The History of the Paralympic Movement in Australia/Request for Proposals

APC Request for Proposals

The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) seeks costed proposals from suitably qualified individuals or organisations to document the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia in a format which meets the needs of the APC for online and possible print publication.

Project name

History of the Paralympic Movement in Australia

Purpose

Create a well-researched and referenced multi-media document which can be published online - and linked to video, audio and photographic content - or adapted for print publication, which tells the story of:

The development of Paralympic sport and, where the two intersect, the wider story of sport for people with a disability in Australia.
Australia’s participation in the 13 summer and 10 winter Paralympic Games conducted to the end of 2010.
The foundation and growth of the Australian Paralympic Committee.
Key individuals in the growth of the Paralympic movement in Australia.

Time frame

Commence in the first six months of 2011. Delivery by 31 December 2012.

Background

The Australian Paralympic Committee helps Australians with disabilities participate in sport and compete at the Paralympic Games through partnerships with governments, business, sporting bodies and the community. The APC aims to be the leading National Paralympic Committee and one of Australia’s leading sport administration organisations. Through the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies, the Australian Paralympic Committee is undertaking a range of activities to collect, manage and preserve the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia and to ensure its accessibility to future generations.

The Paralympic history project has the following elements:

Audio-visual collection – Photos, newspaper clippings videos and audio recordings, including some historical materials. These are managed for the APC by the National Sports Information Centre.
Oral history – 23 oral histories will be recorded by the National Library of Australia under the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history program by mid-2011.
Video interviews – The APC records brief video interviews with the subjects of the oral histories.

Hall of Fame – The APC will make inaugural inductions into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2011, with subsequent inductions in 2012 and then every two years.

Physical materials – The APC is conducting negotiations with several organisations to ensure the preservation of physical materials of significance to the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia.
Reunions and alumni - The APC is developing a strategy to conduct regular reunions for Paralympic Team members and to create an active alumni program for past Team members. A reunion of the 1960 Paralympic Team was held in 2010.

See Attachment A for more detail.

The APC seeks to draw these elements together through an online document, linked to images, video and audio, as well as websites, to create a rich, multi-dimensional history of the Paralympic movement in Australia, which can be added to over time and will grow as the Paralympic movement itself grows.

Scope of the project and role of the tenderer

The APC is seeking an individual, organisation or team of people to assemble an online document which tells the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia.It is anticipated that the successful tenderer will have:

demonstrated writing skills and experience;
networking skills;
experience in historical research;
an understanding of sport in Australia;
an understanding of sport for people with disabilities and the Paralympic movement;
an understanding of modern information technologies and the capacity or resources to create a document which exploits the opportunities available through the Web environment;
an openness to input.

The role will involve:

the creation of an initial framework document, based on research and utilisation of existing materials, covering the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia;
setting up an online forum for input by a full range of people involved in the Paralympic movement in Australia;
monitoring and moderating input;
interviews with people who have played a significant role in Australian Paralympic sport
research;
liaison with representatives of the APC to source photographs, videos, audio, competition results, team lists and other materials relevant to the project;
creating a final text for the period up to 2010, within a structure which includes the following elements:

personal stories;
each Paralympic Games;
other key Games, such as the Stoke Mandeville Games, the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games and the FESPIC Games;
organisational history and changes;
some social and historical contexts.

linking the text to oral history interviews, other audio, video and photographs through a customised website.

It is anticipated that engagement with the Paralympic community will occur through direct contact, including face-to-face, telephone and email, and also through the creation of a “wiki” or other on-line forum which will allow input from a range of interested sources, anecdotes and discussion about events and activities. The project may involve the use of Facebook or other social networking sites for communication, as well as more traditional methods.

The aim of this approach is to draw upon the collective knowledge and memory of the Paralympic community, in addition to using historical records such as results and contemporaneous documents.

The APC is keen to ensure that the final document is as accurate as possible and that input is referenced or corroborated. The APC anticipates that the tenderer will create an initial framework document which can be put online to enable feedback and input from the community of those who were involved in the creation of the history.

