README File For 'Children and Young People's Telephone Use and Telephone Cultures in Britain, c. 1984-1999' Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D3821 Date that the file was created: 22 January 2026 ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- ReadMe Authors: EVE COLPUS, University of Southampton [ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9655-4272] Date of data collection: 27 July 2021-31 January 2025 The dataset comprises data that was created on the research project, 'Children and young people's telephone use and telephone cultures in Britain, c. 1984-1999' (May 2021-January 2025). The research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Fellowship [Grant number: AH/V008943/1]. Data was collected by the research team, Eve Colpus (Project Investigator) and Aaron Andrews (Research Assistant). The project used mixed-methods data collection, and comprised three research strands: Strand 1: archival research; Strand 2: oral history research; and Strand 3: engaged research, which included digital memory collection research and arts engaged research. For its engaged research, the project used the name, 'Telephonic Youth'. The research and data collection was undertaken with approvals in University of Southampton ERGO 56966 and ERGO 67005. The dataset comprises data produced in Strands 2 and Strands 3 of the project. It is organised into two sections, according to the consent permissions for use of the data: 1) Archived data and 2) Open data, as follows: Archived data Comprising of: 1.Telephonic Youth Arts Engaged Research (TYAE): Data collected from participants in a ten-week art workshops series for young people aged 14-19 which took place in John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (October 2021-March 2022) as part of collaborative arts engaged research undertaken with Lynne Dick, Head of Engagement and Learning at John Hansard Gallery. The data is digital copies of artworks created by the participants which were displayed in the exhibition, Dial up, which ran at John Hansard Gallery between 6 April 2022 and 7 May 2022, and was co-curated by the participants. 2.Telephonic Youth Digital Map (TYDM): Data collected from participants online through https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/digital-mapping/ via a Digital Map. Participants self-identified as having spent time in the United Kingdom at some point between the ages of 5 and 19 years old during the period from 1984 to 2006. https://telephonicyouth.co.uk is the project website of 'Children and young people's telephone use and telephone cultures in Britain, c. 1984-1999', and was created in 2021 by web development company boxchilli in line with University of Southampton data collection and protection procedures as approved in University of Southampton ERGO 56966. Submissions to the map begun following the launch of the website in August 2021. This dataset archives the data collected via https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/digital-mapping/ up to 31 January 2025. If additional data in TYDM is submitted and collected during the lifetime that the website remains live this will be added to the dataset subsequently. The website will remain live until 31 January 2028 and will then be archived by the University of Southampton. https://telephonicyouth.co.uk is archived as part of the UK Web Archive (UKWA). 3.Closed Interviews (TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED): Data collected via interviews with 3 participants (out of a sample of 32 participants) who were interviewed between 27 July 2021 and 17 June 2022. Open data Open Interviews (TYOH (Interviews) OPEN): Data collected via interviews with 29 participants (out of a sample of 32) who were interviewed between 27 July 2021 and 17 June 2022. Information about geographic location of data collection: TYAE data was collected from participants who participated in in-person workshops held at John Hansard Gallery, Southampton. TYDM data was collected at in-person events in Southampton; online, through the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk ; and online, using social media (X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram). While the majority of the data was collected in the United Kingdom, some of the online submissions may have been sent from other countries. Data on current geographical location was not collected. TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED and TYOH (Interviews) OPEN data was collected via interviews conducted by Eve Colpus online using Microsoft Teams. -------------------------- SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION -------------------------- Licenses/restrictions placed on the data, or limitations of reuse: Archived data TYAE data was obtained with permissions from participants to archive the digital data. TYDM data was obtained via the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk with permissions for data to be open access on the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk for the duration of the website's lifetime, and for the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk to be registered with the UK Web Archive (UKWA), and for the data to be used in publications by the researchers on the project. TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED data contains interview data with two participants who gave permissions for the data to be used by Eve Colpus in research publications but not by future researchers; and the original interview data pertaining to one interview in which the participant requested a section of the interview was closed. Open data Data in TYOH (Interviews) OPEN is subject to the following licenses and restrictions: (i)The data is embargoed until 31 January 2032 to allow the researcher privileged use of the data for research publications. (ii) From 31 January 2032 until 31 December 2099 the data will be available on request to researchers for the standard 100 year closure period to protect the privacy of living individuals. (iii) After 2099, it will generally be assumed that anyone involved with or discussed in this data will no longer be alive so the data will be made open access. