G. Brian Burke, senior program associate at CTG, recently traveled with a delegation of U.S. researchers on a ten day trip to China. Other members of the U.S. delegation included researchers from the University of Michigan’s Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research and the University of Michigan’s School of Information and University Library.

The first part of the trip involved a two-day conference in Beijing, China. The conference was sponsored under the Special Collaborative Project in Digital Government Research agreement between the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Chinese Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC). This conference was one of several activities funded jointly by the NSF and the NNSFC. The shared goal of these jointly funded activities is to create synergy, identify common research interests, and explore ways to establish long-term international collaboration between the two countries. Of note, CTG deputy director Theresa Pardo participated in the public health surveillance conference in Beijing this past April, also funded by NSF and NNSFC.

Brian, along with the researchers from the University of Michigan, gave presentations and participated in discussions with over 100 local and national Chinese government archivists and IT professionals as well as representatives from Chinese universities interested in government electronic information management and preservation. Brian spoke specifically on U.S. federal and state government digital information management and preservation efforts based on 15 years of CTG research in this area.

Following the Beijing conference, Brian traveled with a smaller team of researchers from the University of Michigan and China’s Wuhan University to the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai to meet with local government officials, archivists, and IT professionals. The US team held a series of discussions and gave additional presentations in both cities to educate the Chinese on US university and government strategies for managing and preserving electronic information. The US delegation also had the opportunity to tour and learn about both cities’ impressive digital archiving and electronic government efforts.

Based on the information exchanged and relationships built during this trip, as well as CTG’s other travel to and participation in activities with China over the last several years, CTG hopes to use these opportunities to continue developing CTG and UAlbany partnerships and joint projects with China.