Partner Institution Conference a Success!

The RRN recently hosted the first official Partner Institution Conference from September 19-21st. We were thankfully joined by representatives from each of the 13 Partner Institutions including representatives from each co-developing community.

The three day long conference was a great opportunity to finally meet all of the representatives face to face. Along with great food (including sushi the first night) we also got a good start on moving forward with integrating institutional data.

One of the most exciting parts of the conference was establishing three working groups to deal with three specific kinds of problems. These became the Research Model working group, the IT working group, and the Cross Systems Mapping working group.

These groups will become an integral part of developing the RRN!

Many thanks to all of our participants and organizers.

The RRN in the News!

The RRN was recently featured in the Georgia Straight, a Vancouver based news paper. The full page article called "Native Artefacts go Digital" introduced the Reciprocal Research Network to readers.

The article appeared in the Georgia Straight, on August 21st, 2008. Check out the full article here.

“Somebody from Musqueam can be talking to someone in Ottawa about an object that’s actually held in the U.K.,” Rowley explained. “We’re hoping that they’ll generate new ways of doing research and creating new knowledge."

-Sue Rowley

Native Youth and the RRN

This summer, the RRN was incorporated into the long running Native Youth Program at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver.

This was possible due to the generous support of TD Bank and a $25,000 donation.

Students worked in the visible storage gallery with the RRN kiosk helping visitors learn more about objects and First Nations cultural heritage.

It was a great success, and will hopefully continue next summer!

Special Thanks to Pam Brown, and all the 2008 Students:
Christina, Angela, Carlos, Cristophe, Nathan and Brandon.

RRN at Museums and the Web 2008!

The RRN is presenting at the latest Museums and the Web conference in Montreal, Quebec this upcoming April. We will present the paper entitled "The Reciprocal Research Network".

This paper explores the early development of the project, and introduces the RRN as a the web-based collections system for First Nations people and museum professionals.

The Abstract

In this paper we introduce the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN). The RRN is an open-source, Web-based, federated museum information system intended to provide First Nations, researchers and museum professionals with interactive access to worldwide collections of Northwest Coast and British Columbia First Nations' cultural heritage. Collaborative tools built within a social networking environment will provide users with the ability to carry out individual and/or collaborative research projects. The overall goal of the RRN is to re-connect objects, people, land, languages, and traditions culturally and historically significant to First Nations community researchers, and to create a collaborative, reciprocal, and inclusive environment in which to explore museum collections of First Nations’ cultural heritage.

You can check out the paper on the Museums and the Web conference website here, as well as the conference proceedings.

The RRN presents at Community Engagement session, at 11 am on Saturday, April 12th.

If you're heading to the conference, come check us out!