1. The Canadian Rural Research Network:
One year in review
Alessandro Alasia
Network coordinator
CRRN Annual Meeting
May 5th 2010, 1:30pm -3:30pm EST
Hosted by the Rural Development Network (RDN)
May 5, 2010 CRRN Annual Meeting 2010 1

2. Outline
• Achievements
• An emerging research network model?
• Key questions for discussion
May 5, 2010 CRRN Annual Meeting 2010 2

3. CRRN development
• June 2009, CRRF supports a proposal to revitalize the network (as
Canadian Rural Research Network) with a renewed mandate and
networking model
– June 2009, the CRRN blog is launched
– August 2009, first bi-monthly email update is sent out
– September/December 2009, a management committee is
established
– December 2009, first online meeting of the management
committee
– January/February 2010, presence on social media (Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube)
– March 2010, first presentation of the CRRN at the BCRRHRN
Scientific Exchange
– May 5th, first annual meeting of the CRRN partners
May 5, 2010 CRRN Annual Meeting 2010 3

4. CRRN vision
• A vibrant, free and comprehensive on-line
community of rural research stakeholders
that facilitates links, exchanges, partnerships
and information sharing among all parties
interested in rural research by means of new
and innovative networking approaches
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5. Achievements
• Over 30 provincial and national organizations
with an interest in rural research meet around a
virtual table
• A volunteer management group spread across
Canada maintains the network
• A large number of feedback from a community
of users
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6. Achievements
• Established a simple-to-use platform to compile
and disseminate rural research information
– Stats on usage over the past year:
• Slightly more than 7,000 unique visitors
• About 18,200 page loads
• Recently, between 20 and 30 visitors per day
• email distribution list of about 3,500 contacts (largely in the
public (fed/prov/municipal) and non-profit sector)
• Presence on major social media (Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube) and RSS feeds
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7. … and more work is needed on:
• Simple procedures to get all partners more
involved with CRRN activities
– E.g. “Posting guidelines” draft
• Simple rules for the operation of the network
may be developed as the network grows and
expands
• Promote the use of and participation to CRRN
social media (Facebook, Twitter, RuralTube… a
wiki?)
May 5, 2010 CRRN Annual Meeting 2010 7

8. An emerging research network model?
• Three ideas (with some simplifications) that can shape
an emerging research network model which brings
together supply and demand of rural research:
– The Wickinomics (of research information sharing)
• (Tapscott and Williams 2006)
– The Socialnomics (of research information sharing)
• (Qualman 2009)
– The world (of rural research) is flat
• (Friedman 2005)
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9. Wikinomics, Socialnomics and research networks
• Shift in Internet applications (Web 2.0): from a publishing environment to a
participative environment
• People are getting more relevant, timely and free content from their
peers via social media (Qualman 2009)
• Cost of (online) collaboration has plunged
• A new mode of production emerges: peer production
– A way of producing goods/services that relies on self-organizing, egalitarian
communities of individuals who come together voluntarily to produce a shared
outcome (Tapscott and Williams 2006)
• Peer production works for production of: (1) “information” outputs; (2) small
increment contributions are possible; (3) low cost of re-assembly parts
• Peer production can outperform traditional production models because
people self-select for tasks
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10. The (rural research) world is flat
• Several technological forces have converged and
generated a global, Web-enabled playing field that
allows for multiple forms of collaboration regardless of
distance and (soon) language (Friedman 2005)
• “Globalization 3.0” is about individuals and small groups
globalizing (so, today, what is the difference between the CRRN
and an International Rural Research Network?)
• A flat rural research world is open for exploration.
Our research community should be at the cutting edge of
this exploration (because we know why and how
distance still matters!)
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11. Some key questions for discussion
• How can we improve the current system?
(ideas and possible implementations)
• How can we facilitate, encourage and
reward collaboration and participation?
• How can we get the most value out of the
CRRN?
May 5, 2010 CRRN Annual Meeting 2010 11