Guide to Science Centres and Museums in LAC gets a new edition
By Haendel Gomes (COC/Fiocruz)
The Guide to Science Centres and Museums in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) gains a new edition and presents 448 museums and science centres in the region. The publication of 2023 has undergone an important change from the last version of 2015. Aiming to stimulate the curiosity of readers about such close languages, the organizers decided to make only one edition, without translation. Thus, Portuguese was used in the texts of Brazilian museums and Spanish in the entries of museums from other countries. The Guide will be launched on May 16, at 11am (time in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), at 8am (Mexico) and 9am (Colombia), with a live broadcast on YouTube from the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz) and participation of the organizers.
The organisers of the publication are the researchers Luisa Massarani, coordinator of the National Institute for Public Communication of Science and Technology and Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (INCT-CPTC/COC/Fiocruz), Mariana de Souza Lima (INCT-CPTC), Ma. de Lourdes Patiño-Barba, from the Network of Popularization of Science and Technology in Latin America and in Caribe Net (RedPOP in Spanish), Rodrigo Arantes Reis, from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and the Brazilian Association of Science Centres and Museums (ABCMC), Luís Amorim and Marina Ramalho (Museum of Life/Fiocruz).
Another innovation is that, in this edition, some virtual museums presented themselves to be in the guide. According to the organizers, they chose to keep them, given the adaptations / reconfigurations of the museum world in times of pandemic. The 2023 Guide also brings information on accessibility, a novelty in relation to the previous version.
The Guide 2023
For the new edition, the organisers carried out a previous survey of science museums in Latin America, arriving at a total of 1,896 spaces distributed in the region. Each one received an invitation to participate in the guide. Calls were also made through social networks.
In this version of the Guide to Science Centres and Museums of Latin America and the Caribbean 2023, the institutions that responded to the invitation and sent information to the organizers were included. According to them, only in a few specific cases museums were added based on information available on their websites.
Therefore, they warn, "this is not -and does not intend to be- an exhaustive guide to science museums in the region".
Broad view of museums
Science museums are understood in this guide in a broad way: natural history museums, technology museums, anthropology museums, archaeology museums, ethnography museums, historical museums, interactive centres, botanical gardens, aquariums, planetariums, zoos, environmental education centres, environmental parks, and others.
With the participation of a pool of institutions, the guide started with a publication focused on Brazil. The first edition was launched in 2005 and the second in 2009. In 2015, it became a guide for the entire Latin American region.
The Guide is a realization of INCT-CPCT, RedPOP, ABCMC and the Fiocruz Museum of Life. The publication is supported by UNESCO, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj).
Agenda:
Launch: Guide to Science Centres and Museums of Latin America and the Caribbean 2023 - Guía de Centros y Museos de Ciencia de América Latina y el Caribe 2023;
Date: May 16th
Time: 11am (time in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), 8am (Mexico) and 9am (Colombia);
Live streaming: YouTube Casa de Oswaldo Cruz