Genealogy in Scotland
Genealogy Scottish family birth records census ancestry Scotland uk - ScotlandsPeople
Online publisher brightsolid wins new deal to manage ScotlandsPeople online family history service
Online publisher brightsolid has won a three-year deal to manage the
hugely-successful family history site, www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk.
The site, with almost one million registered users and growing currently
by more than 10,000 per month, is run in partnership with the General
Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The contract, awarded by competitive tender, will run for three years from September 2010.
brightsolid is among the major online publishers specialising in family
history and genealogy sites. It has operated the ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
site since 2002 and also owns the genealogy site findmypast.com. Last
month brightsolid completed the acquisition of FriendsReunited,
including GenesReunited, from ITV plc (subject to approval by the
competition authorities).
"This new contract to manage ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk in partnership with GROS is a significant one for brightsolid," commented brightsolid chief executive Chris van der Kuyl.
"We have developed an unparalleled expertise in processing, managing and presenting information for online audiences as well as providing hosting and customer service support.
"ScotlandsPeople is a world-leading web site that has built a real community of users worldwide, with that number rapidly approaching one million people.
"We look forward to continuing to build on that success with GROS with this new contract. We will continue to invest in providing enhanced services to the site, in partnership with GROS."
The site contains more than 50 million records dating back to when
national records of births, deaths and marriages began in Scotland in
1855.
It also includes parish records, dating back as far as 1533, as
well as other data including wills and testaments.
Mr Paul Parr, Deputy Registrar General of the General Register Office of Scotland, commented: "We are very proud of ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk. It is one of the leading sites of its kind worldwide, and has helped bolster the interest of the Scottish diaspora in the history of their country or the country of their ancestors, as well as providing a popular service for the Scottish public.
"This contract has been awarded after a keenly competitive tenders process and we look forward to continuing the site's progress and further development in partnership with brightsolid."
brightsolid - Google Search: "brightsolid began life in 1995 as Scotland Online and is a leading UK independent provider of IT business services to large public and private sector ..."
Chris van der Kuyl - Google Search: "CEO brightsolid, Chairman 4J Studios, sometime gamer, musician, geek and entrepreneur. Education zealot !"
University of Dundee: GC Magazine 2000: "Chris van der Kuyl's meteoric career in the billion dollar global electronic games industry almost mirrors one of his successful products, H.E.D.Z. or Earthworm Jim - rising to a new level of game play at least every year.
Today's wunderkind and the darling of New Labour - dressed in jeans and checked shirt he addressed the Labour Party Conference at Bournemouth last year - is best remembered in the department of applied computing as one of the first students to own a mobile phone. In fact, by taking calls in the silence of the university library he claims to have initiated pioneering instances of 'mobile phone rage'. Remember we're talking the late 1980s here, a time when such gadgets were the mark of media hotshots and business tycoons.
Now he's definitely joined the ranks of the latter. His three year target is to grow his company VIS Interactive from its valuation of £20 million in late 1999 to £500 million, and 240 staff, within three years. But joining ranks is not the right phrase for van der Kuyl whose business style is famously unorthodox. 'Rules are for fools' he says. 'All successful entrepreneurs have broken the rules of their business - they've done something to differentiate themselves.'
Meanwhile at the company's headquarters in Dunfermline staff work the hours that suit them, they wear what they like and there's a tuckshop at reception. It has all the hallmarks of a student scene. 'It's not about rules it's about results,' van der Kuyl has explained to many a business audience on the speaking circuit he regularly tours.
'When people work and what they wear doesn't really matter. All we're interested in is people who can make the best computer games.'
Good communication and creative skills are the qualities he looks for in recruits. Note the non-nerd approach. He draws staff from a range backgrounds - from film and TV, universities and art schools. He's taken on lawyers, architects and management graduates as well as artists musicians and mathematicians.
Some 90% are graduates, half of them with PhDs. His links with the university remain strong, perhaps particularly so with the school of TV and imaging where he sponsors the degree show in animation each year. 'At VIS we call ourselves The University You Get Paid For,' is his line.
At the end of last year the first signs of VIS's expanding vision became very apparent with a branching out from games into educational software. Maybe it was something to do with turning 30, whatever, van der Kuyl announced the creation of VIS Kids in Glasgow to produce 'edutainment' videogames for children."
from
University of Dundee: GC Magazine 2000: "Credits - Web pages maintained by Press Office. GC Magazine is written and produced by the University Press Office in association with the Graduates' Council."
