The New Treasures: Artifacts of Chinese-Canadian life and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company exhibition is a new exhibit on display in the Chung Collection Exhibition room.
New Treasures is a new exhibition that features artifacts from Chinese-Canadian life such as kitchen utensils, apothecary items and more. It explores the immigration and settlement of Chinese-Canadian people in B.C.
The Chung Collection Exhibition room also has some new additions, including a model locomotive, built by a CPR engineer as a retirement project.
If you have never been to the collection, or even if you are a frequent visitor, it is time to explore the New Treasures of the Chung Collection!
Location: Level One of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, inside Rare Books and Special Collections.
About the Chung Collection
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection – a designated national treasure – was donated to the Library in 1999. Dr. Wallace Chung collected 25,000 items related to early B.C. history, immigration and settlement, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The fascinating collection now resides in Rare Books and Special Collections in the Chung Collection Exhibition room.
Many of the materials have been digitized and are available online.
In this presentation, Dr. William Wong discusses how principles from Cognitive Systems Engineering, CSE, might be used to design Visual Analytics systems to support intelligence analysts. In designing systems to control processes such as nuclear power generation, CSE has been used to determine and model a priori the functional relationships that relate the performance of the processes with system outcomes. Visual forms are then created to represent these invariant relationships in ecological interface designs. Can cognitive systems engineering be applied to the domain of intelligence analysis? And if yes, how might this be? And how should CSE principles be applied to the design of visual representations in intelligence analysis to take advantage of the benefits we have seen when CSE is applied to causal systems?
Biography
William Wong is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Head of the Interaction Design Centre at Middlesex University’s School of Science and Technology in London, UK. His research interests are in Cognitive engineering, naturalistic decision making, and representation design, in complex dynamic environments; Cognitive task analysis methods; HCI and multimedia in learning, in virtual environments, and museums; Usability engineering and interaction design.
Select Articles Available at UBC Library
Memisevic, R., Sanderson, P., Choudhoury, S., & Wong, W. (2005). Work domain analysis and ecological interface design for hydropower system monitoring and control. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. Hawaii, USA, 10-12 October 2005. Link: http://itee.uq.edu.au/~cerg/publications/IEEE-SMC2005MemisevicSandersonEtAl-HPS-EID.pdf
This session presents two tales of Canadian multiculturalism in general and multicultural education in particular. One tale is of a common sense, dominant multicultural education that underscores multiculturalism as a symbol and premiere characteristic of Canada. There may have been some critiques from the left and the right in the past and there’s always the awkwardness of Quebec’s interculturalism and intercultural education but these are past and peripheral matters that do little to trouble the idea that Canada and its approach to diversity education are decidedly multicultural. A rather different tale emerges when we consider multiculturalism and multicultural education in the context of global developments such as “the death of multiculturalism” discourse, the emergence of European interculturalism and intercultural education and even national and local developments of a variety of school board approaches to diversity, all of which constitutes cracks in the façade of a completely dominant Canadian multiculturalism and multicultural education. The invitation is for us to consider what the future of diversity education ought to be locally and nationally given the contradictory state of affairs of complacently hegemonic Canadian multiculturalism and multicultural education on the one hand and passé, challenged and undermined multiculturalism and multicultural education on the other.
Biography
Handel Kashope Wright is currently Professor and Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity and Education http://www.ccie.educ.ubc.ca. He has published extensively on continental African cultural studies, cultural studies of education, critical multiculturalism, anti-racist education, qualitative research and post-reconceptualization curriculum theorizing.
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Wright, H.K. (2011). Everything Old Ought to be New Again: Post-Reconceptualization Curriculum as Presentist Praxis. Journal of curriculum and pedagogy, 8 (1), 19-22. [Link]
Wright, H.K. (2006). Are we (T)here Yet? Qualitative Research in Education’s Profuse and Contested Present. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19 (6), 793-802. [Link]
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre as part of the Robson Reading Series.
Andrew Kaufman’s Born Weird tells the tale of the Weird family who have always been a little off, but not one of them ever suspected that they’d been cursed by their grandmother, Annie Weird. Now Annie is dying and she has one last request: for her far-flung grandchildren to assemble in her hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings-turned-curses. What follows is a quest like no other, tearing up highways and racing through airports, from a sketchy Winnipeg nursing home to the small island kingdom of Upliffta, from the family’s crumbling ancestral Toronto mansion to a motel called Love.
The title of Camille Martin’s latest book of poetry, Looms, signifies the weaving tool as well as the shadowing appearance of something, These “woven tales” were inspired by Barbara Guest’s statement that a tale “doesn’t tell the truth about itself; it tells us what it dreams about.” The strands of their surreal allegories converse, one idea giving rise to another, and the paths of their dialogue become the fabric of the narrative. In a second meaning, something that looms remains in a state of imminent arrival. Such are these tales, like parables with infinitely deferred lessons.
In Barry Webster‘s latest novel, The Lava in My Bones, a frustrated Canadian geologist studying global warming becomes obsessed with eating rocks after embarking on his first same-sex relationship in Europe. Back home, his young sister is a high-school girl who suddenly starts to ooze honey through her pores, an affliction that attracts hordes of bees as well as her male classmates but ultimately turns her into a social pariah. Meanwhile, their obsessive Pentecostal mother repeatedly calls on the Holy Spirit to rid her family of demons. The siblings are reunited on a ship bound for Europe where they hope to start a new life, but are unaware that their disguised mother is also on board and plotting to win back their souls, with the help of the Virgin Mary.”
Author Biographies
Andrew Kaufman is the author of All My Friends Are Superheroes, The Tiny Wife, and The Waterproof Bible. He was born in Wingham, Ontario, the birthplace of Alice Munro, making him the second-best writer from a town of 3000. His work has been published in 11 countries and translated into 9 languages. He is also an accomplished screenwriter and lives in Toronto.
