Reciprocal Research Network Blog

RRN Presentation for Native Education Centre: Jewellery Class

2010-04-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to get the chance to present to up and coming artists at the Native Education Center in Vancouver. The class was made up of a handful of aspiring artists learning about metal carving. The class was on its last day, so when we walked in with the intent of delivering a presentation, they weren’t all too eager to have to sit there longer than needed. Needless to say, when setting up, we told them that the RRN is a great tool 170 000 items on there they didn’t seem too happy to have to sit through that many pictures. Once the presentation got on the way, the audience’s attention started to focus more and more on the RRN. In the end, the live demo had everyone shouting out where to search and what to look for. Especially the pictures with the ability to zoom are what they enjoyed the best. In the end, its always the best feeling to deliver a presentation to where you go from nothing to an excited state, we could really tell the students were enthusiastic about the RRN

-Jody

Jody and I were invited to the last day of the Jewelery class at Native Education Center. The Principal and the Teacher thought that this presentation would be a great send off for their students. When we first started the presentation, the students were complaining because they just had a party of food and drinks and were anxious to get home. One man in particular was complaining of why we didn’t get there before and that 170,000 images were just too much. He was the first one that signed up after our presentation. When Jody put the first slides up, the mood quickly changed. It was clear that the class was quite impressed. Many signed up. One man in particular was really impressed. He was around 60 years of age. I approached him and said, ‘We can help you sign up.’ He said, “No, I really don’t know anything about computers and I have a hard time. I tried to send an e-mail and it came back to me so I just left it.” I told him about the tutorials and how they show you step by step and that you can also e-mail the university. He was quite happy and then asked for more of the invitations and brochures. One man said that there is a man that is registered under the Artist in the RRN. He said that this man from his reserve went to three museums and requested his art back and received them. This man wants to notify this man from his reserve to contact the RRN and be able to put these other artefacts onto the website also. Good day: wanted to send you good news.

-June

From Where the River Grass Grows

2010-03-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

The date draws closer, our launch, one part of the journey and another starts. I would like to congratulate everyone on their hard work on making this project a success. The recent weeks and upcoming weeks were and will be a very interesting time.

From Musqueam, recently the Olympics came through, we had a handful of torch bearers come through the reserve, had a ceremonial lighting of a cauldron outside the band office, and had visiting Inuit throat singers, two pole raisings and our hand in the Aboriginal pavilion which will soon be transported to Musqueam.

In Musqueam, June and I have been doing a lot of online work as well contacting Musqueam band members. June had created several different projects where people have joined and hopefully utilize her work. Myself, I created the culturally sensitive items from B.C. which has had some discussion.

The grand opening was also an amazing experience as well as informative. Considering we had 3 kiosks running, there was an interest shown by the museum crowd. When we go live, it will be great to see more use and more contributions by the RRN users.

A few weeks ago I had to opportunity to attend the Residential School Conference in Leqamel First Nation with Wendy Ritchie. Here I made contact with George Pennier who wanted to speak about his three masks in the Cambridge collection. You can find one audio file where George spoke with Herb Jr on the RRN already.

We had the chance to briefly spoke Ramsey Louis and will upload that audio file to the RRN. Hopefully we plan to speak to more of the artists from Musqueam, one being Susan Point.

With our journey together nearing its end, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work. For old friends and new, best of wishes and continued success in all of your future endeavours.

Jody, Community Liaison Researcher, Musqueam

Update From Sto:lo

2010-03-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

As we draw closer to our official launch date, feelings of joy and excitement are abundant here in Sto:lo territory. It has been a real honour to be part of something historical in the making and definitely something we will never forget. As a team, we have been quite busy doing our part trying to make this website the best it can be.

Wendy attended the Residential School Conference in Leqamel First Nation as a representative of our RRN team. She was honoured to share in the elder’s healing and equally honoured to assisted in a cleansing ceremony at the conference. It was a rewarding experience and one she will never forget.

Although Frank and Herb Jr were unable to attend, Wendy was present at UBC to attend the Grand Reopening of the Museum Of Anthropology and the Aboriginal West Coast display and represent our team here in Sto:lo territory. Several dance groups were in attendance as well as approximately 9,500 visitors in the 2 day Grand Reopening.

Herb Jr and Wendy have been busy conducting interviews with Rena Bolton-Point, Laura Wee Lay Luck and George Pennier. These interviews were recorded digitally and were then uploaded onto the RRN website. We are also trying to set up as many RRN presentations as we can squeeze in between now and our official launch date.

We here in Sto:lo territory would like to thank everyone involved with the Reciprocal Research Network for an unforgettable experience and look forward to the enormous success of the beautiful work we have created as a team.

The RRN at MOA's Celebration of Creativity

2010-02-03T16:29:00.000-08:00

From January 22nd to 24th, the RRN team gathered at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver for the UBC institution's Celebration of Creativity. The renovated spaces and innovative exhibits (including the Ways of Knowing: Multiversity Galleries, "Border Zones" in the Audain Gallery, and the Cultural Research Centre) brought almost 10,000 visitors to the museum over the weekend-long celebration. Community Liaisons and other RRN Staff demonstrated the RRN Pilot site on four RRN kiosks (three in the Ways of Knowing: Multiversity Galleries and one in the Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives. Visitors were excited to see the RRN in action, and several people signed up for an account on the spot. We're looking forward to our official launch in March!

Nick and Ryan, the lead software developers of the RRN, check out one of the three RRN Kiosks in the recently-reopened Ways of Knowing: Multiversity Galleries.

Update from U'mista

2010-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

We have been working through the new version of the site and looking for bugs and learning the new features, to learn them and help people who may be signing up to the RRN. During any presentations we do, we have the opportunity to highlight the unique features the site has to offer. Seeing the site work at first hand on a big screen certainly gets people’s attention. The feedback is always positive and encourages us to learn all we can about the site, to help us convey the depth and richness the site has to offer.

Here at U’mista there is an ongoing art class. This group of people are the ideal candidates to introduce to the RRN. Working artists are always pleased to have the opportunity to study other people's work. The collections that are available through the RRN are now in the public spotlight. We have the ability to look through artists from our Kwakwala speaking peoples such as: Willie Seaweed; Herbert Johnson and Mungo Martin. This is an invaluable tool to our young and aspiring artists to gain access to masks and regalia from times past. This art class has been recorded, and people can view photographs and videos of old and contemporary work.

www.kwakwakawakw.weebly.com

-David, Lawrence

Update from Musqueam

2010-01-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

Jody and I have been busy working in Musqueam as community researcher. We have both been working on the Website looking for bugs and testing the new version that Ryan and Tristan and the RRN team have been working on.

