This collaboration allowed Simon Fraser University anthropology students to take part in the excavation of the ancestral site: Qithyil, in collaboration with the Sq’éwlets First Nation and local Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre. (Lucko, 2017). After excavation, professors and students in SFU’s Interactive Arts and Technology programs curated artifacts, gathered oral histories from Sq’éwlets members, created digital photography and videography, and organized both a physical and a virtual exhibition. The result was “Sq’éwlets—A Sto:lo Coast Salish Community in the Fraser Valley,” hosted by the Virtual Museum of Canada and also live at digitalsqewlets.ca
The partnership between various Centres at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Region Museum exemplifies a truly cross-disciplinary collaboration between the humanities and technology, bringing together the expertise of historians, architects, civil planners, software designers and also the general public. The project led to the development of a mobile app called Building Stories, which allows users to identify, annotate and learn about heritage properties. (Waterloo Region Museum. (n.d.)). The app is available for most smartphones and it has companion website at buildingstories.co
It was notable to find that collaborations exist not only among large museums, but also newer, smaller and more “indie” museums. One such project is “Pathways to Toronto,” by The Ward Museum and the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC). The project “taught upper-year undergraduate students about digital methods and approaches to the study of history, focusing on immigration” and resulted in a virtual exhibit hosted by The Ward Museum (Cavanaugh, 2019).
Finally, the project between the University of British Columbia and The Beaty Biodiversity Museum stands out because the grounds of the museum are inside the university itself. What comes out of this arrangement is curious arrangement: a virtual museum exhibit, hosted by and about a museum, hosted inside a university. Here, we see how the virtual leads to the real, and the real leads to the virtual. Guests can view the exhibition at https://venuesavour.com/beaty-museum/.
The Beaty Biodeversity Museum. (2020). https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/
Cavanaugh, S.M. (2019, August 13). Pathways to Toronto: a collaborative partnership. Toronto Ward Museum. https://www.wardmuseum.ca/collaborativepartnerships/
COMAP. (2015). Building Stories Mobile. (Version 1.4.6). Mobile App. Retrieved from: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.comap.bstories
Computer Systems Group (CSG), University of Waterloo. (2020, August 09). Building Stories. The Centre for Community Mapping (COMAP). Retrieved from http://www.buildingstories.co/
The Digital Scholarship Unit at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC). (n.d.) Digital Histories. Retrieved from: http://dighist.digitalscholarship.utsc.utoronto.ca/
Lucko, D. (2017, January 25). Community partnership reaps new Virtual Museum of Canada exhibit. SFU News. Retrieved from https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2017/community-partnership-reaps-new-exhibit-for-virtual-museum-of-ca.html
Online Exhibitions. (2020). Beaty Biodeversity Museum. Retrieved from: https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/whats-on/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/
Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre. (2015) Digital Sq’éwlets. Retrieved from: http://digitalsqewlets.ca/index-eng.php
Virtual Exhibit. The Beaty Biodeversity Museum. Retrieved from https://venuesavour.com/beaty-museum/
Virtual Museum of Canada. (2017, January 26). Sq'éwlets: A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Community in the Fraser River Valley. Retrieved from http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/virtual-exhibits/exhibit/sqewlets-a-stolo-coast-salish-community-in-the-fraser-river-valley/
The Ward Museum. (n.d.) Pathways to Toronto. Retrieved from https://www.wardmuseum.ca/pathways/
Waterloo Region Museum. (n.d.). Building Stories Virtual Tour App. Retrieved from https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/doon-heritage-village/building-stories-virtual-tour-app.aspx