MDA Conference 1999 (London):
Delivering Diversity: Promoting Participation

This conference was held jointly with CIDOC.

The papers from the conference can be found on-line here

Programme

Monday 6 September

Study Visits

The day consisted of free Study Visits.

Study Visit Venues:
British Museum
National Portrait Gallery
Museum of London
V & A Museum
V & A National Art Library
Natural History Museum
Imperial War Museum
Royal Collections, Windsor Castle
Science Museum Study Collection, Blythe House
Science Museum
Tate Gallery

Arts and Humanities Data Service Seminar - Going Digital for Museums

This was on the creation and use of electronic resources for museum based projects.

Tuesday 7 September

CIDOC Working Groups

The day consisted of meetings of the CIDOC Working Groups.

Meetings will included:

Archaeological Sites Working Group
Works towards the development of standards for site documentation.
Ethno Working Group
Currently developing an ethnographic data standard.
Multimedia Working Group
Dedicated to advancing the use of multimedia in museums
Information Centres Working Group
Explores issues regarding museum libraries and bibliographic collections
Documentation Standards Working Group
Promotes, discusses and develops standards and guidelines relevant to museum documentation
Internet Working Group
Discusses the promise of the Internet within the museum community
Services Working Group
Produces various fact sheets and conducts member surveys
Contemporary Art Working Group
Dedicated to issues regarding the documentation of contemporary art
Iconography Working Group
Examines the issues of standards and classification for iconography

Museum Computer Group (MCG) Meeting

A meeting of the Museum Computer Group (MCG) will took place at the Natural History Museum where there were demonstrations and discussions relating to recent IT developments, including their Web site, use of IT in galleries, a database markup language developed at the Natural History Museum and their picture library.
Evening Drinks Reception
London Transport Museum
6.30pm-8.00pm
This event was part sponsored by System Simulation Ltd.
The organisers gratefully acknowledge this generous support of the MDA /CIDOC Conference.
Main Conference
Wednesday 8 September
Main Conference Registration from 8.00am
Session 1
9.30am - 10.45am
Welcome by
Nichola Johnson, Chair of MDA and Pat Young, Chair of CIDOC

Official Opening by
Alan Howarth CBE MP, Minister for the Arts

Keynote Plenary by
Matthew Evans CBE, Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Coffee & Tea 10.45am - 11.15am
Session 2
11.15am - 12.45pm
Collaborative Projects

Michela Michilli, Consorzio Civita -
Hypermuseum

Martyn Brown, Oxfordshire County Museums -
OIKOS II: working with cultural minorities

Matthew Stiff, MDA -
Strength in Numbers: the development of the 24 Hour Museum		 Agendas for the Future

Suzanne Keene, on behalf of National Museum Directors' Conference -
A Netful of Jewels

Michael Lauenborg, Esbjerg Museum, Denmark -
The Launch of the European Museums' Information Institute

Andrew Roberts, Museum of London and Alice Grant, Science Museum, UK -
The changing role of the information professional
Lunch 12.45pm - 2.00pm
Session 3
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Archives, Libraries & Museums

Ariane Iljon, EC DGXIII -
Convergence of Archives, Libraries and Museums: a European perspective

Chris Batt, Library & Information Commission -
Building the People's Network: the final frontier

Jane Sledge, National Museum of the American Indian -
'American Str@tegy'		 Funding

Laura Drysdale, Museums & Galleries Commission -
Managing Money: the funding challenge

Bruce Royan, Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network -
Present Imperfect, Future Conditional: sustainability models for information resources

Wendy Sudbury, Cambridge Management Group -
Diversity & Participation: EC sources of funding
Tea & Coffee 3.30pm - 4.00pm
Session 4
4.00pm - 5.30pm
Resource Discovery

Paul Miller, Interoperability Focus -
DC, RDF, Z39.50, and assorted other acronyms: standards-based resource discovery on the web for the cultural heritage community

Angela Spinazze, CIMI -
Finding Museum Information in the Internet Commons: a report on the CIMI Dublin Core Metadata Testbed Project

Godfrey Rust, INDECS -
Data Definitions		 Marketplace of Ideas

Projects, innovations and professional updates from around the world

Kept open for up-to-the minute developments
Trade Exhibition
Sherfield Ante Room
and
Hot Fork Buffet
Sherfield Main Dining Hall
7.30pm - 9.30pm
The drinks for the Exhibition Buffet were sponsored by ICOM UK.
The organisers gratefully acknowledged this generous support of the MDA /CIDOC Conference.
Thursday 9 September
Registration from 8.30am - 9.15am
Session 5
9.15am - 10.45am
Providing for Specific Audiences

Junko Iwabuchi, Keio University, Tokyo -
Bringing in more elderly audiences with the power of digital technologies: a case study

Jodi Mattes, British Museum -
Access for All? Consideration of multimedia content and design to ensure access for users with disabilities

David O'Brien, University of Plymouth -
Higher education students involved with cultural heritage; a traditional audience eager to use new methods		 Combating Illicit Traffic

