The National Media Museum in Bradford is hosting a two-day conference on the challenges and opportunities around the acquisition and management of archives by cultural institutions. Such archives may be still, moving or mixed-format; analogue or digital or both; they may be from a company, private, practitioner, virtual, community-based or regional; complete or partial; contained or continually developing.
This is a Call for Papers asking for perspectives on the strategic issues, opportunities and challenges presented by organisations which actively acquire and curate bodies of work. The conference seeks to examine emergent digital technologies and their impact on archival practice and acquisition.
Contributions which evidence new approaches and/or creative and innovative ways of thinking which challenge conventional understanding are particularly welcome.
Four sessions will consider different types of archives encompassing perspectives from:
- Practitioners & Photographers
- Curators and Institutions
- Mixed Media & Technology Environment
- Commercial & Galleries World
Suggested themes and questions include:
1. The Archive
- What is considered to be `the asset’?
- What constitutes an archive and what challenges do these present to collecting institutions?
- At what point is it useful or helpful to call a `collection’ an `archive’?
- What is the difference between them, if any?
- What is the rationale for acquiring archives?
2. Mixed Curatorship
- Curatorial perspectives and models of mixed curatorship
- Does it need to be comprehensive or representative?
- What are the challenges around the acquisition of analogue/digital/mixed archives?
3. Ownership, Role and the Value of Attendant Data
- What is the impact of removing an archive from its locale?
- To what extent is it valuable for a practitioner to continue to be involved with their archive?
4. The Challenges of Copyright
- What is the role of commercial galleries and organisations?
- The challenges of acquiring multi-media or mixed format collections.
- What are the copyright issues around the acquisition of digital archives, and how can these be addressed?
5. The Future of the Archive: The Role of New Technologies
- What are the positive and negative impacts of `new technologies’?
- Digitisation against retention of the original
- Preservation and dissemination
- Public access, engagement and creative exploitation
For further information, please contact paul.goodman@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk directly.
UPDATE: The conference web pages can be found here: http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Collection/ArchivesConference
TIMETABLE
Deadline for abstracts [c.250 words for a 20 minute paper]
9 May 2014
Acceptance of abstracts
30 June 2014
Deadline for texts submission (web)
30 September 2014
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