The Museums Computer Group are excited to open our Call for Proposals for our 2016 Spring workshop which will be held at the Hospitium in York on May 6, 2016. Continuing the MCG’s long-standing interest in how museums respond to the changes that digital technologies bring, our 2016 theme is: ‘Life Support: living with digital projects‘.
Museums have invested in digital projects for exhibitions, events, audience interaction, collections management and more. Myriad funders, from government to trusts and foundations to philanthropists, are willing to provide project funding for museums to complete website rebuilds, develop new digital interactives and apps, create online collections sites and picture libraries. But what happens the day after a project launches? How do individual projects affect the rest of the museum? And a year after launch, what traces remain of the lessons learnt?
We are seeking proposals from colleagues in the sector willing to share their insights on the aftermath and daily reality of digital projects in cultural heritage. How have you successfully integrated projects into core business? Where have you struggled, and what lessons have you learned? Topics of interest include:
- Maintaining digital projects after the funding has run out
- The pros and cons of building in-house expertise vs outsourcing and agencies
- Integrating project learning into core practices, workflows and job descriptions
- The role of project evaluation internally and in the wider sector
- How partnerships change and evolve after the end of a project.
We are looking for approx. 20 minute talks that share practical experience and will give delegates concrete ideas to take back to their organisations. We would also be interested in sessions that take a different approach, whether that be a workshop, debate or roundtable – feel free to be creative in pitching your idea! If you’re not sure about your proposed topic or format, then get in touch.
Ready to submit an idea? Our call for proposals form is here: http://goo.gl/forms/5qddYLUN6r
The call closes at midnight GMT on March 21, 2016. We will review proposals and get back to you within a fortnight.
Other event information
- In what’s probably a first for the cultural sector, the MCG has started sharing the profits from our events with speakers. Speakers can choose to ‘pay it forward’ and contribute to bursaries for low income/unwanted attendees, or accept a small(ish) sum in recognition of the work it takes to prepare a presentation.
- Our keynote speaker is digital strategist and independent consultant, Charlotte Sexton! Find out more about Charlotte on the event page: https://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/meetings/mcg-spring-event/
- Find out why people love coming to our events: https://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/meetings/
- Finally – save the date! UKMW16 will be held at the Wellcome Collection in London on 19 October 2016.
Questions? Get in touch!
The 14th century Hospitium is a two-storey listed building set within the beautiful Museum Gardens, overlooked by the striking ruins of St Mary’s Abbey.