Objectives and Results -- Museological Excellence and Outreach

Objective

To further develop the outreach capabilities of the Corporation, through new electronic technologies and other means, so that it can share its wealth of knowledge to a greater extent with Canadians living outside the National Capital Region.

Results

• In partnership with Kodak Canada -- digitization of 65,460 images into photo-CD format, 10% above planned levels;
• In partnership with Digital Equipment of Canada and the Charles R. Bronfman Foundation -- sale of eleven Heritage Kiosks to institutions in six provinces and one of the territories. All kiosks were installed by the end of 1994- 95;
• Additional memoranda of cooperation and understanding were signed with:
  • Canada Post;
  • The Canadiana Fund;
  • The Saskatchewan Indian Federated College;
  • The Bruce County Museum, Southampton, Ontario; This brings the total number of memoranda to twenty-six.
• CD product development:
  • CD-ROM of Canada's Visual History was completed;
  • CD-ROM of West Coast Totem Poles, originally planned for March 1995, was delayed to May 1995;
• Launching of an information service on the World Wide Web (WWW) -- a system for disseminating multimedia information on the Internet -- in December 1994;
• Activity underway -- DigiMuse, a project that aims to evaluate the business, organizational, and technology requirements for electronic outreach operations, while establishing a working prototype of its capabilities;
• IMAX® Film Development -- work continued on several film projects with museum partners;
  • Yellowstone was completed and booked into three dozen venues;
  • Mystery of the Maya was co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada and the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía. The CMC was responsible for the educational kits, poster, and other associated material to be used world-wide. World première of the film to be held at the CMC on April 12, 1995;
  • Storm Chasers is nearing completion;
  • Special Effects, produced by WGBH-Nova, will be completing pre-production work in the summer of 1995. Shooting will begin in the fall of 1995;
• The Visitor Studies Network -- an informal international network of professionals in many different kinds of heritage institutions -- was expanded to include more than 170 members in 12 countries, and served as a vehicle for the distribution of more than 800 copies of studies conducted at the CMCC;
• Workshops in evaluation and visitor studies were carried out for: the CMCC's first International Symposium on Live Interpretation; the International Visitor Studies Association (Raleigh, North Carolina); Ontario Provincial Parks; The Powerhouse Museum (Sydney, Australia); the Western Australian Museum (Perth); the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco); the Auckland Museum (Auckland, New Zealand), as well as for staff at numerous other museums in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific;
• Peer reviews and other kinds of professional assistance were provided by the CMCC's Audit and Evaluation Division to institutions in Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand;
• A strategic alliance with the Centre for Public Management was set in place to replicate, in other heritage institutions around the world, the CMCC's innovative approach to evaluation and visitor studies.

Objective

To review the Corporation's current artifact collection and research policies, in order to make its artifact collections and related programmes even more relevant to Canadians.

Results

• The data-gathering phase of the Collection Development Plan is nearly complete, and a Collection Development Plan will be tabled for approval early in fiscal year 1995-96;
• The Research Advisory Committee commenced work on a Performance Measurement Framework in December 1994, to assess the success of research-related activities. The Committee's recommendations are expected in the Fall of 1995.

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