BC Museums Association Podcast

BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP05: Online Misinformation and Disinformation with Yimin Chen

In this fifth episode of our ongoing Climate Leadership & Action for Museums podcast series, we speak with Yimin Chen, a PhD candidate in Library and Information Science in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

His research examines the communicative practices of online communities and cultures, with a focus on Internet trolling behaviours and the controversy surrounding them. His previous projects range from fake news and deception detection, to library automation, to the impact of political memes on social media.

In a world choked with fake news and online misinformation, museums have the potential to leverage the publics’ trust to help communities discern reality from fiction when exploring topics like climate change. In this conversation, we explore the history of online misinformation, why some people choose to act like trolls, and why some online accounts might not even be people at all.

A brief word of warning - this podcast contains explicit language in the context of internet culture and online movements. 

Links:

• Yimin Chen on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=D25U3nsAAAAJ&hl=en 
• The Language & Information Technology Research Lab: https://victoriarubin.fims.uwo.ca/research/
• Bot Sentinel: https://botsentinel.com/ 

OWL You Need to Know Interview with Tessa Grogan

Get to know Tessa Grogan, the BCMA's new Development Assistant, in this 90-second OWL You Need to Know micro-podcast!

MuseNews Episode 13: Some of Our Favourite Stories From 2021

Welcome to MuseNews, the BCMA’s monthly museum sector news podcast. Each month we recap some of the latest news, happenings, and announcements from museums, galleries, and heritage organizations across BC and beyond. Join Ryan and Lorenda as we explore the latest MuseNews!

 

Featured News for December 2021:

• Mandrake the Magician exhibit celebrates world-famous illusionist's Surrey and New Westminster roots
• Historic mug shots offer glimpse into Vancouver's bad old days
• Century-old photo found in library book returned to its owner in Kelowna
• Darling Dung Beetle Discovered at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum
• BC city gives Ogopogo copyright to First Nation after cultural appropriation concerns
• Vancouver Island man donates 140,000 mollusk specimens to biodiversity museum – Parksville Qualicum Beach News

Pausing to Decolonize: Decolonizing Museum Policy and Practice

On November 3rd, the Royal BC Museum announced that it would begin closing sections of its existing galleries to embark on a process of community consultation to decolonize long-established exhibits, increase cultural safety in the museum, and ensure that the Provincial museum is a welcoming place for everyone.

This announcement has sparked new conversations exploring what it means to decolonize a museum, and whether it is even possible to decolonize an institution that was born from the very process of colonization itself. 

To help contribute to this dialogue the BC Museums Association is sharing the opening address from our 2021 virtual conference as an episode of our podcast. 

On October 7th we were joined by Brandie MacDonald from the Museum of Us for a talk entitled, Pausing to Decolonize: Decolonizing Museum Policy and Practice. Brandie is the Senior Director of Decolonizing Initiatives at Museum of Us, residing on the homeland of Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego, California, USA.

Brandie’s work focuses on systemic change within museums through the implementation of anti-colonial and decolonial theory-in-practice, which centers truth-telling, accountability, and tangible change to redress colonial harm. Her 12 years working in non-profits is based around capacity building through transformative policy, repatriation, and education.

In her talk, Brandie discusses the work that Museum of Us has been doing to transform their organization, the decolonial work that she is leading, and the guiding principles they have adopted.

Thank you to the Culture Resource Management program at the University of Victoria for sponsoring this conference opening address.

MuseNews Episode 12: Story books, BOOM!-ing Awards, and Decolonization

Welcome to MuseNews, the BCMA’s monthly museum sector news podcast. Each month we recap some of the latest news, happenings, and announcements from museums, galleries, and heritage organizations across BC and beyond. Join Ryan and Lorenda as we explore the latest MuseNews!

