Dear Nordic science centre colleagues,

I hope you’ve had a good 2021 so far. Here in Bergen, Norway, it's starting to feel ever more like playing the kid's game "Red light, green light", with the government opening and closing VilVite according to the ever-changing corona status.  

At least we get to open the doors periodically, and when we do, we see the joy in our visitors' eyes. People are thrilled to be back out among others. And (yay!), they haven't forgotten us, likely because we took the “digital dialogue” to a new level during 2020, an investment that hopefully will pay back when we reopen fully.

After the pandemic, I’ll be the first to make a bonfire with my face masks. But should we do the same with all the digital initiatives we’ve taken because of the darn virus? What kind of content and methods could be worth keeping and developing further, even post corona? That’s the focus for this first NSCA newsletter of -21.

Hey, wait, NSCA? Isn’t it NSCF?

Well, the organisation’s name, according to our charter, is “Nordic Science Center Association”. The charter was originally (back in 1987, shortly after Thatcher won her third term) written in Swedish, and there the name was stated as “Nordisk Science Center Forbund”. At some point in time, the organisation’s working language became English, and thus the English version of the name became fashionable.  

However, the original abbreviation stuck. At a meeting on 21 January, the board decided to correct this historic wrong; From now on, we’ll use “NSCA” as a short form for our beloved association.  

Our friends at AHHAA have made us a new logo accordingly. Even if we’ve lost some of that happy eighties feeling in the logotype, I think it looks great. Thanks a lot, Pilvi & co! And soon, the website will also take the leap into the 21st century - we'll refurbish it by fall.


Comments or questions? I’d love to hear from you. Post something on our Facebook (where the activity has exploded this year, in relative terms of course) or drop me a few lines on llm@vilvite.no.  

And take care!  

All the best from Lars and the rest of the board