Think tank on rural development in Ottawa

Whew! Last week in Ottawa was packed with lots of valuable insights from those who gathered for the Second National Rural Policy Workshop in Ottawa. The full list of presentations is provided for you below but I thought I would make a few comments as well. Gathering people together from policy and research is a valuable activity. These two live in very different worlds but need one anothers work to effect long term, strategic change. I will post seperately on what I have learned about research influencing policy in a day or so, but suffice to say - these gatherings are a helpful place to start. We need to know one another, and develop relationships built on trust and recognition of the "world of the other" in order to ensure research has impact in decision making. Thanks to Dr. David Douglas and his team for hosting another wonderful event. I look forward to next year as CRRF has indicated this activity will continue and invites others to partner in the 2013 gathering again in Ottawa.

All of the presentations made at the 2nd national Rural Research Workshop (RRW) “Policy and Research in Community Investment” have been posted on the Workshop Web site: http://www.crrf.ca/?page_id=720. (Click on “Programme/Documents”.) My presentation is linked below for those interested.

Keeping up with technology

Hello everyone and welcome to the first post of this new blog. I am not usually an early adopter, particularly when it comes to technology (still don't own a cell phone). But, after attending a session on the value of blogs to share knowledge and ideas at the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences in Ottawa in May 2009, I became convinced that blogging could play a role in sharing ideas, insights and innovation with those developing tourism in rural and remote areas of British Columbia (and beyond). So, here it begins...

What I intend to do with the site are a couple of things:

1. Take hard to digest research information from academic, industry and government sources and translate them, pull out the key points and discuss what I think they mean for rural areas;
2. Provide questions around important policy debates, industry issues and other events to help ignite inquiry, debate and dialogue that helps with decision making;
3. Share innovative ideas from businesses and communities that are doing things that others should know about;
4. Explain and instruct on some strategies that will help improve business success in rural areas, or help inform sustainable planning and development decisions at the community and regional level.

It is a tall order and it will take time but I encourage others to follow, contribute and provide me ideas as it evolves. Ask questions and I can investigate the answers, tell me what you or your community is doing, or ask my thoughts on an issue that is facing the industry.

I look forward to helping infuse the industry with this insight into 2010 and beyond.