About CHIN – Networks

CHIN provides leadership across the country and internationally. We bring museums and their partners together to find innovative solutions to critical issues in the digital realm.

Our two complementary networks make this possible:

1. CHIN mobilizes and supports a network of Canadian museums using digital technologies.
2. CHIN mobilizes, supports and participates in an interdisciplinary network of partners pursuing innovative research in the field of digital heritage.

This networks strategy is in addition to CHIN’s skill development and digital heritage content activities.

Read more about CHIN’s networks

A Growing Museum Network
Products and Services that Connect Members
Establishing a Research Network
Products and Services to Nurture Research Partnerships
On the International Stage
Working Together

A Growing Museum Network

For nearly two decades, CHIN has nurtured a growing museum network that today includes more than 1,300 members. It is a diverse community composed of institutions of all sizes and disciplines. Member institutions have varying degrees of professionalism and resources.

Products and Services that Connect Members

In keeping with the evolving circumstances of its members, CHIN has gradually expanded its products and services.

Products and services associated with CHIN’s museum network now include:

• a free, accessible and available corporate website, which provides detailed information about member benefits and opportunities, such as job postings and VMC Investments;
• investment opportunities of up to $400,000 for live virtual exhibit and up to $5,000 for Community Memories;
• client support services, such as the CHIN Help Desk;
• financial support for Internet access and training;
• communications products, such as newsletters, listservs;
• negotiated benefits, including discounts to pertinent conferences and CHIN workshops;
• the placement of interns as part of the Young Canada Works Building Careers in Heritage program;
• working groups dedicated to digital heritage topics;
• CHIN-organized projects that enable member institutions to work with each other.

Establishing a Research Network

As a centre of excellence for Canada’s museum community, CHIN is creating a complementary research network. This network will ensure museums are given access to new knowledge, as well as collaborative opportunities that nurture innovative work. Through this initiative, CHIN is connecting innovators, researchers and Canadian universities with heritage professionals, channelling the new approaches emerging from lecture halls and research labs into museums.

As a result of this networks initiative:

• research partners gain access to a vast and diverse network of heritage institutions with which they can undertake practical applications within the scope of their work;
• museums gain access to thought-leaders, innovative projects, and possibly additional research and development resources;
• Canadians ultimately benefit from richer and more engaging heritage digital content.

Products and Services to Nurture Research Partnerships

Products and services associated with the research network include:

• multidisciplinary conferences and other networking opportunities;
• the instigation and coordination of innovative projects involving private, public and academic partners, in Canada and abroad;
• customized communications products;
• the coordinated development of environmental scans and reports;
• original research papers.

On the International Stage

CHIN enables Canada to play a leadership role in international digital heritage initiatives (e.g. CIDOC, AVICOM). CHIN's work in developing standards for museum documentation has been internationally recognized. CHIN’s work has also been extended to encompass a range of information and technical protocols necessary to exchange information.

Working Together

CHIN’s own research agenda is synchronized with the work undertaken by the research network. In partnership with organizations in Canada and abroad, CHIN conducts and publishes primary and applied research. This research enables CHIN and the heritage community to better understand and manage issues and developments relating to heritage digital content.

This research also allows CHIN and the heritage community to adopt standards and best practices related to digital technology, such as:

• digital preservation;
• sustainable business models for museums in a digital environment;
• intellectual property management;
• in-house policy development;
• online user needs (e.g. Web trends, audience behaviour, user interface design and related accessibility issues).