The following information is provided to help you use ParaData.
SITE STRUCTURE
ParaData is divided into five main sections - Timeline and Events, Equipment and Weaponry, Units and Organisations, People and Explore More. Content (such as the profiles of those who have served, or documents and videos) is linked between these sections wherever relevant, meaning it is available from multiple places. For example, an operation in the Timeline and Events section will link to those who served, and these individual profiles, which are part of the People section, will have links to the operation in the Timeline. Media items, such as documents and photographs, which are relevant to both an operation and an individual will be accessible from both sections.
MEDIA PLAYERS
When you click on 'audio' on an event, person, unit or article an audio player will display, or a choice of audio recordings will be provided which will take you to an audio player on selection. The title of the audio piece will display on the player. In order to play the audio please click on the left hand side of the player. The slider control is provided on the right to alter the volume.
Where a transcript is available, it can be accessed by clicking the 'Show transcript' link beneath the player.
When you click on 'video' on an event, person, unit or article a video player will display, or a choice of videos will be provided which will take you to a video player on selection. The video will begin playing automatically, but can be paused or restarted by clicking the button in the bottom left hand corner of the player. It is also possible to enlarge the video to a full screen view by clicking the expand button at the bottom right of the player. The normal view can be returned to by clicking the same button.
Where a transcript is available, it can be accessed by clicking the 'Show transcript' link beneath the player.
ENLARGING DOCUMENTS
Many of the documents are images of material from the Airborne Assault Museum archive. The text can be difficult to read at the current image size. A zoom feature to improve legibility is available, and can be accessed by clicking the enlarge button on any image or document. To return to the original view just click outside the image or click the 'x' at the top right hand corner of the image. Alternatively you can click back in your browser.
TEXT VERSIONS OF DOCUMENTS
In order to provide more meaningful and searchable text versions of the documents we have used optical character recognition (OCR) software to provide full text alternatives to the image. However, in cases where these documents are old, handwritten or damaged OCR does not render the text completely or particularly accurately. Where it has not worked at all we have removed it. If you require a corrected text version of a document please contact the Museum curator who will endeavour to assist.
Captions written on the back of photographs are provided as an annotation.
PRINT ON DEMAND SERVICE
ParaData has a print on demand service that allows photographs and documents to be ordered for print and delivery.
MEMBERSHIP
You will need to register with ParaData to create your own profile, to upload material and to add comments. There are instructions about how to register on the registration pages as you step through the process.
Membership to ParaData can be free or you can join as a Premium Member to access additional material.
Creating a profile
Once you have become a member of ParaData you will be able to sign in by clicking 'Sign In / Register' at the top right of the page and entering your username and password. If you have registered as a serving member of Airborne Forces, an Airborne Forces Veteran or a friend or family member of a serving member or veteran, you will be able to create and edit your profile.
Click 'My Account' at the top right of page. This will take you to a section with seven tabs - Personal Information, Biography, Operations and Rank, Citation, Memorial Location, Service History and Attribution. Each of these allow you to edit details, and guidance is as you step through the process.
Information can be added in any order, but make sure you click the 'Save new draft' or 'Save and request review' button when you are finished.
Biography photos can be in JPG, GIF or PNG formats.
Note that when entering Service History, Decorations or Operations information you will need to repeat these steps to add more than one unit / rank, or decoration. However, you can register all of your operations at once. For example, if you have served in three operations, you will have to hold down the Ctrl key and click all your operations from the drop down list.