Newsletter
The Geoheritage group quarterly meeting was held on 19 September, the first since the WCB AGM and it was great to have good representation from those individuals that indicated interest in participating in the Geoheritage Group activities. The meeting covered a short history of the group, some of the past and current projects and tasks and updates on projects.
Tasks highlighted for action
1. Updates to the Cogmanskloof booklet
2. Final updates to the Robben Island Brochure
3. Digitizing the Gansfontein (Fraserburg) palaeo surface booklet
4. 16 December Iziko Holiday program; looking for volunteers and getting the word out to members!
Tasks completed to date
1. Updates to Cogmans Kloof booklet - Caitlin, John and I met on 11 October to assess what needed to be done. John and Caitlin completed the updates, with the help of Coenie de Beer and an updated version (Rev 12) of the booklet is currently available for viewing / downloading on the GSSA WCB website.
1. Updates to the Robben Island poster - Caitlin will make the changes required. This task shuffled to the lower part of my to do list, but hopefully this really great poster will be available for sharing soon. As mentioned in the quarterly meeting, this project stalled for various reasons and was picked up by Michael MacHutchon who got the poster to the ‘final edits’ stage.
1. Gansfontein - Wendy proposed that we use the Gansfontein site as a proof of concept for a virtual field trip as a way of creating an immersive, web-based "experience" for select geosites and host this on the GSSA WC website. The idea is to move to the next level from the downloadable booklets and create an interactive web page which includes text, images, videos (like this one of Roger Smith demonstrating the Dinocephalian walk) and links to related content. Wendy contacted Roger Smith and he is on board as an advisor for the content planned for the site. Wendy has “a ton of media on the Palaeosurface including a series of informational videos on the site featuring Roger Smith and Pia (pitched to the general public), several 360-degree VFTs of the field site (including one 360 from above taken from a drone, and a couple flyovers), and 360-degree reconstructed environment with some of the main animals added in for kids to explore (from our game Surviving Extinction).”
Exciting projects on our radar
1. Translating the geological record into isiXhosa; first school visit 8 Nov 2023 at Disa Primary School, Hout Bay
2. Palaeontological Society of South Africa conference 8-12 September 2024 at Graaff Reinet
3. International Astronomical Union Assembly meeting 6-15 August 2024 in Cape Town; lots of outreach taking place along with the next GIFT Workshop (for teachers)
Articles of interest
1. Iziko Museums
“The theme of human connection is threaded through the whole exhibit. This shows how human evolution is not linear, but rather a braided stream – a view consistent with cutting-edge science. It also shows how the origin of our species is pan-African, and includes contributions from beyond Africa, and how this has made humanity more variable and more resilient.” Article in The Conversation 18 October 2023.
So many ideas, like braided streams, in every conversation about celebrating and experiencing Geoheritage. It seems like the Iziko Museum is an epicentre of ideas and action from the ‘productive tangents’ of the U406 Pavilion Prototype 2 to re-evaluating the role and place of museums in society.
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