Help

The following information is provided to help you use ParaData.

Site Structure

ParaData is divided into four main sections - Timeline, Roll Call, Index and In Memoriam. 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 section will link to those who served, and these individual profiles, which are part of the Roll Call 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 arrow found in the centre of the player. The buttons to the left and right skip backwards and forward, and a slider control is provided below 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 centre of the player. The buttons to the left and right skip backwards and forward, and a slider control is provided below to alter the volume. It is also possible to enlarge the video to a full screen view by clicking the expand button at the bottom left of the player. The normal view can be returned to by clicking 'Leave full screen'.

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 plus sign at the the bottom right of a document, or simple clicking on the document itself.

In this view, the document can be zoomed in and out of with the plus and minus signs, and scrolled left, right, up and down with the arrows. The sign to the bottom right allows the original zoom view to be returned to. It is also possible to click and drag the document to move it.

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.

Free Membership and Premium 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 is free but by joining Premium for a £9.99 per annum charge you can 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 six tabs - Account Details, Biography Photo, Service History, Decorations and Operations. 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' or 'Add' button before you move between tabs or you will lose what you have entered.

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, decoration or operation served. For example, if you have served in three operations, you will need to select one from the drop-down menu and press the 'Add' button, then repeat the steps again for each of the other operations.