For the Media

Description

The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is a special operating agency of the Department of Canadian Heritage. CHIN serves as a national centre of excellence to nearly 1,500 museums and other member heritage institutions across Canada, enabling them to connect with each other and their audiences through digital technologies. An international leader in the creation, management, presentation and preservation of digital heritage content, CHIN provides Canada's not-for-profit heritage sector with collaborative research opportunities and results, skills development products and services, and support for content development and presentation. CHIN oversees the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) portal at virtualmuseum.ca, and the VMC Investment Programs. The VMC is an operational initiative and does not administer grants and contributions. CHIN also delivers the Professional Exchange, a website for heritage professionals and volunteers at www.pro.rcip-chin.gc.ca.

Strategic Objectives

To fulfil its mission, CHIN:

• Mobilizes and supports collaborative networks of heritage institutions (almost 1,500) and research partners;
• Develops and provides skills development resources for heritage professionals; and
• Supports the development and presentation of digital heritage content.

Background

The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), a special operating agency within the Department of Canadian Heritage, has been helping the heritage community since 1972 to take full advantage of technologies and integrate them in their practices.

CHIN performs research on how museums can best approach issues of collections management, digital technologies, intellectual property and standards. It applies its knowledge base to provide heritage professionals and volunteers with training, both online and in person.

CHIN by the Numbers

• Supports an active network of nearly 1,500 not-for-profit heritage member institutions.
• Leads Artefacts Canada, a database containing nearly 4 million records and over 800,000 images from Canadian museums.
• Annually supports some 50 projects through its investment program;
• Administers two websites: Professional Exchange and virtualmuseum.ca.

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CHIN Sites

CHIN Professional Exchange

Heritage professionals interested in technologies will find, in Professional Exchange, a wealth of learning and reference tools.

museevirtuel.ca

virtualmuseum.ca is a unique interactive space that brings together Canadian museum collections and riches in a variety of thought-provoking and instructive contents. Aside from over 600 virtual exhibitions, it is also home to the Teachers' Centre, and a window for specific innovative projects that help integrate new technologies to museum practices.

Contact

Julie Marion, Manager, Business Development & Marketing

819-934-5024

Additional Information on the New Functionalities of the Redesigned Websites

We are proud to offer new, dynamic and interactive websites, with features including:

• a new architecture and graphic signature to create a cohesive link between the three CHIN sites;
• an entirely renewed design to give our members even greater visibility;
• participative and interactive Web applications (information sharing, evaluation and commenting);
• a search engine that offers guided browsing and cross-referencing, according to the user's preferences.

CHIN

Canadian Reference for Museum Technologies

CHIN offers investment programs and highlights Canadian museum collections and activities in its image-loaded website, virtualmuseum.ca, and in Professional Exchange.

• Success stories that include resources and projects that have been carried out with members.
• A News section that highlights our heritage institution members' activities and innovative initiatives.
• Detailed information on our Investment Programs.
• Press releases, job offers and directories.

Professional Exchange

Resource for Excellence

Heritage professionals interested in technologies will find, in Professional Exchange, a wealth of learning and reference tools.

• eCourses, fact sheets, guides, articles, case studies and research prepared by experts.
• A rich and dependable reference library, Artefacts Canada, and many other databases.
• Access to audio/video resources featuring heritage professionals on intellectual property, content creation, digitization standards and collection management practices, mobile technologies, social media, etc.

virtualmuseum.ca

My Museum Space

An endless source of discovery, virtualmuseum.ca is a unique interactive space that brings together Canadian museum collections and riches in a variety of thought-provoking and instructive content.

• Virtual exhibits that are refreshed constantly, news on museums and their activities, and a vast amount of multimedia content.
• The Teachers' Centre offers hundreds of new learning object collections and lesson plans in an interactive environment.
• Access to Canadian museum exploratory projects that use new technologies in the VMC Lab.
• The MyVMC personalized section showcases the user's preferences (such as virtual exhibits and images).

Awards and Distinctions