9th November 2010, St. Hugh’s College, Oxford

With the 2012 Games now fast approaching, this year’s conference will explore opportunities presented by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to re-vitalise curricula to enhance student learning opportunities and experiences, and to encourage student engagement with learning. Keynote speakers are currently being confirmed and they will be chosen to reflect different perspectives of the Games which can stimulate developmental initiatives, for example:

• “Capturing Olympic and Paralympic Values in the Curriculum”
• “Critical examination of the Olympic Legacies aspired to by the Games organisers – their relevance in the HLST group of subjects and in HE generally”
• “Olympic and Paralympic Research and its implications for curriculum development”

Workshop sessions will provide opportunities to share developmental initiatives in learning, teaching and assessment in which the Games can be used to revitalise the learning experience of students and to engage them with learning. There will also be a display of posters describing further work in this area its impact.

Download the Programme & Booking Form (118kb .doc)

For more information visit the HLST Conference Page.

Following the model of BCMC the village of Whistler, one of the main hosts of the Olympic outdoor competitions, has put together a similar centre catering for the media in town interested in following stories out the beaten Olympic track: the Whistler Media House. Located in the vicinity of the Whistler Medal Plaza and the shrine dedicated to the fallen Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, the house provides free wifi, production spaces, a media theatre as well a connection point with other Whistler organizations. In fact, sources indicate that VANOC accredited media usually located in the Press Centre just walking minutes away from the Whistler Media House, make daily their way to the press conferences held at the here to meet athletes and their families. Unlike in Vancouver, where the BCMC operates independently from the other media houses such as W2 or True North Media House, in Whistler the media house brings all these stakeholders together. It is here where the Blackcomb Media Hub first communicates about its support to journalists with mountain access, rental equipment and mountain specific information. However, in order to get free or discounted access to the mountain journalists need to prove their interest in mountain related stories.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler is also present at the Whistler Media House their booth highlighting a wide range of activities in the area from tourism to culture. In fact, the Whistler Media House together with their partners offers a comprehensive list of online and digital resources, exceeding 1TB of data, for journalists ranging from photos to raw b-rolls and even story ideas. Similar information is provided by BCMC and can be accessed via the centre’s searchable archives as well as in its links and resources area of the website.

For those interested, here is a list of digital resources for the Winter Games. Part of the information comes from data compiled by the Resort Municipality of Whistler and part from our own research. Most sites require users to register.

• Whistler Media House
• British Columbia International Media Centre
• 2010 Winter Games Secretariat Resort Municipality of Whistler (data password protected)
• Tourism Whistler (request access privileges)
• Whistler Blackcomb (all media indexed and named for identification)
• Olympic Torch Relay

For BC, Vancouver, Canada related resources please check:

• Tourism BC
• Canadian Tourism Commission (data password protected)
• City of Vancouver (no registration required; FTP download)
• Tourism Vancouver

The Aboriginal Pavilion, based in the heart of downtown Vancouver (West Georgia Street & Hamilton St), promotes the culture and heritage of Canada’s oldest people, as part of British Columbia’s showcase during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. A light and visual effects show, traditional food and artwork have attracted 14,000 spectators each day since the start of the Games.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are being held within the traditional shared territories of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. Organisers of the Pavilion hope that the high media exposure the Olympics brought to the host city will give greater publicity to the diverse first nations of Canada. “The Pavilion is our showcase to the world,” said Tewanee Joseph, CEO of the Four Host First Nations Society.

The main attraction is a 720 degree special effects show, projected onto the dome roof of the main arena. (photo flicker, inside abo expo) It highlights the stories of the Aboriginal communities of Canada, focusing on the four host nations of British Columbia. Speaking in the lobby, General Manager, Karyn Holyk thinks “That this is the cultural heart beat of the Olympic experience.”

Denise Conner, a visitor of the pavilion who has travelled from Seattle to come see the cultural aspects and ambience of an Olympic City said: “I’m interested in how the Aboriginal people are represented. I’m not here for the sport but for the experience and atmosphere of the Games”.

Erin Linton and Geoff O’Donnell are Master’s students at the University of the West of Scotland and are contributing to Culture @ the Olympics during their stay in Vancouver.

Kim Jasper, Director of Marketing of Canadian Museum for Human Rights

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights launched its Champion Human Rights! Campaign during the media opening of the CentrePlace Manitoba pavilion at LiveCity Vancouver Downtown.

The campaign, aiming to promote respect and human rights action, asks visitors of the CentrePlace Manitorba pavilion to complete the “Everyone has the right to…” protest sign and have a picture taken with their sign and then future museum in the background. Currently all photographs taken are displayed on a screen in the pavilion but some of them will be shown again when the museum will open in 2012 in Winnipeg.

Although there is no connection between the presentation of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a museum of ideas and the first of its kind in Canada located outside a capital city, and the Olympic Games or the Olympic Truce, Kim Jasper, Director of Marketing of Canadian Museum for Human Rights, said that they wanted to use the visibility created by the Olympic Games to direct attention to their project and help thus raise funds as well.

According to Jasper the Museum’s mission is to “explore the subject of human rights, with special but not exclusive reference to Canada, in order to enhance the public’s understanding of human rights, to promote respect for others and to encourage reflection and dialogue”. Once opened the museum will use a mixture of visual arts, music, dance, theatre, digital technologies, multimedia and the Internet in order to engage with its visitors, encourage engagement and facilitate dialogue abou both Canadian and international human rights issues, challenges and triumphs.

The museum is the idea of  Dr. Israel Asper, founder of CanWest Global Communications Corp. and President and Founder of The Asper Foundation – a Winnipeg-based private charitable foundation that undertakes and develops major initiatives in the areas of culture, education, community development and human rights locally, nationally and internationally. Itslocation in Winnipeg, Manitoba is not unexpected, Manitoba being known in Canada for its reach human rights history from the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, French language rights, Métis rights through Louis Riel, to women’s rights through suffragette Nellie McClung.

The museum is a member of the Canadian Heritage Portfolio and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It was established in March 2008 though Parliament amendments to the Canadian Museum Act which came into force in August that same year.

Dr Beatriz Garcia, Editor of Culture at the Olympics, will be speaking at this event on Social Legacy.