Patrick Boylan, City University, UK -
The Key Role of Documentation and Information in the Protection of Cultural Property and Institutions in times of Armed Conflict

Manus Brinkman, ICOM -
Illicit Traffic, fighting an uphill battle
followed by a Panel Discussion with speakers plus Maurice Davies, Museums Association, Neil Brodie, McDonald Insitute for Archaeological Research and Sharon Page, Tate Gallery.
Coffee & Tea
10.45am - 11.15am
Session 6
11.15am - 12.45pm
Accessing the Diversity of Collections

Jennifer Trant and David Bearman, AMICO -
Building a Cultural Digital Library for Diverse Educational Users: The AMICO Experience

Alexander Drikker, State Russian Museum -
The Museum in the Twenty First Century and Information Media

Ray Lester, Natural History Museum, UK -
The diversity of biodiversity information: is it inevitable?		 An African Perspective

Hermione Cornwall-Jones, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, UK -
Historical Photographic Collections: an untapped resource?

Mubiana Luhila, Livingstone Museum, Zambia -
Networked Communication: how do we ensure that developing nations with rich cultures are included in the opportunities presented by the networked world?

Chédlia Annabi, Musée National de Carthage -
The AFRICOM Inventory Programme
(paper presented by Leonard Will, Consultant)
Lunch
12.45pm - 2.00pm
Session 7
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Audience Assessment

Douglas Tudhope, University of Glamorgan -
Audience and Access: evaluating access to multimedia collections

Pat Reynolds, Surrey Museums -
Market Research into Potential Web Audiences

Ed Southworth and Anne Fahy, National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside -
Who's Out there? Combating Virtual Exclusion		 MDA Business Meetings

MDA Board Meeting (I) 2.00pm - 3.30pm
MDA AGM (members only) 3.30pm - 4.00pm
MDA Board Meeting (II) 4.00pm - 4.30pm
Tea & Coffee
3.30pm - 4.00pm
Session 8
4.00pm - 5.30pm
Involving Audiences

Roland Jackson, Science Museum, UK -
Flights of Inspiration

Ruth Singer, London Transport Museum -
How the London Transport Museum reached new audiences through working with local schools

Technical Opportunities - Technical Realities

Nick Tyson, Regency Town House, UK -
The truth about making in-house multimedia

Rus Gant, Gant and Associates -
Tools for Museums in the 21st Century

David Dawson, Museums & Galleries Commission -
New Technology is for life, not just for Christmas
Conference Dinner
Imperial War Museum
7.30pm for 8.00pm until 10.00pm

The welcome drinks at the dinner were sponsored by Microsoft Research UK.
The organisers gratefully acknowledged this generous support of the MDA/CIDOC Conference.

The Conference Dinner was hosted by Robert Crawford, Director of the Imperial War Museum. Zandra Rhodes gave the after dinner address.
.
Friday 10 September
Registration from 8.30 - 9.15am
Session 9
9.15am - 10.45am
Content Development

Fiona Marshall, British Museum -
Joining the dots: Challenges in the creation of information for public access

Jeanne Hogenboom, Bureau IMC, Netherlands -
"Truth may seem, but cannot be": on the reliability of museum's collection information databases

Kati Geber, CHIN -
The Challenges of Building a Gateway		 Archaeological Access

Dr Richard Hobbs, British Museum -
Finding our Past: the Portable Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales

Damian Robinson, ADS -
ADS's role in developing access to archaeological resources

Andrew Roberts, John Shepherd, Francis Grew, Museum of London -
Managing and providing access to information resources about the archaeological archive of London
Coffee & Tea
10.45am - 11.15am
Session 10
11.00am - 12.45pm
Developing New Types of Information Resource

Ian Morrison, National Museums of Scotland -
"Villages of Ether"

Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs, Smithsonian Institution, USA -
Teaching an Old Catalogue New Tricks: Reinventing 20th Century Documentation for Audiences of the New Millennium

Helen McCorry, National Museums of Scotland -
Museums, the Web and the Serendipity Facilitator		 Breaking News .... including:

European Museums' Information Institute
DCMS Challenge Funds
New Opportunities Fund
Follow up to Netful of Jewels

(Further details to be announced)
Lunch
12.45pm - 2.00pm
Session 11 - Closing Plenary and Debate
2.00pm - 3.00pm

A lively session to bringing together the themes of the Conference.
CIDOC Business Meeting
3.00pm - 4.00pm

CIDOC AGM
Coffee & Tea
4.00pm
Conference closed

A Note on the Trade Exhibition

7 - 10 September
Sherfield Main Dining Hall Ante Room

Exhibitors included:
Adlib
Bureau IMC
England Marketing
Gallery Systems, New York
Hyder
MINISIS Systeams Group
Mobydoc
MODES
Oxford Mathematical & Computing Research Group
System Simulation Limited

The delegate bags were sponsored by ADLIB Information Systems. The organisers gratefully acknowledged this generous support of the MDA /CIDOC.

©2001 MDA