North American Aboriginal Games site among most complete at Virtual Museum

The newest addition to the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) is being touted as a rich multimedia learning experience that may serve as a model for future exhibits. Not every site on the VMC is as interactive, says a spokesperson, but the Living Traditions: Museums Honour the North American Indigenous Games exhibit may be held up as an example as museum officials decide how to deal with exhibits that approach the end of their five-year hosting contracts. The Games exhibit makes prodigious use of cutting-edge Flash games and other teaching resources to educate visitors about the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) being held this week in St. Boniface MB. Seven North American museums collaborated on the site, funding for which was provided by both the VMC and by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The project, which was begun last year, incorporates hundreds of digitized photos, artifacts, video and audio clips to describe the history of the games, now in their fifth edition. The games are held every three years around North America. Besides the two main government departments, support also came from Sport Canada, the 2002 NAIG Host Society, the NAIG Council and the Aboriginal Sport Circle. The site itself was built as a collaboration between seven North American museums: the Canadian Canoe Museum, the Elliott Avedon Museum, the Musée des Abénakis, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the St. Boniface Museum and the Woodland Cultural Centre. The teacher resource centre was compiled by Woodland Cultural Centre, especially Bernadette Wabie, and the Winnipeg School Division One, as well as the Ojibway & Cree Cultural Centre’s Jim Hollander. Flash activities on the site were created by ecentricarts inc. under the supervision of that company’s partner, Michel Blondeau. Stéphane Cherpit, the VMC’s director of marketing, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that a long partnership between it and Indian Affairs was largely responsible for the new site. The two organizations have worked in the past to mount exhibits about Canada’s Haida and Inuit nations. "That was obviously instrumental in putting this together. The timing was another reason. The games are only every three years," he says. He notes that few people are familiar with the games, and the site is not only an interactive education in native culture and games, but a practical resource listing events at this week’s NAIG, as well as the history and vision behind it. Asked how educational resources on the site, especially in the teachers corner, will be kept relevant and fresh over the next five years, Cherpit says it’s not an issue with which the VMC has yet had to grapple. "(The VMC is) just a year old now, so we haven’t refreshed much of what’s up there now because it’s all fairly recent," Cherpit says of the content posted to the VMC so far. "It’s something that we are envisioning for the future. In the first two years, we’re probably pretty safe with what’s on there now…We think the demand is going to be more in the direction of adding more stuff on – not refreshing what’s already there," he notes. "(The games site) is very complete. You have the exhibit. You have the games in Flash. Those are very current." The Virtual Museum of Canada was created by Canadian Heritage and launched in March 2001 (CNM, March 22/01 & Nov. 23/99). More details: Living Traditions: Museums Honour the North American Indigenous GamesVirtual Museum information

North American Aboriginal Games site among most complete at Virtual Museum

News | 07/25/2002 4:00 am EDT

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