June 2006
Contents
Professional development opportunities
Art/Technology exhibition to tour
Wind exhibition - expressions of interest invited
Materials to run ‘science issues’ debates for teens
Diary Dates: Science Communication Conference; BIG Annual event
NEWS FROM ECSITE-UK
Professional development opportunities
Facilitation Skills Workshop(s)
Wednesday 5 July, 2pm - 5pm, at the Natural History Museum, London
The Facilitation Skills Workshop is designed to teach new skills and build confidence in those leading debate and discussion activities with young people. This participative three hour session examines facilitation styles, stimulating and managing discussions, and dealing with challenging behaviours. It has been developed in consultation with science centre educators, engagement specialists, and professional facilitators. This is a foundation level workshop.
Free to Ecsite-uk members.
For further details, and to book a place, contact seminars@ecsite-uk.net
Future Facilitation Skills Workshops will be held across the country. Please email seminars@ecsite-uk.net to register your interest:
August 10th - The Oxford Trust
September 19th - Glasgow Science Centre
October 4th - Techniquest, Cardiff
October 12th - the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth.
Education/Programming Managers Meeting: Digital Technologies
26-27 September, Glasgow Science Centre
We are pleased to announce the second specialist meeting for education/programming managers in the UK science centre and museum sector.
The event is designed to provide a forum for managers to discuss issues relating to education and programming in the sector. Following requests from the inaugural meeting in Liverpool, the theme for day-two of this meeting is 'digital technologies'.
Although this meeting is free to Ecsite-uk members, in the first instance places are limited to one per institution. Applications from other institutions will be considered. NESTA will reimburse reasonable travel/accommodation costs for participants attending from outside Glasgow.
The deadline for bookings is 15 September 2006.
For further information, and to book a place for your institution, please email seminars@ecsite-uk.net
NEWS FROM ECSITE
Rendez vous in Mechelen
The Ecsite Conference 2006 kicks off on Thursday morning 8 June.
Ecsite-uk participants are having an informal gathering at the Conference Centre that evening: bring your Happy Hour drink to the Ecsite-uk meeting point to network and natter about matters English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish!
The gathering/meeting point will be indicated in the conference programme and signed at the Conference Centre.
The conference website:
www.technopolis.be/ecsite2006
has all the most up-to-date information.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECTOR
Art/Technology exhibition to tour
The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) project ran at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) Centre, Liverpool March thru May 2006. The project has been a collaboration between the School of Computing, Liverpool John Moores University and FACT, funded by the EPSRC as part of their Public Engagement with Science initiative.
We worked with 3 artists, each of whom came up with very different art works to explore the ideas of HCI. Josh Nimoy presented two pieces, icon==function and Mixed Hello. Icon==function is a web-based work which lets the user play around with the relationship between what's on the screen and what the computer does. Mixed Hello uses camera vision to let people use their shadows to interact with the computer. Caen Botto's C0d3 is a more organic piece producing mysterious images and sounds when the users walk over pads and make their own sounds into microphones. Finally Simon Poulter gave us the Automated Knowledge Machine, AKM, which is a cross between an ATM and a search engine, giving knowledge instead of money.
The exhibition has been much more successful than we hoped in terms of both visitor numbers and audience reaction. We have had some expressions of interest in touring the exhibition in whole or part and are looking for partners who may wish to put the exhibition in their own space.
If you are interested please contact me, David England, d.england@ljmu.ac.uk (0151 231 2271)
or Marta Ruperez ruperez@fact.co.uk.
The project website is www.hci-fun.org.uk
Photo courtesy of Brian Slater.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECTOR
Wind exhibition - expressions of interest invited
Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, is leading a new project: ‘A Toda Vela’ – the wind as interface for navigation, new technologies, origins and mythology, roots and traditions, in fact the wind as a part of human culture. By developing an exhibition and a programme of events we want to celebrate the 32th America’s Cup in Valencia.
Where will this festival take place?
The exhibition and all complementary activities will have as operations base the Main Street of the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe – 3000sqm emblematic area where all visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy it.
What do we propose?
Under the umbrella of a public offer for production and installation we invite expressions of interest by 3 July, and we have scheduled 4 months for development, in order to schedule inauguration in the first week of December. Budget estimated at €858.000
All requirements and information at www.cac.es/concursos [archived page - link removed] NOTE: Page is in spanish.
RESOURCE
Materials to run 'science issues'debates for teens
If a baby is born so prematurely that its chance of survival without suffering from severe disabilities is only 20% how much treatment should it receive? Who should make the decision about whether it receives treatment and who should pay for it?
These and other difficult questions have been discussed by over 650 teenagers that have taken part in ‘Premature Babies: Decisions at the Edge of Life’, an Ecsite-uk project with partner science centres/ museums in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.
If you think that 14-19 year olds wouldn't have opinions on this, think again! Activities such as deciding which sick baby should get the only available hospital bed lead to very heated discussions. Each group of 8 to 10 students has to create a policy that states when care should be provided or withdrawn from newborn babies. Everyone in their group must agree with the policy which is then shared with the rest of the participants.
All the materials and information needed to run one of these events are now available at www.scizmic.net in the ‘debates’ section. The project has been made possible with Wellcome Trust funding.
Ecsite-uk project materials are at www.scizmic.net
DIARY DATES
Science Communication Conference
13-14 July 2006, London
The 2006 Science Communication Conference will take place at the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, London.
Plans are to split the conference into three strands looking at:
- Science Education - linking formal and informal learning
- Science Communication - science and the media, science PR and science events
- Science in Society - public engagement, policy through dialogue, SIS strategy
There will be a mixture of plenary, group and workshop sessions as well as lunchtime discussions and working lunches covering more practical skills. As in previous years there will be a drinks reception and conference dinner.
Draft versions of the programme will be circulated via the psci-com e-mailing list for comment, if you would like to make suggestions of sessions, projects or speakers please contact nick.hillier@the-ba.net.
BIG annual event
26-28 July, Manchester
Hosted by the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the BIG Event offers a great opportunity for people working with interactivity to meet, discuss and show off their latest work.
Join exhibit developers, performers, science centre and museum staff from across the world in the Event’s unique mix of thought-provoking conference sessions, entertaining live science shows and off the wall events, including the famous Best Demo competition.
The full conference package costs just £260 for two-and-a-half days of sessions, conference dinner, lunches and access to the marketplace. Single day and concession rates are also available.
To book your place contact Savita Custead at savita@scizmic.net or 02920 252706
For more information check www.big.uk.com/events
Ecsite-uk
Dr Melanie Quin, Executive Director
Ecsite-uk: the Network of Science Centres and Museums
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