Camille Martin is the author four collections of poetry: Looms (Shearsman Books), Sonnets, Codes of Public Sleep, and Sesame Kiosk. A chapbook, If Leaf, Then Arpeggio, was recently released from Above/Ground Press. She has presented and published her work internationally. Martin earned an MFA in Poetry from the University of New Orleans and a PhD in English from Louisiana State University.
Barry Webster‘s first book, The Sound of All Flesh (Porcupine’s Quill), won the ReLit Award for best short-story collection in 2005. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award, the CBC-Quebec Prize, and the Hugh MacLennan Award. Originally from Toronto, he currently lives in East Montreal.
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the UBC Reads Sustainability. The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners. While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information—how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more. With full-color illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself. Readers will find detailed information on fermenting vegetables; sugars into alcohol (meads, wines, and ciders); sour tonic beverages; milk; grains and starchy tubers; beers (and other grain-based alcoholic beverages); beans; seeds; nuts; fish; meat; and eggs, as well as growing mold cultures, using fermentation in agriculture, art, and energy production, and considerations for commercial enterprises. Sandor Katz has introduced what will undoubtedly remain a classic in food literature, and is the first—and only—of its kind.
Biography
Sandor Ellix Katz is a self-taught fermentation experimentalist. Katz has taught hundreds of fermentation workshops across North America and beyond, taking on a role he describes as a “fermentation revivalist.” Now, in The Art of Fermentation, with a decade more experience behind him, the unique opportunity to hear countless stories about fermentation practices, and answering thousands of troubleshooting questions, he’s sharing a more in-depth exploration of the topic.
Select Books Available at UBC Library
Katz, Sandor Ellix. (2012). The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes From Around the World. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing. Link: http://webcat1.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=6421437
Come join us for a film screening of “The Broken Destiny of Poetry” by Rahmat Haidari and Sajia Hussain, a documentary about a young Afghan woman poet’s struggle to survive and write. Focusing on female poetry in Afghanistan, this documentary reveals how the few female poets often have to fight for their right to read and write their poems. The few female poets that do live in Afghanistan live in constant fear. Some of them, like Nadia Anjoman, have sacrificed themselves for their goal of writing. For other brave women like, Karima, a twenty-six year old woman who had graduated from Kabul University where she studied Dari literature faced serious retribution after her publication of a 47 page poem collection in 1990 and faces constant threats in her home province of Badakhshan in Afghanistan.
Schedule of events also include: a First Nations welcome by Wanda John-Kehewin and poetry launch of “In the Dog House”
Navaho flute music by Angelo Moroni
World Poetry Peace Poetathon official launch
Music release by Japanese composer Yoshifumi Sakura
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by Richmond Public Library as part of the “The Joy Of Reading: Chinese Literature Appreciation” lecture series. This talk focuses on living and writing between two cultures, Chinese and Canadian. Racial hybridity has informed most of Prof. Wah’s writing and that of many Chinese-Canadian writers. Wah will read and discuss his own book Diamond Grill (about growing up in a small town Chinese-Canadian restaurant), as well as writings by poets Rita Wong, Larissa Lai, Weyman Chan, and others. He will situate this writing within the recent historical context in North America of “writing through race.” Presented by Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, Professor Emeritus Fred Wah.
Select Articles Available at UBC Library
Wah, F. (2006). Diamond grill. Edmonton: NeWest.
Wah, F. (2005). Isadora blue. Victoria, B.C: La Mano Izquierda Impresora.
Wah, F. (1988). Rooftops. Red Deer, Alta: Red Deer College Press.
Wah, F. (2009). Is a door. Vancouver, B.C: Talonbooks.
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by Green College. Most people believe in deities, immaterial souls, life after death, and the divine creation of humans and other animals. Research from developmental psychology (including the study of babies) and social psychology supports a minimalist theory of why we have such beliefs, which is that they emerge from the very same processes that give rise to beliefs in other domains, such as science and politics. Finally, although it is often argued that religious beliefs have great moral significance, there is little evidence in support of this view. Overall, religious beliefs just aren’t that special.
Biography
Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. He was born in Montreal, Canada, was an undergraduate at McGill University, and did his doctoral work at MIT. He has published in scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and in popular outlets such as The New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly. He is the co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the author of two books: How Children Learn the Meanings of Words and Descartes’ Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human. His research explores children’s understanding of art, religion, and morality. This lecture is part of the ongoing Green College lecture series, “Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture: The Evolution of Religion, Morality and Cooperation”
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS). Much of the research on how we encounter information tends to focus on linear models of intentional information search. Recently a number of studies and frameworks have suggested that not all information individuals encounter is through goal-oriented search, but rather that individuals often find information and connect with people accidentally, without purposefully looking. A wide range of terms and models have been proposed to describe the phenomenon. The present presentation has three goals. First, it provides an overview of the current debate around the phenomenon of serendipity, presenting and contrasting various models of how serendipity occurs. Second, it discusses how technology could affect serendipity and opportunities for designing digital tools that support innovation, creativity, and resource discovery. Finally, it presents current research findings on how serendipity impacts the work of scholars.
Biography
Anabel Quan-Haaseis Associate Professor of Information and Media Studies and Sociology at the University of Western Ontario. Her primary interests lies in the areas of Internet and society and computer-mediated communication. Quan-Haase’s current research investigates the uses of technology and the effects of technology on society.
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Martin, K., & Quan-Haase, A. (2013). Are e-books replacing print books? tradition, serendipity, and opportunity in the adoption and use of e-books for historical research and teaching. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. Volume 64, Issue 5, 1016–1028, May 2013 Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.22801/abstract