Priority will be given to tenderers who can communicate a vision for how they will create an effective multi-media project and can demonstrate an understanding of the use of web- based techniques and a capacity to identify and engage stakeholders. Expressions of interest from historians who work in a more traditional format are welcomed. The APC also encourages collaborative approaches between historians and individuals or organisations with expertise in online communications. It is anticipated that the completed text for the project will be in the order of 100,000 to 150,000 words.

Existing resources and APC support for the project

The Australian Paralympic Committee was formed in 1990, almost 30 years after the first Australian Paralympic Team competed at the first Paralympic Games in Rome, in September 1960. In those first 30 years, the Australian Paralympic Team was assembled through the collaborative efforts of state, and then national, disability organisations. The APC’s own records and documents date only from the time of its foundation and, more comprehensively, from the late 1990s.
In 1999 a considerable amount of work was done to compile a written history of the Paralympic movement in Australia. At the time of its termination, the writer, Adrienne Smith, had drafted just over 40,000 words, covering the period from the beginning of the Paralympic movement until 1987. Ms Smith’s research materials and her document will be available to the successful tenderer. It is expected that the tenderer will make use of this material and that it may assist in the process. The APC has collected historical information, documents, images and other materials through its operations and especially since the initiation of the current history project in 2010.
The APC will provide access to its archives and any materials that it possesses which are of relevance to the project.

Submission inclusions

1. Expressions of interest should include:

the name(s) of the proposed tenderers;
proposed timelines for the project;
an outline of how the project will be structured and managed;
any software or systems that will be utilised;
the proposed format of the finished product;
proposed contract cost;
any other details that will assist the APC to make a decision.

2. The successful tenderer will be expected to travel within Australia to conduct interviews and review original documents and other materials. Given the involvement of individuals and organisations around Australia in the Paralympic movement, it is anticipated that total stays of between one and two weeks during the project in each mainland capital except Darwin may be necessary. In the case of travel within Australia, the APC will meet all accommodation and transport costs and will pay the tenderer $100 a day for food and miscellaneous expenses. Hence, these costs should not be included in the tender.

3. Tenders should include the full cost of the tender and not assume any grants or subsidies from any organisation.

4. Tenders may be made by individuals, groups of two or more people working collaboratively, or organisations. The proposed organisation or structure of the project should form part of the expression of interest document.

Conditions

The APC will base its selection of the successful tenderer on its evaluation of the tenderer’s capacity to deliver outcomes which match the APC’s needs, outlined in this document, at a reasonable cost.
The APC will appoint an internal committee to recommend the tenderer to the APC Board, which will make the selection at its absolute discretion.
The APC will enter into a formal agreement with the successful tenderer.
A payment schedule will be negotiated with the successful tenderer. It will include progress payments dependent upon progress and a final payment on satisfactory delivery of the finished project.
All content developed through the project, including any related online resources, will be the property of the APC.

Closing date for tenders

Written expressions of interest must be received by the APC by 5 PM (AEDT) on Friday 11 March, addressed to: Tony Naar
General Manager Knowledge Services Australian Paralympic Committee
PO Box 596
Sydney Markets
NSW 2129
AUSTRALIA
Electronic tenders will be accepted and should be emailed to tony.naar@paralympic.org.au.

Further information

For further information, including a copy of the existing, written partial history of the APC, contact Tony Naar at tony.naar@paralympic.org.au or (+61 2) 9704 0510.

The APC Paralympic History Project ATTACHMENT A

The Australian Paralympic Committee is undertaking a range of activities to collect, manage and preserve the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia and to ensure its accessibility to future generations. The Paralympic historic project has the following elements:

Audio-visual

1. APC holdings The APC has an extensive collection of more than 45,000 photographs and more than 1,100 video items, which span the period from the creation of the APC in 1990 to the present. The APC has entered into a formal agreement with the National Sports Information Centre (NSIC), which is part of the Australian Sports Commission, and based at the AIS in Canberra, under which the NSIC is evaluating, cataloguing, labelling and managing the APC’s audio-visual collection. Through the NSIC, the collection is being preserved and made accessible to researchers, coaches and the general public.

