About this Document
This case study describes the developments to the IT services used by Wyld Morris during the pandemic.
Background
Brian Kelly became the Events and Marketing coordinator for Wyld Morris in December 2019. He volunteered to develop the side’s use of online services, based on his expertise he gained when he was working.
IT Developments
Website
There was an existing Wyld Morris website at wwww.wyldmorris.org.uk Initial work focussed on ensuring the content was up-to-date. Since traffic to the website was low it was decided not to spend significant time on redeveloping the website. Instead the home page provides links to our other online services, In addition, as 2021 marks the side’s 10th anniversary we are seeking to keep a record of our history, including updating the list of events since we started.
We already had a Wyld Morris Facebook page but we changed the URL to a simpler and more memorable name: https://www.facebook.com/WyldMorris/
We have posted details of dance-outs since we restarted dancing on the Wyld Morris Facebook events page.
YouTube Channel
We decided to set up a YouTube channel and publish a weekly video show during our 10th anniversary year. To date (18 August 2021) we have published 36 video shows.
There were 470 views of the videos during August 2021, with the most popular videos having been viewed over 100 times during 2021.
We have used a number of video creation and editing tools to make the videos including:
- Recording Zoom meetings
- Recording PowerPoint slide shows
- The DaVinci Resolve image editing software
- The OBS Studio broadcasting/recording software
Some of the tools were simple to use (e.g. recording a Zoom session and recording a PowerPoint slideshow) but others were more complex to use.
We set up an @WyldMorris Twitter account, primarily as a communciations channel for those who do not use Facebook. We use it for announcing details of forthcoming dance spots.
In addition an April Fool post provded very popular, with over 700 views, with a follow-up post attracting 1,200 visits. This follow-up tweet is illustrated in Figure 1.
We follow a number of morris side Twitter accounts. In addition we follow a number of local Bridport accounts, such as @Bridport & Lyme News, @BridportCheer and @Dorset Tourism Biz and have found that retweets from these accounts help to raise the visibility of our side.
Google Business Profile
Following a Google search of “morris sides near me” we found a Google Map showing a number of morris sides in the soiuth west – but Wyld Morris was not included.
We found that a Google Business profile was needed – so we set up up (it only took a few minutes using the Google My Business online form).
We followed advice on the importance of images (photographs and videos) – and are pleased with the traffic this now attracts.
We provide a link to the Google Business Profile (which includes a map of our practice location) on the Wyld Morris website home page. Since the URL is not memorable (goo.gl/maps/SEomgjEnaWGwseuq5) we have also created a tailored link ().
Inviting Feedback
In order to make it easier for people to provide feedback we have created a Feedback menu option on our website which is available from all pages on the website, which has links to our Google Business Profile (so a public rating and review can be provided) and to a Google form which can be used to send feedback to Wyld Morris officers. The menu option is shown below.
Future Developments
At our 10th anniversary celebrations a large number of high quality photographs were taken. We have decided to create an Instagram account for the side to act as a showcase for these photographs and others which have been taken over the years.
Status of this Document
Document created: 2 Aug 2021
Document last updated: 7 Sept 2021
Licence for this Document
This document is available with a Creative Commons Sharealike (CC-BY) licence. In brief, this means you can copy and make changes to this document provided you give acknowledgements to the author/publisher. A suggested wording for acknowledgements is:
This document is based on the “Wyld Morris IT Developments” document by Brian Kelly, Comms and IT volunteer with the Morris Federation.
About the Author
Brian Kelly joined the Newcastle Kingsmen in 1978 and for many years was a prize-winning Betty for them. He has also danced with Sallyport Sword Dancers and Northgate Rapper as well as the now-defunct Green Ginger Morris, Phoenix Sword and Black Cap sides. He is currently a dancer with Haymarket Rapper and Wyld Morris.
Brian help set up a website for the University of Leeds in January 1993 – one of the first 100 websites in the world. During most of his professional career he was a national web adviser to UK Universities.
