Canadiana Discovery Portal featured in the media

On January 16, 2011, The Canadian Press published a feature article about the Canadiana Discovery Portal. The article, written by Stephanie Levitz and reads,
“An ambitious new search engine has been launched by an alliance of digital heritage advocates designed to allow one-stop searching for centuries of Canadian history”.
It goes on to say,

“The Canadiana.org portal isn't meant just for academics. Genealogists can peek in and see where their family names may pop up in local newspapers. Artists can seek inspiration from old images or sound, whether they live in Montreal or Morocco.”
The article was republished by the Globe and Mail and Winnipeg Free Press and has garnered further media attention for the Portal. Macleans.ca has written a follow-up piece saying,

“The recently launched Canadiana Discovery Portal—a searchable collection of various historical archives—is a treasure trove of old photographs, speeches and documents from prime ministers and governments past.”

And, in addition to several radio interviews, Ron Walker, the Executive Director of Canadiana.org, was interviewed live on air by CTV News.

The public response to all the media attention has been overwhelming. Online comments have been very positive and include things like,
"Cool. Just 20min on the site and I learned more about the history of my hometown than 18 years growing up in it ever taught me." and,

“Excellent! Now this is what the Internet should be about.”

As well, traffic to the Canadiana Discovery Portal on the days following the article increased over 100 fold. Several weeks on, and the daily visits remain significantly higher than before the original article was published.

We hope that this is just the beginning of the exposure for the Canadiana Discovery Portal, which provides a great, free service for Canadians.