Jody and I are also doing presentations for Musqueam 101 (a weekly non-credit university-level seminar hosted by Musqueam in partnership with UBC) and audio interviews that will go on the item record page of the individual artists that are on the site. We are interviewing Joan Peters, Debra Campbell and McGeary Point this week. Debra Sparrow wants to come in to review her interview. Jody will edit the interviews and put them on the website. I enjoy this part of my work as I feel it is hands on work, challenging and exciting to interview and talk to these people in person. Also, when I went to talk to these people about putting their story on the RRN I could tell that they were overwhelmed and honoured to talk about their history and interest in art. I am very interested in interviewing Roddy and Joan Peters; Roddy is the eldest person in Musqueam right now. The Peters have a fascinating background as their parents taught them many things of their history and they have kept their culture and language alive. I am now contacting individuals to come to the board room for presentations and interviews. I decided to do this because not too many people have showed up at the Adult Learning centre.

I am happy and excited to go to the opening at MOA and to meet Steven Point, Lt. Governor in person. Time is going too fast as the launch is coming so near.

-June

Happy New Year from the RRN

2010-01-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and welcome back to the bustling world of the RRN.

Just before the holiday break, the RRN Team pushed up version 0.6.3. Visit the RRN now to check out the new area for users to contribute information on the item pages. Work continues on the login and dashboard pages, and we continue to hunt down and fix bugs.

You can share information in the space below every item record on the RRN

Viewing Shared Knowledge

Later this month, the RRN will be participating in the long-awaited reopening celebration for MOA. Three RRN kiosks will be located throughout the Ways of Knowing: Multiversity Galleries, and we are excited to have the Community Liaison Researchers join us here to share the RRN with visitors.

On behalf of the RRN Team, I would like to wish you all the best in the coming year as we count down to the launch of the RRN!

Cheers,

Joanne

New Look for the RRN Login Page

2009-12-17T12:34:00.000-08:00

Hey All,

While these soggy, gray days in Vancouver are not much good for spreading holiday cheer, they certainly are encouraging us to get hunkered down at the RRN to plan new features for the New Year.

With many of our extended RRN colleagues returning to Vancouver for the Holidays, we've had an excellent opportunity to brainstorm new ideas for the look and feel of the RRN. Since Nick, Ryan and Tristan have been working very hard on the architecture of the RRN and have recently launched the mailbox and new profile pages, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the Login and Dashboard pages.

We've received a lot of great recommendations from Community Liason Researchers and RRN website users, but we'd love to hear more! If you have any recommendations about key features you'd like to see on the RRN Login and Dashboard pages, please let us know!

Cheers,
Astrid

Community Liaison Workshop

2009-12-08T15:31:00.001-08:00

Last week, we were happy to have the eight community liaisons from Musqueam (Musqueam Indian Band), Alert Bay (U'mista Cultural Society), and Chilliwack (with representatives from Coqualeetza Cultural Centre, Stó:lō Nation and Stó:lō Tribal Council) come to the Museum of Anthropology on Musqueam traditional territory in Vancouver for a three day workshop. Over the course of the three days, discussions centered on how to improve the User Submitted Content sections of the RRN, and on the appearance and functions of the login page and dashboard.

Between the many productive sessions, we had the opportunity to visit the Adult Learning Centre and Direction 7 Art and Design, and to attend a community luncheon with the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation at Musqueam.

It was great to have everyone here, and we're already busy turning the ideas shared into.

Cheers,

Joanne

Update! RRN v0.6.1

2009-11-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

The latest version of the RRN (v0.6.1) is now live on the RRN Production Site. Head over to see what's new!

Search for other users and edit your own User Profile pages

'Edit Profile' lets you add a brief biography, upload a photo, and/or add files to your public profile
Search User Profiles to find out more about other researchers on the RRN

It is now faster and easier than ever to Find items on the RRN

Searches are faster than ever
Use the new Boolean search feature for improved precision

We are aware of and working on a few bugs in the new version. Please let us know if you notice anything strange happening. You can send feedback to feedback@rrnpilot.org.

Enjoy the site!

Joanne

Final Phase RRN Development

2009-11-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'd like to blog a little bit about Nick and my plans for the last phase of development before the project launch in March 2010.

Currently, we are in the middle of finishing the v0.7 release of the RRN. It will add new features such as boolean search, and an improved profile page which allows users to describe themselves, and a faster search.

Next up, we're hoping to have a meeting with Joanne and the Community Liasons in the coming weeks to determine what shape User Submitted Information and the Home Page will take in the final version. I'm also hopeful we can use that meeting to make sure everyone is focused on the launch date and that as little as possible gets forgotten about until just before launch.

Our other priority is to work with the Cross-Systems Mapping group to tweak the Item Record page and the mapping process to be more transparent and give the Partner Institutions a greater sense of confidence that their data is being represented fully and accurately. I'm hoping to participate in a Cross-Systems Mapping phone conference in the next two weeks where we develop our plan.

I'm sure that this doesn't cover all of the development that will happen before launch. I predict many sleepless nights for Nick and me, but hopefully this post will let people know what our current priorities are (and correct them if they need to be).

Partner Institution Conference

2009-11-09T10:15:00.001-08:00

For a few days last month, members of the RRN development community (including RRN Co-developers, RRN staff, community liaison researchers (CLRs), and representatives from the Partner Institutions) met face to face at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

The workshop was well-attended with over thirty delegates from across the globe. The weekend was kicked off with a reception on Friday night. The CLRs set the keynote with engaging presentations on Saturday morning. From there, conversation continued to flow, and frequently spilled into the breaks over plentiful food. By Sunday afternoon, the delegates parted ways, with renewed enthusiasm for this exciting project.

CLRs visit the recently-installed Salish Baskets in the Ways of Knowing Gallery

In the days before the workshop, the CLRs had been busy preparing their presentations and working through some ongoing issues in their pre-workshop meeting at the Museum of Anthropology. During this meeting, the CLRs had the opportunity to see the renovated Ways of Knowing Gallery (currently being installed) and visit the new storage areas in MOA's basement.

