A new way to dial up Wick's oral history recordings
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Wick's online oral history project has found a new way to call up memories of life in years gone by – thanks to local teacher Chris Aitken.
It is the second time Chris has volunteered his technological skills to turn an old-fashioned rotary dial telephone into a device that can store hundreds of recordings made for Wick Voices while retaining its vintage look.
The repurposed phone will enhance the project's outreach activities by allowing care home residents, daycare centre users and others in the community to connect to a wide range of stories and reminiscences – simply by dialling a three-digit number and listening to the receiver.
Chris, who teaches computing science at Wick High School, produced his first Wick Voices phone over a year ago using a Raspberry Pi, a credit-card-sized computer, to load 300 oral history interviews.
The new one uses the same technology but with a built-in web server.
Wick Voices, part of the voluntary-run Wick Society, began in 2016 and there are now 376 recordings freely accessible online with more being added regularly.
The interviews cover a wide range of topics with people from all walks of life, from the Wick area and other parts of Caithness. Collectively, recordings by Wick Voices have been played more than 392,000 times.
"The new Wick Voices phone is built around a 1960s GPO telephone," Chris explained. "The phone has a Raspberry Pi installed inside it. This is a credit-card-sized computer which is used to detect the number that the user dials and loads the corresponding Wick Voices recording.
"Inside is also an amplifier to boost the sound volume to the handset. The only clue to there being anything different from the original phone is a volume control and power cable on the outside.
"One of the difficulties with the previous phone was that it had to come back to me to have recordings manually put on it. In the second iteration of the phone I turned it into a wifi hotspot with a built-in web server.
"This means that the team can connect to the phone from their own laptop or tablet and upload new recordings themselves.
"With this new development in place and a fairly stable code platform I can now fairly easily produce a new phone in around three to four hours. An enjoyable part of the process is figuring out the electronics of the phones donated to the project, as each one seems to be slightly different in its design."
Chris added: "It has been a pleasure working with the Wick Voices team. Seeing how well the community – especially the elderly – take to the phone has been amazing, and I am delighted to be able to help them connect a little with stories from the past."
Doreen Leith, who leads the Wick Voices project, said: "Chris Aitken has surpassed all expectations in designing a second Wick Voices dial-up phone which allows the team to upload new recordings on a regular basis. Although the phone contains modern technology, it is simple and easy to use as the dial-up feature is familiar to many.
"The original dial-up phone has been a valuable addition to our outreach programme as the phone has been made available on short-term loan to daycare centres, care homes and individuals throughout Caithness.
"The provision of a second phone has doubled the capacity.
"The phone has also been used during school visits, at an Archive Afternoon in Nucleus and at the Caithness International Science Festival's Family Fun Day in October last year. It was interesting to see adults teach children and grandchildren how to use a dial-up phone.
"We are so grateful to Chris for his knowledge, expertise and dedication to Wick Voices."
Chris says he would be keen to have a stock of old-style phones if members of the public are willing to donate any. These can be handed in to him at Wick High School.
Wick Voices can be emailed at wickvoices@icloud.com; all recordings are available at www.wickheritage.org
The project recently reached a milestone with the first individual interview to achieve more than 10,000 listens – Davy Nicolson talking about the Whaligoe Steps, recorded in 2017. Last month Davy did a further interview, sharing more of his stories.
