Students in our Master of Information program can apply for the Alberta Letts Conference Travel Award (more details here) to help fund travel to professional conferences. Here are some recaps from recent events our students have attended:
From Kelti McGloin (MI/JD student):
“I was honoured to have participated as a student presenter in the Crossing Fonds Symposium 2024 in Vancouver, B.C. The four-day event brought together a diverse group of speakers and participants, all passionate about creating a more inclusive and diverse environment within both physical and digital archives. Crossing Fonds being at the core of the symposium, encourages the collaboration and building of community among archive spaces. The online ecosystem developed by their team offered new and insightful knowledge on potential steps forward for digital archival work. The symposium provided me with the opportunity to share information on my proposed thesis, a study that aims to understand the role of settler-based community archives in the process of decolonization within Canada. Conversation following my presentation provided thoughtful feedback, excitement for the study, and questions I will consider throughout my study.
Highlights I experienced from the events included listening to presentations on decolonization, Indigenous data sovereignty, accessibility in the archive, and speakers who represented a diverse group of marginalized communities. Keynote speakers included: Michelle Caswell of the UCLA Community Archives Lab, Kristin Kozar the Executive Director and Oral Testimony Program Co-Lead at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, University of British Columbia, and Ry Moran the founding director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. It was a honour to be listening, learning and engaging with individuals who have made incredible impacts towards the decolonizing of archives and the increasing of inclusivity and diversity within archival spaces. Thank you to the MI program, the Alberta Letts Conference Travel Award and for the support received by faculty and colleagues.”
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