Community Liaisons visit the new storage areas with MOA staff

It has been an exciting and busy month here at the RRN as we head into the last stretch of time before the RRN's public launch in March of 2010. We look forward to seeing where the next months will take us!

Best wishes,

Joanne

RRN Presentations at Musqueam

2009-10-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

We are doing well in Musqueam with our presentations and also are connecting with Program Administrators of Musqueam, Aboriginal Liaisons for the Vancouver School Board, Native Education Center, Direction Seven, Musqueam Recreation, Elders Center, and the Olympics Staff of Musqueam.

June Presents to Musqueam Program Administrators

The Program Administrators (October 6, 2009) really liked the RRN and many wanted more information. We also did a presentation for Direction Seven. They have an art center here on the Reserve and wanted to look at designs to help them with their art. We went to the Native Education Center and were asked to do presentations for the Jewellery and Tourism classes.

RRN Display Booth

The presentation for the Musqueam Olympic Staff (October 14, 2009) at the Musqueam Band Office went very well. They were impressed with the site and asked questions. One staff member went directly to her grandmother’s sweaters and baskets by just watching the tutorials that Jody presented. Now that the Olympic Staff members know what the RRN is about, they want to invite us to their venues to interact with the public. The tutorials are eye catching and the staff thought they would not need extra classes to learn the RRN if they just watched the videos.

Musqueam's Olympic Staff try out the RRN

Jody relaxes after a presentation

On October 15, 2009, Jody and I set up the RRN Booth at the Musqueam 51^st Hall for a conference of Aboriginal Law students from all over Canada. Many were interested in the site. There were about 50 Aboriginal law students from across Canada. They said that this would help them with the Native Studies they have to take.

June shares the RRN at their Booth

I am so happy with the results of the presentations. Thanks for reading and I will keep you updated on our presentations and what we are up to.

June S.

RRN: Alert Bay Style

2009-10-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Alert Bay, BC - home to our Community Liaison Researchers David, Lawrence and Lillian,
and the site of RRN Co-Developer U'mista Cultural Society

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the RRN crew at the U'mista Cultural Centre (operated by the U'mista Cultural Society, an RRN Co-developer) in Alert Bay, BC. I arrived on Tuesday morning in the middle of a busy week and was grateful for the time I got to spend working with Community Liaison Researchers David, Lawrence and Lillian.

Lawrence and David Introduce the RRN to Pole Conservation Workshop participants

I was able to stick around just long enough to witness a great presentation to participants in a Pole Conservation Workshop (presented by the Canadian Conservation Institute in partnership with the U’mista Cultural Centre and Parks Canada).

The dozen-or-so participants showed great interest in the site. David and Lawrence fielded several questions, and there was quite a buzz about the room as the focus shifted back to the pole conservation workshop.

I am grateful to have been so warmly welcomed at by the RRN team at U'mista. This was an excellent opportunity for me to witness the ongoing and exciting work happening in Alert Bay. It will be great to have everyone together at the Partner Institution Workshop next week when the Community Liaison Researchers from the other RRN co-developers can share the work they've been doing. Stay tuned for reflections on the Workshop in the next few weeks!

For now, take care!

Joanne

British Columbia Assembly of First Nations passes RRN Resolution

2009-10-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

The BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) passed a Resolution during their 6th AGM on Oct 1, 2009 to support the development of the RRN as a research tool and to encourage communities and museums to work with the RRN. Previously, the First Nations Summit and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs have passed a similar RRN Resolution. We are very proud to have been given such an endorsement.

Literacy Fair, Port Hardy, Sep 26th, 2009

2009-09-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

Watch us on Vimeo!

2009-08-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

It may be summer, but we're not on vacation here at the RRN! Taylor Lavallee, our RRN and Native Youth Program Liaison, has worked tirelessly this summer to solicit responses from museum visitors about the usability of our site. We've gained a lot of insight from her experience with Native Youth Program students. Our developers are already working hard to incorporate these suggestions into RRN Version 6.0.

Check out our video of Taylor speaking about the goals of the RRN and the ways we are working to support aboriginal youth at the UBC Museum of Anthropology..

Cheers,

Astrid

Cambridge is now on the RRN!

2009-08-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

It has been an exciting week for the RRN! On Wednesday, Anita Herle from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) came by the RRN for a visit.

It was wonderful to see her and hear about the exciting new developments at the MAA, including a new "Assembing Bodies" exhibition launched in March. Anita joined the RRN Development Team to review the MAA data and officially launch it on the site. This incorporation makes the University of Cambridge MAA our first partner institution to fully incorporate their data into the RRN, adding almost 400 new item records! Our heartfelt thanks to everyone at Cambridge, and especially to Carl Hogsden, for all the hard work on this project.

The MAA will be continuing their contribution to the RRN with the help of the $10,000 RRN Partner Institution fund. The MAA is currently photographing the items in their Northwest Coast collection, and these photographs will be uploaded to the RRN in the near future.

While this sounds like a whole lot of hard work, we managed to sneak some fun in too! After lunch, Anita and the RRN toured the new Multiversity Galleries with David Cunningham. Everyone climbed into rubber boots, vests, hard hats and safety glasses for a quick tour of the collection space, currently under construction. The new cases were incredible (standing over two meters tall!) and it was great to learn about the construction, rather than just hear construction noise, as we usually do at the RRN office!

Make sure to check out the new items on the RRN: www.rrnpilot.org

Cheers,

Astrid

RRN in the Community

2009-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple weeks since my last post, but don't be fooled. The workload has increased exponentially since then. Our community liaison researchers have been extremely busy making powerpoints, giving presentations, testing users and giving us great feedback.

A few weeks ago, David and Lawrence from Alert Bay set up a booth at the annual Alert Bay Seafest. They were also handing out brochures and meeting plenty of people who are interested in the RRN.

Then, last week, David, Lawrence and Lillian all made the trek up to Kingcome Inlet, which is a small community north of Alert Bay.

