2017 In Review

2017 written using sparklers.

It’s December! That means it is annual year end reflection time. As in previous years I’m going to use this post remind myself of all the things I did in 2017.  A year is a long time and accomplishments tend to be immediately celebrated and then forgotten in the hustle of the day-to-day chaos.  I also use this post as a way to remind myself to update my CV and my professional website will all the things.

Writing Things

Talks and Presentations

  • I was asked to present a webinar leading up to the Ontario Museum Association Indigenous Collections Symposium.  As part of this webinar I had the opportunity to work with Amos Key Jr., of the Woodland Cultural Centre, to develop the “An Introduction to Residential Schools in Ontario: Histories and Interpretation” presentation.
  • In April of 2017 Danielle Robichaud presented Collaborative Archival Practice: Rethinking outreach, access, and reconciliation using Wikipedia at the Archives Association of Ontario Conference. I am still super happy that Danielle asked me to co-present with her and that I had the opportunity to meet her in person at the AAO.
  • Jessica Knapp and I co-hosted the Canada’s History Society’s Wikipedia as Outreach and Activism in Canadian History webinar series. I also presented two webinars on the basics of Wikipedia as part of this series.
  • I’ve also continued to do a lot of outreach and presentation work as part of my job – I’ve spoken with over 2,000 students and professional groups about residential schools and the history of the Shingwauk site.  As part of this work I’ve had the chance to work closely with some great folks including Skylee-Storm Hogan and Mike Cachagee.  They are constant sources of inspiration and I’m lucky to work with them.
  •  In 2017 I was also interviewed a few times, including:

Collaborations

  • Andrea Eidinger and I made the Beyond 150 Twitter Conference a reality. It was so much fun! And we are considering running another one in 2018. (Theme ideas anyone?)
  • Jessica Knapp and I ran with a crazy idea about a Canada-wide Wikipedia edit-a-thon.  We built resources to support new editors and had a great day of historians, GLAM professionals, and students contributing to Wikipedia.  We’re looking at ways to improve this model and possibly run it again.
  • I taught an undergraduate public history course in the fall of 2017.  One of the best parts of teaching this class was having the opportunity to collaborate with other public historians working in the field and introduce my students to the range of possibilities within public history.  A huge thank you to: Stacey Devlin of Know History; Jessica Knapp and Joel Ralph of Canada’s History Society, Miranda Bouchard of Thinking Rock Community Arts, Will Hollingshead of the Ermmatinger Clergue National Historic Site, and others for their willingness to engage with my students.  Your insight helped make the course a success.

Odds and Ends

  • I moved in 2017.  I now have a much more reasonable commute.  I biked to work! I’ve never had that option before.
  • I started a podcast! This is still relatively new and is something I’m still hella enthusiastic about.  Want to collaborate on an episode? Please get in touch!
  • I attended CHA this year for the first time in ages. I had a great experience and had the chance to meet some folks I had been collaborating with in person.
  • I continue to be involved in NCPH (and I’m on this year’s slate of nominees for NCPH’s Board of Directors).  This is an organization I love and working on NCPH projects brings me a lot of joy.
  • My three year old child is a whole lot of energy and awesome.

And lots of other things. For me 2017 has been filled with collaboration, exciting new projects, and great colleagues.  I hope for more of the same in 2018.

Photo credit: Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

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