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I have questions for the group regarding an organization's liability related to doing "risky" activities. My big question is "How do we encourage a risk-taking environment while protecting our visitors?" We want to create positive environments for experimentation, risk, and failure, but are concerned about visitor safety and legal liability. 

1. Maker Programs - We are developing Maker programs in which participants could use tools that could burn, cut, or otherwise injure them. If you have done something similar, what have you learned about legal liability for your organization if a participant is injured during the activity? How do you communicate and minimize possible risk to participants? 

2. User-Generated Content Online - We are creating a workshop related to critical thinking about science "myths." One element of this is to have visitors test science myths at home and share their experiences with us online through videos or other media. We can discuss safety in the workshop, but obviously can't control what visitors do once they leave. We're concerned that they may test things in unsafe ways, get injured, blow things up, etc. Have you asked for/received online user-generated content around a risky subject, and if yes, (how) did you minimize risk? 

Thanks in advance for any information you can share.

Kate Storm
COSI 
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