They had a great time presenting to a group of Elders and young people. It was also a good time to catch up with friends and family. Here's what David and Lawrence had to say about their experience:

We are back home now after our trip to Kingcome inlet Dave, Lilian,and myself travelled up by a sea plane which was awesome. When we arrived we sat up for the following day we had 2 presentations set up for the day one at 10am and one at 2pm. Our first presentation was for chief and counsel and band employees they all had a lot of interest and had a lot of questions about the site and items on the site. We were able to share what we know so far, and also said that we would be open to help as we go further with the job and the site .The 2pm presentation was a group of elders and youth so it was a good mix. There was also a lot of excitement about the site and the items on the site the elders had a few questions on where they might find other items from Kingcome we did tell them that the Glenbow Museum would be on board with the RRN so there would be items on in the future...so over all it was a awesome trip would do it again. - Lawrence

It's so great to see that there is excitement about the RRN in these communities, and we're lucky we have liaisons working hard in remote places to demonstrate the RRN there. It's also great hearing feedback from community members- good and bad! Or should I say good and "constructive". It only helps us more to know exactly what features need to be improved and which users have trouble with the site. We gain a lot of valuable information from the training sessions and demonstrations that all of our liaisons give.

To view more pictures of Dave, Lawrence and Lillian's trip, go to our Flickr Photostream.

So moving away from those remote places, there has also been a lot happening here, in Vancouver and Musqueam. Jody and June have been presenting the RRN to everyone they can get their hands on and we've had a lot of feedback from them as well.

Not only have they given demonstrations to Elders, coworkers and other community members, they also recently tackled a group of children (not literally of course). With the help of Courtenay and Cindy Sparrow, and a free pizza, they got a group of kids together to look at the site and browse themselves. I knew that this would be challenging (holding the attention span of kids can be hard sometimes) and honestly I didn't quite expect the reaction they got. It was amazing to hear that they all had a blast for over 3 hours, showing the site, talking with the group and proving that the RRN is really a new way to look at information and objects.

Here's what June had to say:

The presentation focus groups for ages 8 to 12 years that Jody and I planned and worked with Courtenay and Cindy Sparrow went beyond my expectations. The children and teens were quiet, listened, and were genuinely excited and asked many questions concerning the website. The games that we placed in a collection at the end were great as the children really gave us a lot of feedback and guessed many things about the artefacts.

She also told me that children saw things on the RRN that they'd never seen before, and many of them know the artists as friends and family. After hearing this, and what Dave and Lawrence said said about their trip to Kingcome Inlet really made me think. I study museums, I study anthropology, I read theory and write about academic things. But the ability for community members to see objects, artefacts, personal items and information goes beyond any of my academic experience. I am completely out of my league and always in awe of how people interact with these items on the RRN and in museums.Our community liaison researchers make a project like this possible.

"Some families got to see items from there grandparents or parents for the first time so for me, I had a great feeling of doing my job but also taking care of people in the way of bringing back items via RRN to our people." - Lawrence Isaac.

As we get closer the RRN launch, it's statements like these that will carry us through all of the hard work ahead and in my opinion make it all worthwhile.

Get in contact with us by emailing feedback@rrnpilot.org if you would like one of these demonstrations in your community.

Hannah

2009 BC Elders Gathering in Terrace

2009-07-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

To talk about our recent trip to the BC Elders Gathering in Terrace, I thought I would do something a little different this time.

I thought I would give our liaisons a chance to say how the experience was for them, after all they were all there working hard at our booth and meeting many new people. But first, I'll set the context a little.

By now I hope you've seen our RRN Flickr account (mentioned in the previous post), and have seen all of our wonderful photos from the trip. As you may have seen, we set up an RRN information booth at the conference, where visitors and elders could walk around and get a taste of the site, talk to our researchers and take a brochure or two.

The Elders Gathering (hosted by the Nisga'a Nation in Terrace BC) this year was an absolutely huge event, which took up an entire arena (in fact, there were two arenas). Not only this, the conference organizers fed everyone! I couldn't believe it. With nearly 4,000 people in attendance, I didn't believe it was possible.

I left Sunday night from Vancouver with Charlene, Herb Joe, Jody and June. We arrived in Prince Rupert late that night, and arose the next morning to make the drive to Terrace. Dave and Lawrence had started their journey much earlier - coming from Alert Bay on the Ferry a few days before. All in all it was a long journey, but well worth the trip.

But enough from me, I will let our CLR's (community liaison researchers) speak for themselves.

The Elders that couldn’t make it around to the displays really appreciated me going to them. I also went around to the volunteers of the gathering, as they too couldn’t make it around. I went to all the vendors and gave them the spiel as well. Over all everyone is excited and eager to see the site, that was really positive and enlightening to go around and witness their reactions in person. On the negative side, some of the Elder’s said they went to the table and couldn't understand what the presenters were talking about, they talk too fast or use big words that they don’t understand, they were also thrown by the title, "Reciprocal Research Network” !!! they didn’t like that term and think we should call it something that they can understand better. So, that was the feedback that I got. Over all the interest and excitement far outweighed the confusion, and the gathering was well worth the trip.
- Wendy Ritchie, Coqualeetza

The conference was a truly great event. It was a pleasure to be able to participate in such a gathering. To watch, observe and interact with so many people was an experience not to be missed. People from all walks of life were catching up on old acquaintances and shooting the breeze with new found friends...People were genuinely interested with the work and development of the RRN. There will be a lot of follow up work with the communities in the near future.
- David Houghton, Alert Bay

There were a lot more participants at this event. It is always great to be around Elders...Was amazing experience to see a culture that is much like my own but was unique in its own way.
- Jody Felix, Musqueam

The trip to the Elder’s Gathering in Terrace was long and the plane ride was a little scary. We did some hotel hopping and it took at least an hour to get to each town, but it was a nice drive. The gathering was bigger than I had expected. A lot of contact was made and a lot of people of all ages were interested and wanted demonstrations done in their communities.
My favourite part of this trip even though it far away was being able to go to a different part of BC, it is very pretty in Northern BC and I am glad I got the opportunity and to be apart of the RRN.
- Charlene Point, Sto:lo Tribal Council

Some of the questions were, "can I find my grandparents things on the site?", and I wanted to help them keep an open mind that if it was not on there it could very well be in the near future with the other partner museums coming on board. There was a lot of excitement from whoever took the time to look at the site and also said that what we are doing is a very good idea and look forward to what would also be available.I think that what we have done is injected a lot of relief into people because now people have an opportunity to look at items they thought they would never see again and that in itself is fulfilling enough.
- Lawrence Isaac, Alert Bay

I enjoyed the trip to Terrace and Whistler immensely. Both were educational and it was exciting to see so many nations interacting and having fun...these trips helped me very much to know what to add to our booth and how to approach people.
- June Sparrow, Musqueam

I can't say it enough - this is the best job. I have never had so many opportunities, and this gathering is another example of that. It's also another example of how people can work together to accomplish something - and getting the RRN out to distanced communities is a big job. I know that I am always learning, and this experience definitely tops the list.

