{"id":59640,"date":"2019-08-14T13:09:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T17:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=59640"},"modified":"2019-08-14T13:10:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T17:10:11","slug":"nco-calls-on-public-to-submit-documents-for-new-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/08\/nco-calls-on-public-to-submit-documents-for-new-archive\/","title":{"rendered":"NCO calls on public to submit documents for new archive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thorold businessman Phil Ritchie is passionate about Niagara and its potential to be what he calls a \u201cprogressive region.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the founder and president of<\/span> Keefer Developments Limited<\/span><\/a> is frustrated by a challenge that he sees hindering progress: a mountain of useful reports, studies and other information that instead of being put to good use, is collecting dust on bookshelves and sitting idly on computers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, he says, information and ideas that have already been hashed out in these documents remain stuck out of the public eye. With the help of Brock\u2019s <\/span>Niagara Community Observatory<\/span><\/a> (NCO), he hopes to see that change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe seem to consistently reinvent the conversation,\u201d says Ritchie. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to make progress as a region, you have to try and educate the populace as much as possible; that\u2019s where the conversation is elevated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of his conviction that people in Niagara need access to documents in a range of sectors, Ritchie envisioned a centralized, searchable document depository for the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis long-term library should be held by a neutral, credible party that is not related to somebody\u2019s personal circumstances,\u201d he says. \u201cIt should be a fair arbiter for all the information that comes in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brock\u2019s<\/span> Niagara Community Observatory, which Ritchie has followed since its inception in 2009, sprang to mind as a fitting host for the depository, so he approached NCO Director Charles Conteh with the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPhil is quite a visionary,\u201d says Conteh. \u201cWe had a conversation, and I said, \u2018What you\u2019re talking about speaks directly to the NCO\u2019s mandate. Our goal is to provide a conduit to raise the bar on public conversation, so let us partner to build an architecture that will allow us to gather all the information out there.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With funding from Ritchie, the NCO hired a student to start collecting documents from Niagara Region and other places.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll too often in all communities valuable work completed by many stakeholders is lost over time,\u201d says Conteh. \u201cLocating primary level reports in one accessible platform greatly furthers the objectives of public education and citizen engagement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Conteh says one-stop access to policy research over time allows governments, non-profit and private sectors to expand knowledge and insights already gained so that projects can advance beyond \u201cground zero.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says being based in a university and having expertise in information and knowledge management makes NCO the ideal \u201ccustodians\u201d of the region\u2019s documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, the NCO is calling on the public to submit documents that have been publicly funded over the past 25 years, preferably in an electronic PDF version, although hard copies will be accepted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Documents of interest could include:<\/span><\/p>\n