Community Spirit: Keeping it Alive
Our Roots and Our Future Our Past
Multicultural Canada Conference
June 1, 2006
Mary Westell, University of Calgary
westell@ucalgary.ca
Multiculturalism
• “of, relating to, or including several cultures”
• “of or relating to a social or educational theory
that encourages interest in many cultures
within a society rather than in only a
mainstream culture”
Source: www.thefreedictionary.com
Our Educational Resources
Our Roots educational partners create innovative learning packages in cooperation
with K-12 students and teachers. These educational modules provide Canadian youth
with engaging ways to make history personally exciting and relevant by bringing local
histories into the curriculum.
“Hi, I live in Helena. Montana.
I have a hollyhock plant out
in our garden. Today (May
24, 2005) I found your web
site about heritage seeds
and read the story about
grade 3 + 4. I think this is
wonderful learning, so I want
you all to know, that I am
learning along with you. I
harvested about 500 seeds.
It is a red hollyhock. I hope
they will grow.”
A new audience . . .
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Genealogists
School children
History buffs
Public libraries
Connections to other
history web sites
Rare book hunters
Researchers
From all over the
world
All age groups
What are they saying?
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Reference questions
Offers of additional content
Corrections (to digital content)
Locations of printed copies
Downloading of digital copies
Suggestions for new projects
Sharing of information
Technical questions
Quality assurance
Reference Questions
“I have a project due tomorrow and I want to
make sure that I get a really good mark on
this. I was wondering everything on
women – how they lived, the way they
dressed, down to what they had to go
through at home. Thank you for your
help.”
Offers of Content
“You have some great material here.
I would, however, like to see the
addition of “Commemorative
biographical record of the County
of Kent” added to the copies of
York and Essex in this collection.”
“I was disappointed that I couldn’t
find “Mingling Memories”, the local
history of communities east of Red
Deer… If you don’t have a copy, I
would be happy to provide one.”
Corrections to Digital Content
“Can you tell us why 727 Norbert is showing as the
father of so many of the Chaboyers, plus he is
showing as the father of himself . . .?”
“The Table of Contents in your Annals of Calais,
Maine and St. Stephen, NB has a typo . . .”
Locations of Printed Copies
“How would I go about purchasing a copy of a
book on your website . . .”
I would like to know if a book . . . is still
available for purchase and what the cost is?
My mother, father, myself, and family are
mentioned in the book.”
Copyright and the
Downloading of Digital Copies
“How can I download a copy of the
whole book and not just individual
pages?”
“Do you have copyright permission to
reproduce this book online? [My
grandmother] doesn’t remember
giving written permission . . .
Suggestions for New Projects
“I’m wondering if you would be
interested in a series of
small booklets . . .
Preserving the memories of
early residents of the Wawa
Michipicoten area. . . I would
certainly be willing to send
you a copy for scanning.”
Sharing of Information
“How I found your site
I GOOGLED the name of a local author
Her book was copyrighted by a town
The Town Council minutes were online
They had been asked for permission by you to
digitize the book; they declined
But that’s where I found the reference to you
I GOOGLED you
Your collection has given me hours of research,
and saved me countless hours more, besides
giving me access to texts I never would have
been able to otherwise see or imagine. Thank
you!”
Quality Assurance
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Users like to help!
Web site problems
Typos and structural metadata
Poorly scanned images
Indexing problems
Suggestions for help information
What can we learn from the
comments?
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More promotion, particularly to researchers
Clear copyright indicators
Forums and other ‘social networking’ tools (Web 2.0)
Links to Amicus and other bibliographic location tools
Links to online booksellers?
Better context and integration with other sites
More content
More educational resources
Keep up the good work!
Mallaig
(Alberta)
“Amazed to find you on a website as I come from
the village of Mallaig on the West Coast of
Scotland. I am interested to know whether there
are connections between the two places. I
understand the name of Mallaig is from Scottish
Gaelic meaning a small bay. Our principle
industry is fishing and all its related occupations,
plus tourism.”
“It was wonderful reading words written by my
Baba (Nellie) so many years after her passing.”