A wonderful way to start a day.

Photos from the RRN

2009-07-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

So again, (not an unfamiliar post)

I'm back!

In fact, all of the liaisons are back happily working away in their offices after the 2009 BC Elders Conference in Terrace. However, I am not going to blog about that this time. Wait for that update - from our liaisons themselves - on Friday. I will say it was an amazing experience.

One thing that I will talk about is all the pictures we took. Lots! And we have been taking photos on many of our RRN trips over this summer and the past couple years. So, here you have it, for the very first time - an RRN Flickr account.

So - check out our most recent venture in Terrace online through Flikr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrncommunity.

You can see our journey from Prince Rupert to Terrace and back, as well our fantastic booth and posters at the Gathering.

I will be updating the Flickr with more and more pictures as the weeks go on, so stay tuned!

And wait for the next post from our liaisons about the BC Elders Gathering.

Cheers,
Hannah

Coast Salish Gathering

2009-07-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

Some of our Musqueam and Chilliwack Community Liaisons (Jody, June, Herb Joe Jr, Charlene, Terry and Darwin) and I just got back from the Coast Salish Gathering yesterday, which took place in Whistler this year. Aside from the fact that it was pouring rain the entire time - being on a mountain was a great start to the week.

The Coast Salish Gathering was a small conference dedicated to discussions about the Salish Sea - which makes up most of the Georgia straight as well as over 60 rivers and streams and much more. This sea is an extremely sensitive environment, and the conference included many Coast Salish chiefs and government officials all working together to create a sustainable plan for the future - for the well being of the economy and the ecosystem.

The conference was housed by the Squamish Li'lwat Cultural Centre, in the heart of Whistler's upper village. This cultural centre boasts a large collection of Squamish and Lil'wat objects, as well as an amazing meeting venue. First walking in, you are greeted by two large spindle whorls on stands, slowly spinning above your head. Behind, are two images of important weavers, followed by an example of weaving hanging behind them. This sets the tone for ambitious displays and interactive connections between the land, the people, and their material culture throughout the centre.

I love walking into a museum or centre and not only learning about specific objects, or goggling at the magnificence of weavings and carvings, but also learning something about the environment in which this museum is set. It's a humbling thing to be able to look out at mountain scenery while reading about what kind of food is collected at this particular time of year, how it was used, and the importance of sustaining practices like these. This was the perfect setting for an important environmental conference.

As for the RRN - we set up a small booth in the conference area, and previewed the site to visitors and conference members. Sue Rowley and Terry Point also gave a short presentation over dinner about the RRN, introducing the site and all of our liaisons. Attendants of the conference were very excited to see this new kind of collaboration taking place, viewing the connection between their families and communities with museums.

On Tuesday afternoon, Terry, Jordan (a student working for MOA this summer) and I took a short trip up to Mount Currie, which is just past Pemberton. There, tucked away in a room in a small community school, is a Lil'wat cultural centre. This centre is much smaller than it's Whistler counter part, but is the definition of a community-run cultural centre.

Like I said, it's located in a small community school, and what could be a better location to teach students things like basket weaving, drum making, and language. This small building held an extensive library of language tools, as well as a small collection, and they are involved in the First Voices program - an online First Nations language resource.

It was definitely worth the drive.

Next week, we're off to Terrace for the 2009 BC Elders Gathering. This conference is slightly larger than the Coast Salish Gathering, one number I heard was around 3,500 people expected to attend. That's a lot of brochures.

So back to getting travel itineraries ready and figuring out ways to bubble wrap our poster boards.

RRN Blogger Extraordinaire,

Hannah

An introduction from the Native Youth Program and the RRN - 2009

2009-07-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

The NYP students have arrived, and to introduce them is a word from Taylor LaVallee, one of our researchers and the person who is working with the RRN and NYP connection this summer:

This year's Native Youth Program is officially under way.
The Native Youth Program is designed to not only encourage aboriginal youth participation in the workings of the museum but also to provide an avenue to allow them to research items in the museum that are in relation to their culture as well as research their own background.

As of last year the NYP has also been directly involved with the RRN. They have been using the RRN in a research capacity but they have also been providing important feedback for the implementation team.
This year is special for the NYP as they are celebrating their 30th anniversary and to celebrate the team is being documented on film all summer as to have an official NYP short documentary. This has added many activities to the NYP agenda. So now along with researching, giving museum tours, demonstrating the RRN to museum visitors, field trips, they are now learning how to be on camera.
The summer will be very busy for these students and they are very excited to be involved with the museum, the RRN anything else that can provide and opportunity to learn.

Taylor LaVallee

Taylor will be working with the students this summer, and organising the set up of an RRN Kiosk in the main hall of the Gallery where the NYP students will lead demonstrations and help visitors learn more about objects in the museum.

Mission Accomplished: Usability Series 1

2009-07-03T15:36:00.001-07:00

After a long month of no updates to the RRN pilot site, we have finally finished the first round of our usability tests. Astrid, Tristan and I asked anyone we could to complete our Usability task list with the RRN, and we've found a ton of interesting data.

For example, most users do not read a majority of the text that is on the site, especially when it is on the middle, or the right hand side of the page. They also look for buttons, or links that look "clickable" and don't pay attention to words that don't have this quality.

Most users have trouble finding and using the storage box - this is a huge problem for us. The storage box leads you to make a collection and collaborate with other users. This is a main focus for the RRN - and if our users can't do it then we have a serious problem.

Another issue we're dealing with, and which came up in our usability studies, is that some of the text on the site is unclear and not inclusive. This basically means the words we're using are inaccessible and need to be changed. It's not about simplification, it's about presenting information in a perspicuous - uhh....I mean clear - way. One professor of mine always said that the best writers, be they academic, popular or otherwise, are ones that say what they mean. I think many writers/researchers can be guilty of unclear and inaccessible language use, and I do this constantly. User studies have taught us better - and we'll do our best to keep the RRN as accessible as possible.