2. Historical photos and clippings The APC is beginning to receive donations and loans of photos and newspaper clippings relating to the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia. These are forwarded to the NSIC, which scans these historical photos and newspaper clippings to ensure that permanent, high quality copies are stored. Where such items were loaned to the APC, they are then returned to the owners.

3. Historical film and other video The APC is aware of the existence of footage on film and other media, from Games prior to 1990, and is keen to ensure the preservation of this important historical Paralympic sport footage. To this end, the APC has initiated discussions with the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). The NFSA, a Division of the Australian Film Commission (AFC), is the national audiovisual archive of Australia. The NFSA plays a key role in documenting and interpreting the Australian experience. It aims to develop a collection of audiovisual and related materials of enduring cultural significance. The NFSA has indicated that it is interested in preserving and managing historical Paralympic film by making and storing high quality digital copies. The NFSA has also indicated its interest in accepting Paralympic materials for storage and preservation if they are offered to it.

Oral history

The APC has entered into a formal agreement with the National Library of Australia (NLA) for the NLA to collect the oral histories of people who have played a significant role in the development of Paralympic sport in Australia. These interviews are part of the NLA’s ongoing oral history project. In accord with its national heritage responsibilities, the NLA produces, collects and preserves recorded interviews and other forms of oral history to meet the documentation, research, publication and exhibition needs of the Australian research community. By July 2011, 23 interviews will be conducted, including interviews with all the eight surviving Paralympians from the first Games in Rome in 1960. (Interviews with six of the eight were conducted in 2010). The NLA has set up a page on its website for the Paralympic interviews and the first of these are on the site (http://www.nla.gov.au/digicoll/APConline.html). The project will be reviewed after the initial round of interviews, with the intention to conduct further interviews until a comprehensive overview of the story of the Paralympic movement in Australia is achieved.

Video interviews

The APC’s audio-visual manager, Shaun Giles, has started the process of recording short historical video interviews. This project commenced with the Rome Paralympians and will include interviews with all of those interviewed for the oral history project, to complement the oral history interviews. They will be used on the APC website, in the APC Paralympic Education Program and in other ways. For example, interviews with the Rome Paralympians were used in a video tribute to the first Games, which has since been used in a number of Australian and international forums and is posted on the APC’s YouTube site.

Written history

In 2011 the APC will call for tenders to write the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia, drawing on and completing work that was initiated in the late 1990s. Once written, this history will be published in an appropriate format and regularly updated.

Online

In recent years, the APC has developed a strong online presence. In addition to its main website (www.paralympic.org.au), the APC has created a website for its education program (www.paralympiceducation.org.au), a facebook site, a YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/ausparateam) and is active on Twitter (http://twitter.com/AUSParalympics). The elements of the Paralympic history project outlined in this document will be published through the APC’s website to maximise their accessibility to the widest possible audience.

Paralympic Hall of Fame

In 2011 the APC will launch the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame and induct the inaugural athlete and associate members. Further inductions will be made in 2012 and thereafter. Over coming years, the APC will investigate options for a physical home for the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame.

Equipment, uniforms and memorabilia

The APC is conducting discussions with relevant museums and historical organisations for the collection, management and preservation of Paralympic equipment, uniforms and memorabilia. The Powerhouse Museum holds a comprehensive collection of items associated with the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. The National Sports Museum holds a small collection of donated items. The APC is developing a collections policy and is looking at innovative ways to preserve and display Paralympic items of historical value, while respecting the wishes of the owners.

Reunions and alumni

In 2010 the APC invited all eight surviving 1960 Rome Paralympians to be its guests at the Paralympian of the Year dinner in Sydney on 18 October, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Paralympic Games. The day after the dinner, the APC hosted an informal lunch for the 1960 Paralympians. Seven members of the 1960 Team and their partners were able to attend. The APC is developing a strategy to conduct regular reunions for Paralympic Team members and to create an active alumni program for past Team members.