 

Featured News for November 2021:

• Congratulations to the 2021 Recipients of the BCMA Awards for Outstanding Achievement!
• Royal B.C. Museum to close exhibits that further colonial narrative
• Museum at Campbell River releases children’s book about SS Northwestern
• Britannia Mine Museum wins TEA Thea Award
• New curator at Kelowna Art Gallery
• Vernon Museum will provide a look into the collection of objects and archives

BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP04: BC HERN‘s Salvage Trip to Lytton, BC (Updated)

In this fourth episode of our #CALM series, we speak with Tara Fraser (Vancouver Art Gallery) and Heidi Swierenga (Museum of Anthropology at UBC), two members of the BC Heritage Emergency Response Network (BC HERN) steering committee. Tara, Heidi, and volunteers from BC HERN were able to go to Lytton BC in October to assist with the salvage and recovery of items from the Lytton Chinese History Museum and the Lytton Museum & Archives.

Join Tara and Heidi as they reflect upon this experience and how it will help to inform BC HERN's future work.

The BC Heritage Emergency Response Network is a growing consortium of art, culture and heritage professionals and volunteers in BC who feel morally and professionally obliged to plan for emergency situations and to support other cultural institutions in the event of localized emergencies that impact collections. The initiative was born from the identified lack of a unified support plan for disaster response and collections salvage in the province in light of the growing risk to collections due to climate change.

The BC HERN aims to build confidence to ensure the successful recovery of heritage collections. The formation of the network is based on two principles: establishing connections between institutions, and training individuals in these institutions on collections salvage procedures. Once staff are trained in salvage and recovery, their institutions will be incorporated into the growing number of response zones throughout the Province.

BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP03: A Conversation with the BC Heritage Emergency Response Network (Part One)

In this third episode of our #CALM series, we speak with Tara Fraser (Vancouver Art Gallery) and Heidi Swierenga (Museum of Anthropology at UBC), two members of the BC Heritage Emergency Response Network (BC HERN) steering committee.

The BC Heritage Emergency Response Network is a growing consortium of art, culture and heritage professionals and volunteers in BC who feel morally and professionally obliged to plan for emergency situations and to support other cultural institutions in the event of localized emergencies that impact collections. The initiative was born from the identified lack of a unified support plan for disaster response and collections salvage in the province in light of the growing risk to collections due to climate change.

The BC HERN aims to build confidence to ensure the successful recovery of heritage collections. The formation of the network is based on two principles: establishing connections between institutions, and training individuals in these institutions on collections salvage procedures. Once staff are trained in salvage and recovery, their institutions will be incorporated into the growing number of response zones throughout the Province.

BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP02: Value Nature - Chantal & Lauren

How does culture connect to climate action? How do we value nature? What are museums roles’ in preserving and advocating for natural, intangible and tangible heritage? How can museums center Indigenous knowledge in climate action and disrupt legacies of settler colonialism in climate action? 

In this second episode of our #CALM series, we interview Lauren Ball and Chantal MacDonald who together created the Bateman Foundation's Value Nature Podcast. Tune into this insightful conversation in which they discuss the importance of experiential learning, hope, reconciliation, the value of nature, and many other intersecting topics. 

To access their podcast referenced in this episode, including their episode exploring the protection of old growth forests, click here. Follow the Value Nature Podcast on Instagram or Facebook or learn more about the Bateman Foundation here. 

BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP1: Dr. Deondre Smiles

We are excited to announce the BCMA's Climate Action Podcast Series! To kick off the series, this first episode interviews Dr. Deondre Smiles, an Indigenous geographer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria. Dr. Smiles (he/him) is Ojibwe, Black, and settler, and a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

In this episode, Dr. Smiles discusses the legacies of settler colonialism in environmentalism and climate action, as well as the potential role of the cultural sector in reimagining stewardship, centering Indigenous ways of knowing, and creative ways of relating with living environments, including more-than-human kin, in an era of climate crisis. 

 

To read Settler Logics of (Outer) Space referenced in this episode, click here. To learn more about Dr. Smiles and his other works, click here.

BCMA Podcast: Financial Sustainability and Food Services

Join the BCMA as we chat with Cheryl Hendrickson, Executive Director at the Britannia Mine Museum about their on-site cate - the Chatterbox Cafe! Cheryl takes us through the steps they have taken to make their cafe financially lucrative and sustainable.

 

This podcast is part of our Financial Sustainability Week. Financial Sustainability week is sponsored by Island Savings, Envision Financial, and Valley First, divisions of First West Credit Union, offering sophisticated solutions for unique needs!