These tests would mean nothing if we didn't have our dedicated software developers who work 24/7 on developing the RRN. They've taken our suggestions and data and turned it into a new version of the RRN that is even better than the last. Keep a lookout because next week we launch the new version, which will hopefully be more usable than ever. We also have a fabulous new help guide designed by yours truly and Jamie Cooper, our technical writer. And it has some pretty new colours - just saying.

We'll be launching a new user testing series soon after the new version is up to test our changes to the site and see if any of our modifications actually worked.

Well that's pretty much all the news for now, except on Sunday night some of our community liaisons and I head up to the Coast Salish Gathering in Whistler, BC.

I'll post next week from a mountain. No big deal.

-Hannah

Aboriginal Day at Musqueam

2009-06-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

As you might know, last sunday, June 21st, was National Aboriginal day, and we celebrated at Musqueam this year. Pretty much the whole team came down and helped out with the RRN booth. Some of our community liaisons working with Musqueam, June and Terry, set up the booth and I have to say it looked pretty great.

It was so much fun being down there - we had a couple laptops set up so people could preview the site and see pictures, which worked out great.

I was at Musqueam's Aboriginal Day celebration last year, and all we had then was two people, one laptop and some printed information sheets. I've said it before, but we are definitely coming a long way!

Aside from the wonderful RRN station, the entire day was a lot of fun. There was an abundance of barbecued salmon, burgers, hot dogs, and even fresh crab. Talk about treating your guests right. There were plenty of performances as well, including the surprising and fantastic show from the Vancouver Police Lion Dancers.

I also had to resist the urge to jump on the huge bouncy castle all day.

I love going down to Musqueam with the RRN because I almost always meet people who have a personal connection to the objects in the database. I've met lots of artists whose artwork is displayed in the Museum of Anthropology, and it's a great experience showing them the RRN.

All in all, it was a great day, there was a great turnout of people and I hope to go back again next year!

-Hannah

RRN Meeting Retreat 2009 : Chilliwack

2009-06-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I can speak for almost everyone when I say that I am absolutely exhausted. And yes, this blog entry is a little late because of that. But this past Monday and Tuesday the entire RRN team (now upwards of 20 people) made our way out to Chilliwack to have a yearly meeting. Dave Schaepe, one of our steering group members for Stó:lō Nation and Tribal Council, hosted our visit with lots of food and fun - and an occasional walk through some prickle bushes.

The meeting kicked off on Monday morning with a fabulous Place Names Tour from Sonny McHalsie. He took the whole busload of us up the Fraser River Canyon, from Chilliwack to Hope to Yale. Now, I drive up past Chilliwack a lot. I drive up the Fraser River a lot - I love going to the interior to swim in lakes, and Hick's lake near Harrison happens to be my favorite summer time swimming hole. And I always admire the landscape when I drive up there. But I have never been so enlightened and awe struck as I was on that tour.I think everyone would agree – but it gave me a whole world of stories, knowledge, history and a new fascination with the landscape.

Sonny has such a wealth of knowledge, and the experience was unforgettable. My favorite part, and I think the highlight, was the last stop of the trip in Yale.

We sat atop a hill on the side of a huge cliff face, overlooking the Fraser River and listened to more stories of transformation, fishing, and of course, the coastal raiders. It was the best way I could think of to start of a meeting about the RRN.

After the day in the bus we made our way to a lovely campsite for a great salmon dinner from Big Al's Catering. Dinner was followed by a performance by a group of young dancers organized by one of our liaisons, Darwin Douglas. After the dancing, we played a game of Slahal. I am not good at this game. I think I guessed right once, but it was still a blast.

The next day we all had one big meeting, reviewing different summer plans and getting all the community liaisons together. During our meeting we got into a conversation about the importance of explaining why the RRN was different that other search engines and museum databases out there.

Someone pointed out that this conversation was irrelevant - because of course there is nothing like the RRN. Communities just don't have access to collections in a meaningful way, and they want that. We all know this, but sometimes we forget under a fog of work, conferences and meetings. I think we all took a step back and again realized the importance of what we're trying to do.

When I walked in to my job interview over a year ago - I met with Ulrike Radermacher and Sue Rowley - then to become my future bosses. They introduced me to the project, asked questions about my interests etcetera. Then, I was taken into a tiny archaeology library at UBC and introduced to the two software developers I would be working with over the next summer. Then there were 5, including myself.

Now, fast forward a year. This week I found myself in a boardroom at Stó:lō Nation in Chilliwack sitting around the table with over 22 people working for or with the RRN. I couldn't believe it - here we are closing in on the launch date and we've pretty much assembled a task force of people to do so. It's absolutely crazy and absolutely wonderful. Visiting Stó:lō was amazing, I not only gained a better understanding of Stó:lō people and their history, but of the peerless contributions the RRN can make to communities and museums in the future.

For now – Dinner time. Stay tuned for more updates all this week though – there’s been a lot going on!

-Hannah

RRN Images Working Again

2009-06-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

The RRN images should now be working again. We encountered some issues while we were transitioning to a new system which should load pages with many images significantly faster, but they have all been resolved. We apologize for the delay in fixing the problem but one of the members of the development team was on vacation at the time the issue arose. Again, thanks for letting us know and for using the RRN.

Ryan Wallace

RRN Developer

RRN Images not Working

2009-06-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Due to unforeseen events and a problem with the back end of the RRN- all images of objects are currently unavailable. You may be able to see see some images, but it appears that it is getting worse.

We are aware that this is an issue, and we are working on it!

So, never fear, our faithful software developers are on the job. But we realize that this is a huge inconvenience, so for that we are profoundly sorry.

This problem should be cleared up within the next week - a good estimate is by next Wednesday or Thursday. Again, we're sorry. But we're glad you let us know!

Thanks,

The RRN Team as represented by Hannah

Alert Bay, Chilliwack, and community collaboration.

2009-06-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

As you may have noticed, the blogging has slowed down for the past little while. But don't worry! I'm back with a couple of great stories and lots of news to share. So get comfy, sit back, relax and keep reading.