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: TYDM data is available open access online through https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/digital-mapping/ for the duration that the website remains live (until 31 January 2028). Following 31 January 2028, the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk will be archived by the University of Southampton. Screenshots of individual data entries in TYDM have also been posted on X (formerly Twitter) (https://x.com/TelephonicYouth) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/telephonicyouth). The website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk has been archived quarterly within the UK Web Archive (UKWA) since November 2021, and will continue to be archived and preserved in that archive. At the time of writing this ReadMe File, the UKWA website (https://www.webarchive.org.uk ) remains offline following a cyber-attack on the British Library in October 2023. The British Library anticipate that access to the UKWA will be restored in spring 2026, at which point it should be possible to search for individual websites again. Selections of data in TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED and TYOH (Interviews) OPEN is available online through https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/audio-interviews/ for the duration that the website remains live (until 31 January 2028). -------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW -------------------- Zipped file: TYAE File: ReadMe Archived data.txt Folder: TYAE Consents: contains template files of consent forms and Participant Information booklets for the art workshops and exhibition, and spreadsheet with linked data on consents. Folder: TYAE Data: contains 41 files of digital artwork. Zipped file: TYDM File: ReadMe Archived data.txt Folder: TYDM Consents: contains spreadsheet with linked data on consents and template files of Combined Participant Information Sheet and Consent form for the TYDM data. Folder: TYDM Memories: contains file with data shared via https://telephonicyouth.co.uk Folder: TYDM Methodology: contains file of Research Diary. Zipped file: TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED File: ReadMe Archived data.txt Folder: TYOH Closed Consents: contains template files of consent forms and Participant Information booklet for interviews, and spreadsheet with linked data on consents. Folder: TYOH Closed Data: contains 3 folders, each containing 1 audio file; 1 transcript, and 1 interview summary. Open data File: ReadMe Open data.txt Zipped file: TYOH (Interviews) OPEN Folder: TYOH Open Consents: contains template files of consent forms and Participant Information booklet for interviews; and spreadsheet with linked data on consents. Folder: TYOH Open Data: contains 29 folders, each containing 1 audio file; 1 transcript; and 1 interview summary. Relationship between Open data files, if important for context: TYOH (Interviews) OPEN data files are linked through the use of ID numbers and so should be cross-referenced before any data is used by researchers. TYOH_consent.xlsx contains linked data on the consent given for each oral history interview and should be cross-referenced by researchers before any TYOH (Interviews) OPEN data is used. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: Participants contributing to TYAE provided their personal email addresses, and email addresses of parent/carer or guardian to Lynne Dick (Head of Engagement and Learning, John Hansard Gallery) as a means to return permission forms and arrange art workshops. The email addresses of participants were deleted at the end of the research project. The research data produced in the art workshops totalled 188 digital files, of which participants were asked for their permissions to archive the files of the 41 artworks that were shown in the exhibition, Dial up. Participants to TYDM who contributed data through the website were asked to provide their email addresses so that they could be contacted if and when their memory was published on the Digital Map, and if any additional information was required. Email addresses were securely stored on boxchilli's servers, were accessed only once to contact three people following an update to the Participant Information statement (October 2021) and were deleted at the end of the research project in line with University of Southampton ERGO 56966. Additional contributions were submitted via the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk but have not been included in TYDM as the contributors: (1) did not give permission for publication on the Digital Map; (2) did not consent to their data being published and archived at the end of the project; (3) provided a memory linked to a location outside the United Kingdom; or (4) submitted the same memory twice. Data on social media engagement was collected in a secure database on University of Southampton Sharepoint pages but this is not included in the data package as the users did not consent to their messages being used for research purposes. The engagement spreadsheet has been deleted. Participants to TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED and TYOH (Interviews) OPEN provided their email addresses to Eve Colpus as a means of returning permissions forms and to arrange interviews. The emails of interview participants were deleted at the end of the project in line with University of Southampton ERGO 56966. If data was derived from another source, list source: Contributors to TYDM were invited to upload image, video or audio files alongside their memories. Three image/video/audio files were submitted by contributors, but these have not been saved as part of the dataset as confirmed provenance of the files cannot be identified. -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- Description of methods used for collection of data: TYAE Data: Data was collected as part of collaborative arts engaged research between Eve Colpus and Lynne Dick, Head of Engagement at John Hansard Gallery. A group of young people took part in a series of 10 2-hour art workshops run at John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (October 2021-March 2022). The workshops were led by an artist-educator and used methods of object and visual elucidation to encourage participants to create artworks through interpretation of research materials. The group produced artworks at each session, which totalled 188 digital files. They selected 41 artworks (corresponding to the 41 digital files in the dataset) for display as part of the exhibition, Dial up, which was curated by the Telephonic Trio and was on display at John Hansard Gallery (6 April 2022-7 May 2022). For a discussion of the collaborative methods used and learning within this arts engaged research see: Eve Colpus and Lynne Dick, 'Telephonic Youth: arts engagement with research strand 2021-2024', ENGAGE, October 2024, https://engage.org/resources/telephonic-youth-arts-engagement-with-research-strand-2021-24/. TYDM data: Data was collected through submissions to the project website: https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/ . The website was developed with web development company boxchilli in line with University of