UKMW16 will be held at the Wellcome Collection in London on 19 October 2016. Tickets will go on sale over summer. In the meantime, you can find out what people loved about our past conferences and sign up for our events newsletter.
MCG’s UKMW16 theme: Sharing our stories
Speakers at our 2015 conference (British Museum)
Museums have a range of interesting ways to tell stories for (and with) the public – games; virtual and augmented reality; in-gallery interpretation; social media; transmedia storytelling; chat bots; apps; in-person theatre; broadcasts and even plain old websites… We want to hear what works, who you worked with and how, and most importantly – what you learned along the way.
We also want to share stories for the sector, especially small stories about successes. What have you learnt that’ll help others working with technology, museums or cultural heritage? You’ve may already know what others struggle with and ideas that they find helpful, but some suggestions are:
- Solutions for financially self-sustaining products and projects
- Moving from ‘projects’ to ‘programmes’
- Figuring out and applying techniques like service design, agile projects, A/B testing
- Productivity tools and tips that work in your organisation
- ‘Robots and digital curation will eat our jobs!’ What does this mean in reality?
- Managing up – helping trustees, directors and funders understand ‘digital’
- Finding ways to keep up with news of constantly changing technology
- Balancing ethics with the lure of ‘big data’
- Making tendering processes work for you
- Getting beyond the catalogue in sharing collections online and making digital collections meaningful
- Making infrastructure and accessibility sexy (at least sexy enough to get funding)
- All museum jobs are digital. Now what?
Short presentations are a great way for you to share one or two useful ideas you’ve learnt – simple suggestions that others in the sector can try. Longer presentations let you provide a more nuanced explanation.
UKMW attracts speakers from some of the most innovative museums, agencies and university programmes in the world. We’re keen to hear from practitioners, researchers, funders, and more. The conference programme will include long and short presentations, and you can suggest a length to suit your topic in the proposal form below. All submitted papers will be reviewed by experts in the field.
We’re keen to have a mixture of old and new voices, and have a great track record in presenting a diverse range of speakers. We’ve started a profit-sharing scheme in acknowledgement of the resources required to attend and present at events, and can provide some bursaries for speakers who would benefit from assistance with funds for travel, childcare etc.
This call for proposals closes at midnight (London time) on 31 May 2016. Our Programme Committee will review proposals in June and you should hear from us in early July. If you have any questions please email us.
Please also read our Guidance for Speakers before submitting your proposal. Our events have a code of conduct.
Ready to share your stories? Fill in our Call for Proposals form
About the Museums Computer Group
Since its founding in 1982, the Museums Computer Group’s events have been an important part of the UK heritage sector. MCG events are an opportunity to learn from experts and peers, and like many others, this event’s theme was partly inspired by discussion on our practitioners’ list. Our events have an excellent track record for featuring a range of emerging and eminent speakers presenting on topics that matter to you now. Come prepared to challenge speakers, ask questions and network in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We will also host an evening event open to all so you can continue the conversations started during the day.
Charlotte Sexton’s keynote at our last event