Last Sunday night I got my bag packed and hopped on a plane of 15 seats for the wonderful land of Port Hardy. From there, to Port McNeil, and then an hour later I arrived by ferry in Alert Bay, BC. Back at the office, we had decided that we felt pretty disconnected from our community liaisons working in the three co-developing communities of Alert Bay, Chilliwack, and even Musqueam here in Vancouver. After a brief discussion last Friday, we decided to make strides in bringing together the liaisons and our home base - which amounted to my arrival in Alert Bay, 10:00pm last Sunday night. I was sent to give training on the site, answer questions and to meet face-to-face with everyone working for the RRN in Alert Bay. There are only a lucky few who get to go to a place like Alert Bay for work - and I am happy to brag!

Bright and early Monday morning, I met with our liaisons - Lawrence Isaac, David Houghton and Lillian Hunt in the back office of the U'mista Cultural Centre. U'mista, for those of you who may not know, is an amazing place. The cultural centre and the society have an extremely interesting background rooted in ideals of repatriation and language/culture revitalization. It is a museum and learning centre that has an amazing collection. It also sits right on the beach of Alert Bay with a spectacular view! But then again, what isn't on the beach in Alert Bay? I love the collection as a whole, but the highlight for me is the potlatch collection. My point being - it's a great place to go to work to in the morning and I was lucky to be there.

Me sitting outside U'mista - one of the last surviving photos from the trip!

All morning the four of us worked through the RRN, talking about it's history and development and the project's current situation. We also spoke a lot about how to provide outreach for the community. And then, at perhaps the most exciting part of the day (when I was working through a demo of the features on the site) the power went out. The power did not come back on. And of course, no power means zero Internet. Which means that the insightful demonstration I was in the middle of was, most definitely, not going to work. Minor technical difficulties.

However, it gave me some time to think. What was I going to do? Without the Internet the RRN doesn't exactly work. How could I help out Lillian, Lawrence and David without it? And, of course, how was I going to check my email! But, by midnight that night (when the power went back on), I already had plenty of ideas and inspiration. The next day, back at U'mista, we all realized that when our liaisons are travelling to remote places, or even doing a demonstration at the local school, there likely won't be an Internet connection. How can we demonstrate the RRN the way we need to without that?

The solution was pretty simple. We do it with PowerPoint and screenshots. I'm sure many people have already figured that one out, but it took me a little while to realize it. Now, up in Alert Bay our liaisons can properly demonstrate the RRN and get across all of it's features and collaborative values without an Internet connection. Still, to actually browse the RRN, an Internet connection is necessary, but hopefully now we can get the word out about this type of research.

Working in Alert Bay was a great experience, I thought it was absolutely necessary to visit our liaisons there if we are to work hard to engage in collaboration at all levels. And it was nice to get away to Alert Bay, of course. I'm fairly certain I made good friends with the Heron that sat on the deck of my hotel. Aside from the power outages, no Internet, and no camera (I dropped it in the pacific. All my pictures are of course ruined), it was a great trip.

On Wednesday, when I got back from Alert Bay, I headed straight up to Chilliwack for a meeting with our Sto:lo community liaisons. Herb Joe Jr, Darwin Douglas and Frank Andrew all had time to talk, so it was great meeting all of them. Hopefully sometime soon I'll put up short bios of all our liaisons. Now I'm back in the office - catching up on emails, and working on the help pages.

My phone takes fuzzy pictures. I'm sorry!
Left to Right: Lawrence, Dave and I at U'mista

In other news, we have a new community liaison for Musqueam, June Sparrow! A big welcome from the team.

The next big trip on the list for everyone here is the big Steering Group meeting, held in Chilliwack this year. The best part - an all day Place Names tour. I can't wait. This meeting will also be a great opportunity to get all of the liaisons together for the first time.

I'll be updating later this week!

Cheers,
-Hannah

More User Testing!

2009-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

This past week Astrid, Tristan and I have been working hard at getting some user feedback for the RRN. As I said in another post, we're trying to make the RRN work for everyone, or at least the majority, so we need as much feedback as we can get (we are not above bribing).

Turns out, it's really hard to watch over someones back while they become confused by the site. It's hard for us - we want people to understand and not to become frustrated; but it's also hard for our users when they do become confused and annoyed. But it's this type of evaluation that is invaluable for the RRN.

Not exactly how we want our evaluation to go ......

Basically we're trying to accept the fact that people who have never used the site provide more valuable feedback than we ever could. The customer is always right, or in this case, the user is more right than us.

I am learning so much from our users. I'm recognizing how the RRN can be very confusing to new users regardless of their experience with similar web based tools. Using the information we're gathering with these tests, we'll work hard to remedy these problems over the next couple of months.

The old saying that "two eyes are better than one" is really our motto so far. Except we're taking it to the extreme. Three eyes are better than two, four are better than three - and so on ad nauseum.

The ultimate user -friendly site is on it's way. Get excited. And tell us when you find yourself lost on the site, confused, unable to do something.

In short - let us know what you want and we'll try our best to make the RRN the best place to do collaborative research on the web. And we won't just copy what Google does - too much.

Until next time,
Hannah

CASCA

2009-05-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Astrid, one of the other researchers here, has just finished a presentation at the CASCA conference.
CASCA (Canadian Anthropology Society-Société Canadienne d'Anthropologie) was hosted at the Department of Anthropology, UBC last week.

The title of the conference was "Transnational Anthropologies: Convergences and Divergences in Globalized Disciplinary Networks", and it was a great venue to showcase the RRN.

Astrid gave a workshop on the site to a small audience and said that it was a great experience.

While Astrid was busy showing off the RRN, Nick, Sue and I were in Seattle visiting the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. I'd never been to the Burke before, and was incredibly impressed with the museum. Hopefully we'll see their collection on the RRN eventually!

Aside from that, we're still thinking about usability and trying to find ways to access all potential user groups. Tristan and I are going to set up a small booth in the Anthropology department today to hopefully grab a couple of students to see if our testing method is up to par.

Also on the agenda for today is a brief Skype meeting with our community liaisons in Alert Bay, Chilliwack and Musqueam.

Remember, send me a quick email if you'd like to participate in any of our wonderful usability surveys!

Hannah@rrnpilot.com

See you!

Hannah

User Testing

2009-05-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

For today's post I thought I would talk a bit about what I've been working on lately with Astrid (another researcher here).

We're at the point in RRN development where we need to gather user data. We've been working hard to develop tests we can give to a number of different groups of users to evaluate the site properly. We basically want to know what doesn't work for our users.

