UK Museums On The Web conference (UKMW14): Museums Beyond the Web
Submission deadline: June 30, 2014
The Museums Computer Group will be holding our annual UKMW conference at the Natural History Museum on Friday November 7 2014. This year our theme is ‘Museums Beyond the Web’.
What does ‘the web’ mean to those of us working with digital and museums today? Increasingly, our visitors’ online experiences are moving away from the humble browser (though perhaps email will always be with us). From simple mobile apps and games to the internet of things and wearable technology, new forms are displacing the World Wide Web as our primary experience of being connected to the internet.
While new technologies offer ever-more different ways of being digital, digital disciplines are advancing rapidly. Is ‘experience’ the new core of digital for visitors? Is ‘service design’ a better way of looking at what we do than ‘web design’ or even ‘user experience’? And in our organisations, are all departments ‘digital departments’ now?
At the same time, many of the advances in museums technology in recent years, like Linked Open Data, are crucially dependent on an open and interoperable World Wide Web. Museums across the globe recently raised their voices to protest against threats to net neutrality: we know that the value of cultural heritage online can only thrive on an equal and open internet. What web freedoms do we need to preserve to benefit museums and our audiences?
UKMW14: Museums Beyond the Web will tackle these issues and more. Digital museum professionals and the museum-curious alike will find this day conference a useful, interesting and enriching experience.
Don’t miss tickets going on sale: sign up for occasional event notices from our low-traffic MCG Events list to make sure you’re one of the first to know when tickets go on sale: http://eepurl.com/r3Y6H
The Call for Papers for UKMW14 is now open at http://bit.ly/UKMW14CfP
Like the web, the shape of our theme may experience rapid change, as we’re hoping for a range of creative responses from within and without the cultural heritage sector. If you have any questions or can’t view the proposal form at http://bit.ly/UKMW14CfP then please email contact@museumscomputergroup.org.uk.
If you have suggestions for keynote speakers, or would like to help out on our Programme Committee, please drop us a line!
Best regards,
Mia Ridge and Danny Birchall
UKMW14 Programme Committee Co-Chairs
About The Museums Computer Group: Connecting, supporting, inspiring museum technology professionals
The Museums Computer Group (MCG) is a UK-based independent group for museum, gallery, archive and higher education professionals who work with museum technology and digital heritage. Our members include technologists, educators, academics, marketing people and more working in or around museums and digital technologies, from backend collections systems to the latest social media.
We provide a forum for discussion between technology, marketing, education, outreach, new media, documentation, collections management or traditional IT departments. We connect, support and inspire our members through annual events at museums and other venues throughout the UK, a mailing list and other channels for debate and practical help.