Southampton data collection and protection procedures as approved in University of Southampton ERGO 56966. The submission page asked participants for the following information: date of memory; address of memory; email address; the content of their memory; whether they read and understood the participant information; whether they consented to their memories being published on the Digital Map and used on the project's social media or in project publications; and participants were also invited to contribute additional media, including images, video, or audio (the latter was not compulsory). Engaged research methods were used to gather these submissions (see Jenny Crane, 'The NHS ... Should not be Condemned to the History Books': Public Engagement as a Method in Social Histories of Medicine', Social History of Medicine 34:3 (2021), pp. 1005-27; Laura King and Gary Rivett, 'Engaging People in Making History: impact, public engagement and the world beyond the campus', History Workshop Journal 80:1 (2015), pp.218-233; and blog posts on www.telephonicyouth.co.uk: https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/digital-mapping-one-year-in-our-research-methods-or-what-we-did/, 16 August 2022). Submissions were elicited through (1) social media engagement; and (2) in-person engagement. Social media engagement began in August 2021, with processes approved in University of Southampton ERGO 56966 which was amended over time to take into account issues encountered in the research. Social media channels were: https://x.com/TelephonicYouth (formerly Twitter); https://instagram.com/telephonicyouth/; and https://facebook.com/TelephonicYouth/. Using these social media channels, the research team reached participants by creating and sharing content about the research, including sharing archival findings, themed posts, and already published memories. People engaging with these posts were invited to submit any memories they shared with the research project in a process approved in University of Southampton ERGO 67005. The process required set messages to be sent in response to other social media users inviting them to submit their message through the website. No data was recorded through using these methods of social media research, so this does not form part of the dataset. In addition to online engagement, the research team organised a series of in-person events to reach members of the public and encourage submissions through the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk. These in-person events included Hands On Humanities Day, part of the University of Southampton's Arts and Humanities Festival (20 November 2021), John Hansard Gallery's Community Takeover (19 March 2022), the University of Southampton's Science and Engineering Day (7 May 2022), and a series of 'pop-up' events at libraries in Southampton in February and March 2022. These in-person events are detailed in TY_Research Diary.docx and involved members of the research team and student volunteers speaking to visitors. To aid these discussions, the team used a set of three disassembled landline telephones and, at later events, a set of mobile phones dating from the 2000s. TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED and TYOH (Interviews) OPEN data: Data was collected as part of oral history research using semi-structured interviews that were conducted between July 2021 and June 2022 (interviewer Eve Colpus). Participants were recruited using two methods: (1) email: snowball recruitment (researcher emailed contacts at organisations and asked the organisations to circulate the email to their staff/members); (2) social media: (Facebook and WhatsApp): general announcement and snowball recruitment. Interviews were conducted virtually using MS Teams, and recorded using a Zoom H4nPro with inbuilt microphone in Dell Latitude 5410 laptop. Audio recordings of the interviews were saved as .wav files. Transcriptions of the interview audio recordings were produced by TP Transcriptions (transcriptions were shared as encrypted files and TP Transcriptions deleted the audio files and transcription files in line with their retention polices). Transcripts were edited by Eve Colpus. A total of 32 participants were interviewed. Of these 32 participants: 1 participant did not return permissions, so their data does not form part of the dataset; 28 participants gave permissions for their interview transcript and audio recording of their interview to be deposited as Open data; 1 participant gave permissions for a redacted version of their interview transcript and audio recording of their interview to be deposited as Open data; and 2 participants gave permissions for their interview data to be accessed only by the researcher on the project and archived. The total duration of the audio files submitted to the dataset in HH:MM:SS is: 29:56:47. Methods for processing the data: Data gathered through the website https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/digital-mapping/ (submitted as archived data as the TYDM files) was exported in .csv format and given anonymised ID numbers. Some data analysis was undertaken to identify key themes and understand the key spaces of telephone use. These findings were published on the project website (https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/tracing-themes-in-our-digital-map/, 25 August 2022 and https://telephonicyouth.co.uk/telephone-memories-and-the-importance-of-place/, 5 October 2022 ). Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: TYDM data: Upon notification that a memory had been submitted via the website, https://telephonicyouth.co.uk , Eve Colpus and Aaron Andrews reviewed the content of the memory to ensure that it did not contain any inappropriate information, including data on protected characteristics, and the level of consent granted. They then published the memories on the Digital Map. Certain memories were edited to remove any identifiable information (all actions are documented in Telephonic Youth_Research Diary.docx). TYOH (Interviews) CLOSED and TYOH (Interviews) OPEN data: Interview participants were sent the transcript of their interview (encrypted, using Safe Send) and given the opportunity to request any parts of the data that they wished to be closed. Interview participants were also given the opportunity to be anonymised in any future use of the data (consents are recorded in TYOH_consent.xlsx using a unique identification number for each participant). People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Eve Colpus; Aaron Andrews; and student volunteers who were involved in data collection at the University of Southampton's Hands On Humanities Day (2021) and Science and Engineering Day (2022).