Literacy Fair, Port Hardy, Sep 26th, 2009

Lawrence and myself had the opportunity to attend an early learning and literacy fair on Saturday. It was an event that was well attended.

At the RRN Table at the Early Learning and Literacy Fair

We prepared our table, and got the power point presentations running. A lot of interest was generated around the RRN, and the organizers were pleased to see us there.

Sharing the RRN

Quite a few teachers became very interested in the idea of community based research. I emphasized the importance of the children leading the way, as they are computer literate. They can take these skills to the elders and facilitate the exchange of information. We had a very good reception from all that came and visited us, and I look forward to connecting with the teachers. Hopefully this will lead to some invitations to present at our local schools in the near future.

David H.

RRN 0.6 Up and Running!

After weeks of hunting for bugs and testing out the new features, the latest version of the RRN (0.6) is now live on the RRN Production Site! Head over to check out the latest additions!

The Collections area has been revamped!

• Add, remove and create new labels (in a wide array of colours) in any view without leaving your collection
• Add notes to items in your collection
• Click on any item in the collection slide view to see a popup window with detailed information about items in your collection without leaving the page
• Search by notes that you have attached to the items in your collections
• Advanced permission settings allow more detailed control of your collections

In addition to improving Collections, we have updated the spreadsheet view to include images and updated the export feature.

Lastly, we are happy to introduce our Messaging System so you can exchange private messages with other RRN users.

Let us know what you think! You can send feedback to feedback@rrnpilot.org.

Looking forward to seeing you online!

Joanne

Welcoming New Faces and New Features

While students gear up for the new school year, the RRN is gearing up for an exciting autumn.

The office is already missing Hannah and Astrid as they prepare for adventures in higher education across the globe. Fortunately, the RRN is designed for remote access and social networking, so staying in touch will be easy as the year rolls on.

I started work with the RRN team just last week. I've been working around the museum for the last couple of years and am looking forward to working with the skilled (and very patient) Community Liaison Researchers (CLRs) and the rest of the RRN crew.

The CLRs have been working hard to reach out to communities through their presentations, and to push the limits of the RRN with their research projects. Things are gearing up for the fall, and we'll have plenty of news to share in the weeks to come.

We are happy to have Robyn and Taylor joining us for the year as work study students, continuing the great work they started last year. They are already busy testing out the latest RRN features, keeping Nick, Ryan and Tristan busy.

In addition to occasional bug fixing, our programming team has been working to make the RRN leaner and faster. Some older features have been overhauled and the site is looking fresh. Just last week they uploaded some brand new features. You can try out the new messaging system, explore the reworked Collections features (including a revamped labeling system), and hunt for other improvements on the RRN Development Site!

Meanwhile, on the RRN Production Site, we are welcoming recently uploaded collections from the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, and the National Museum of Natural History. Many images are still to come, but feel free to browse these new additions. We are also starting to get some images up for the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology collections, and more are on their way!

Thanks for stopping in to see what's happening.

Best wishes,

Joanne