Please note: video recordings of conference presentations are linked throughout the article. All video recordings can be found on Vimeo.
The 2024 CRKN Virtual Conference, held from May 22 to May 24, featured 18 engaging sessions on digital heritage, open scholarship, and persistent identifiers, all delivered by passionate and articulate speakers from across Canada. Centered on the theme of “Building Lasting Connections”, this event highlighted how creating lasting connections between our organizations and institutions can enhance access to knowledge to benefit all.
On May 15, we hosted our annual Intro to CRKN session as a pre-conference event. In this virtual session, CRKN staff presented an overview of CRKN’s programs and activities. This session allowed us to communicate CRKN’s mission and initiative to members of the digital research community.
The conference officially began on May 22 with sessions from the University of Toronto on language revitalization efforts in Indigenous communities; MacEwan University Archives and University of Alberta Library on the Edmonton Queer History Project (EQHP); Ottawa Public Library (OPL) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) on their forthcoming shared facility, Ādisōke; and McGill University on the organization and hosting of their inaugural Open Research Symposium. The day ended with a panel discussing the behind-the-scenes of flipping a journal to open access from speakers with first-hand experience.
On May 23, attendees enjoyed presentations on persistent identifiers for individuals found in our digital archives; on supporting in-class publishing projects at Simon Fraser University; on the archival exhibition project Queer Joy Now! created by the University of New Brunswick in partnership with the 203: Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity; on the SciFree Journal Search Tool which enables authors publishing in OA journals at McMaster Libraries; on the Respectful Terminology Platform Project led by the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA-ANCLA); on the collecting program, Community Webs and Collaborative ART Archive (CARTA) for the Internet Archive’s (IA) Community Program; and ended the day with a session on the multi-institutional Canadian Community of Practice (CoP) for Bibliometrics and Research Impact.
May 24 was the final day of the conference and included presentations on improving access to documentary heritage related to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act; the creation of a Homosaurus, a database for French translations of terminology regarding gender and sexuality; an assessment framework to measure whether Read and Publish agreements are providing all we’ve hoped for; three new open source tools developed at UPEI; and the last session focused on the challenges facing Persistent Identifiers and the open scholarly infrastructure. The conference ended with closing remarks from Clare Appavoo, CRKN’s Executive Director.
Although we were disappointed to not be able to hold the keynote panel called “Unlocking the Future: Conversations on the Canadian Research Landscape Post-Transformative Agreements”, we are excited for the opportunity to reschedule this event to a later date.
The engaging sessions at the 2024 CRKN Virtual Conference showcased exactly why we need to build lasting connections within our community. Many of the sessions focused on projects born from collaboration among staff from different organizations to support access to knowledge. We are grateful to all the speakers and attendees for contributing their time, effort, and experience to highlight the lasting connections they are building.
Whether you tuned in for a single session, a single day, or the whole event, thank you for joining us and we are already looking forward to the 2025 CRKN Virtual Conference.