Workshop
Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands-on experience of a practice. These sessions may also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue or debate – all involving substantial interaction with the audience. A single article (jointly authored, if appropriate) may be submitted to the journal based on a workshop session. An interactive 45 minute session which involves the audience throughout the session, and involves at least 30 minutes of audience participation.
Do No Harm: Framework for Ethical Decision-making in Museums and Reflective Practice Workshop View Digital Media
Workshop Presentation Ruth Starr
This session is premised on the acknowledgement that museums hold the capacity to cause harm (among communities, workforces, and, in a broad sense, through practices). Once we surface that museums do cause harm, all the time, we make space for dialogue on how to better equip practitioners to develop shared language around ethics, values, and impact to address future situations with an expanded perspective. Further, we workshop a set of actions designed to provide support and accountability through the use of “supervision”, a reflective practice methodology introduced by the Department of Health in 1993 as “a formal process of professional support and learning which enables practitioners to develop knowledge and competence, assume responsibility for their own practice and enhance consumer protection and the safety of care in complex situations. It is central to the process of learning and to the expansion of the scope of practice and should be seen as a means of encouraging self-assessment and analytical and reflective skills.” In this session, we apply the supervision process to recent instances of ethical complexity confronting museums (and thereby museum workers) to support practitioners in more robust decision-making capabilities for future challenges.