Online publisher brightsolid wins new deal to manage ScotlandsPeople online family history service
Online publisher brightsolid has won a three-year deal to manage the
hugely-successful family history site, www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk.
The site, with almost one million registered users and growing currently
by more than 10,000 per month, is run in partnership with the General
Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The contract, awarded by competitive tender, will run for three years from September 2010.
brightsolid is among the major online publishers specialising in family
history and genealogy sites. It has operated the ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
site since 2002 and also owns the genealogy site findmypast.com. Last
month brightsolid completed the acquisition of FriendsReunited,
including GenesReunited, from ITV plc (subject to approval by the
competition authorities).
"This new contract to manage ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk in partnership with GROS is a significant one for brightsolid," commented brightsolid chief executive Chris van der Kuyl.
"We have developed an unparalleled expertise in processing, managing and presenting information for online audiences as well as providing hosting and customer service support.
"ScotlandsPeople is a world-leading web site that has built a real community of users worldwide, with that number rapidly approaching one million people.
"We look forward to continuing to build on that success with GROS with this new contract. We will continue to invest in providing enhanced services to the site, in partnership with GROS."
The site contains more than 50 million records dating back to when
national records of births, deaths and marriages began in Scotland in
1855.
It also includes parish records, dating back as far as 1533, as
well as other data including wills and testaments.
Mr Paul Parr, Deputy Registrar General of the General Register Office of Scotland, commented: "We are very proud of ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk. It is one of the leading sites of its kind worldwide, and has helped bolster the interest of the Scottish diaspora in the history of their country or the country of their ancestors, as well as providing a popular service for the Scottish public.
"This contract has been awarded after a keenly competitive tenders process and we look forward to continuing the site's progress and further development in partnership with brightsolid."
brightsolid - Google Search: "brightsolid began life in 1995 as Scotland Online and is a leading UK independent provider of IT business services to large public and private sector ..."
Chris van der Kuyl - Google Search: "CEO brightsolid, Chairman 4J Studios, sometime gamer, musician, geek and entrepreneur. Education zealot !"
University of Dundee: GC Magazine 2000: "Chris van der Kuyl's meteoric career in the billion dollar global electronic games industry almost mirrors one of his successful products, H.E.D.Z. or Earthworm Jim - rising to a new level of game play at least every year.
Today's wunderkind and the darling of New Labour - dressed in jeans and checked shirt he addressed the Labour Party Conference at Bournemouth last year - is best remembered in the department of applied computing as one of the first students to own a mobile phone. In fact, by taking calls in the silence of the university library he claims to have initiated pioneering instances of 'mobile phone rage'. Remember we're talking the late 1980s here, a time when such gadgets were the mark of media hotshots and business tycoons.
Now he's definitely joined the ranks of the latter. His three year target is to grow his company VIS Interactive from its valuation of £20 million in late 1999 to £500 million, and 240 staff, within three years. But joining ranks is not the right phrase for van der Kuyl whose business style is famously unorthodox. 'Rules are for fools' he says. 'All successful entrepreneurs have broken the rules of their business - they've done something to differentiate themselves.'
Meanwhile at the company's headquarters in Dunfermline staff work the hours that suit them, they wear what they like and there's a tuckshop at reception. It has all the hallmarks of a student scene. 'It's not about rules it's about results,' van der Kuyl has explained to many a business audience on the speaking circuit he regularly tours.
'When people work and what they wear doesn't really matter. All we're interested in is people who can make the best computer games.'
Good communication and creative skills are the qualities he looks for in recruits. Note the non-nerd approach. He draws staff from a range backgrounds - from film and TV, universities and art schools. He's taken on lawyers, architects and management graduates as well as artists musicians and mathematicians.
Some 90% are graduates, half of them with PhDs. His links with the university remain strong, perhaps particularly so with the school of TV and imaging where he sponsors the degree show in animation each year. 'At VIS we call ourselves The University You Get Paid For,' is his line.
At the end of last year the first signs of VIS's expanding vision became very apparent with a branching out from games into educational software. Maybe it was something to do with turning 30, whatever, van der Kuyl announced the creation of VIS Kids in Glasgow to produce 'edutainment' videogames for children."
from
University of Dundee: GC Magazine 2000: "Credits - Web pages maintained by Press Office. GC Magazine is written and produced by the University Press Office in association with the Graduates' Council."
posted by Hugh W at 1:47 pm
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