface.

This work will also tie in to the opening of the new Shetland Museum and Archives where the databases will be made available to visitors.