For example, some major things we want to find out are; what features do people use on the site? Are there confusing parts of the site that users cannot navigate properly? Also, what would people like to see from the RRN in the future?

We will be testing three different user groups. Astrid is working on developing tests for student researchers here at the University of British Columbia and other schools in the Vancouver area. We even have a trip to Costco planned later this week to buy some food-related incentives (namely chocolate bars) for students to act as our participants.

The other group we need information and input from are the museum professionals who use the site regularly - and even those who don't. I will be meeting with some of the people who use the site asking for important feedback and providing useful information on what works and what doesn't.

Our community liaisons are also working hard in Alert Bay and Chilliwack. They are testing the site, providing demonstrations, and participating in discussions about what we can do to improve the RRN.

In addition to the usability testing, Ryan and Nick (our software developers) have added a new "feedback" button on the site. When you log in, you'll notice the red tab on the left hand side of your browser. You can click on this tab to give us some ideas and vote for what features you want the most. Democratically, these votes will determine which new features will become our priorities.

As you might have guessed, the theme of these upcoming weeks is Usability. Getting as much information from existing and new users as we possibly can. I'll keep you updated on how this testing is going throughout the following weeks.

If you would like to participate in our testing, just email me:

hannah@rrnpilot.org.

Don't forget to vote for the features you want on our feedback button.

Until next time,

Hannah

Our Logo

2009-04-30T12:14:00.001-07:00

Hello from a sunny day in Vancouver!

Yesterday in RRN news we had a long meeting clearing up some of our "to-do's" for the site. This sounded easier than it actually was, and 3 long hours later we were cleared up and back hard at work.

At any rate, one thing that became clear in this meeting is that we're pretty proud of what we're doing, and there are some really solid reasons behind our project - which makes everyone happy and more focused in the end. So I thought I'd share some of our "warm and fuzzy" sentiments here weekly.

So what I'll be doing is updating some user feedback we receive, maybe some good reviews and general things people have to say about the mission and vision behind the RRN.

But for today I thought I'd share something that is posted on our wall here at work, and not everyone gets to see. It's the description of the RRN logo - created especially for this purpose, by William Wasden Jr. and Andrea Sanborn last year.

The RRN logo work was created collaboratively by Terry Point (Musqueam Indian Band) and William Wasden Jr. (Wa is a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation). Both Terry and Wa were RRN interns in 2004-2005.

Terry suggested design elements based on traditional navigation and creation themes: messengers would travel by canoe to bring news to communities and invite them to gatherings; salmon, a symbol of renewal, navigate through streams and oceans, guided by the stars. These ideas allude to the RRN’s goal of facilitating community renewal and knowledge by navigating through the Internet and museum collection management systems. Wa, the artist, added his ideas: raven brought the moon, sun, fire, tides and salmon to his people. Umeł, Chief of the Ancients Raven needs to be treated carefully, because he is the all-present trickster. He has human qualities and is able to transform himself into a man; the figure in the beak represents that ability. The dorsal fin of a killer whale is depicted by the Raven’s beak with a stylized ovoid hole in it. The front seat of a sea hunter's canoe will have a hole carved in it and when the hunter dies, the seat will become his dorsal fin when he transforms into a killer whale. The human face in the beak represents the raven's human qualities as he is able to transform between forms and also connects to the sea hunter. He holds the messenger canoe in his mouth, upside down. This refers to people saving young salmon caught in a river with low water levels by placing them in a canoe and dumping them into another river, the salmon would survive and colonize the new stream. In the centre of the canoe is a box of treasures, representing the knowledge being returned to the communities through the RRN. The salmon in the logo are wild, indicated by the presence of the adipose fins; the male is depicted above the female as if in spawning position and both their tailfins continue as negative space along the design of the raven. There are four stars with four points each, because four is a sacred number. The colour is Ricketts blue – a shade introduced to the Northwest Coast as a laundry blueing agent. Wa has observed that this particular blue shade is used in art around the world and seems to have close representational associations with the supernatural.

You will see this logo all over the site, it's even hiding in our menu bar at the top of the page. Reading this kind of description always makes me excited, and it reconfirms one of our main goals of collaboration between community members and museum professionals to further knowledge exchange. As a museums studies student, it's one of the many reasons I love working for the RRN.

-Hannah

Back from Museums and the Web!

2009-04-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

The IT and development gang (Nick, Ryan and Sivia) just got back from a few days away at the Museums and the Web conference 2009. It was their first trip to Indianapolis and they all had a blast in the mid-west showing off the RRN and spending time with other like minded tech-savvy museum folks.

They presented the RRN this year as a demonstration, previewing the site and getting valuable user feedback but they also spent the full four days in and out of talks, workshops and the local pub.

One of the highlights was the usability lab on Friday, April 17th. Nick, Ryan and Sivia had a great time working with people who have never seen the RRN. They had fun watching how people searched the site to bring us back some valuable user information. Thanks, guys!

Another highlight was the trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). Nick, Ryan and Sivia give a big kudos to the organizers of this particular event, it's not often anyone gets the whole museum to themselves! Wish I could have been there, it sounds like a great museum.

The IMA also has an amazing website. Their focus on open content and transparency of information is inspiring and an extremely interesting approach. Check out their website and take a look!

Finally, the keynote opening address was definitely one of the best parts. Maxwell Anderson spoke about how the IMA website is dedicated to the idea that the museum should be a transparent venue for information exchange. You can catch the full address here, it comes highly recommended from Nick and Ryan.

In other news, I have just finished the new Introduction tutorial, which is available on the login page of the RRN. Check it out and let me know if it helps you get acquainted with the site.

Your loyal RRN blogger,

Hannah

Museums and the Web 2009

2009-03-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

The RRN will again be present at the Museums and the Web conference 2009, held in Indianapolis, Indiana from April 15-18th.

If you're coming, remember to check out our Demonstration of the site version 0.4, on Saturday, April 18th from 8:30 until 10:00 am.

Nicholas Jakobsen and Ryan Wallace, the software developers, will be present as well throughout the conference. Be sure to seek them out!

Sivia Sadofsky, our IT manager, will also be present.

You can read our abstract here, and check out all the conference proceedings here. Hope to see you there!

Partner Institution Conference a Success!

2008-09-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

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!