2004 Autumn Meeting & AGM, British Museum

Abstracts, Presentations and Biographies

Biography
Matthew joined the British Museum in 1998 as part of the COMPASS Team, as Creative Editor. He now manages the COMPASS content team, the World Timelines Project and other new media work that the Multimedia Projects team take on. He is currently leading on a Web Accessibility Strategy for the Museum. Previously, Matthew worked in the V&A as a curatorial assistant in the Records and Collections Services Department.

David Jillings Bio [Powerpoint]

Biography
David Jillings moved into museums from central civil service (LCD) in 1987 as the initial member of the IT unit at the V&A, later spending 4 years as their Head of Computer Services as the unit expanded. He then moved back to central government, and, as IS Manager in the Cabinet Office agency PACE, led the development of a national database for managing the government's civil estate. David was appointed as COMPASS Project Manager at the British Museum in December 1997 and became Head of New Media in 2001. New Media Unit currently comprises the Ancient Civilizations team (ancientcivilizations.co.uk), the World Timelines project, COMPASS, E-learning and other on-line and gallery-based multimedia productions.

'Digital Image Management' Graham Head [Powerpoint]

This talk will survey the development of digital image management in the Museum over the last five years. Beginning with the requirements of the COMPASS project, it will track the adoption of digitisation technology, and its subsequent incorporation into an overarching digital image strategy. This will lead to a discussion of the Museum’s digital image database and associated online repository, and its relationship with the Museum’s core collections management systems. The talk will end with a look at current issues, and a review currently in progress of colour management and e-processes.

Biography
Graham has been Head of Information Systems at the Museum since late 1998. Since then, he has lead the major series of IS/IT projects to support the development of the Great Court and implemented Museum-wide networking. Since 2003, Graham has also been responsible for the Museum's Photography and Imaging team. Before joining the Museum he was a founding partner in a small IT consultancy and software house, responsible for all consultancy services. Earlier, he spent 13 years with the NHS, looking at databases, online services and new technologies.

'Curators need computers too!' Alexandra Irving [Powerpoint]

This talk will explore the different aspects of curatorial work that rely on technological support. Curators are being called upon to fulfil increasingly diverse roles within the museum environment, many of which would be virtually impossible without modern technology. Key areas that will be discussed from a curator's perspective are research, data management and communication.

Biography
Alexandra Irving received her doctorate from Manchester University in 2001 and came to work in the British Museum in the same year. Her research encompasses the prehistoric archaeology of the Middle East, particularly pottery from the Neolithic period. She is director of ceramic research at the site of Domuztepe in south-eastern Turkey and joins the excavations there each year. Within the museum, she is currently participating in a programme of radiography, with the department of Conservation, Documentation and Science, to re-assess Iraqi objects from the Royal Cemetery of Ur.

'Cost Effective Colour Management for Museums' Tony Harris [Powerpoint]

The Government Art Collection is in the middle of an ongoing process of moving from film to digital, and this talk aims to give a brief discussion of one of the biggest problems with digital: colour consistency, more commonly known as colour management. Many different solutions were tested before settling on a solution that cost £4000. Simply by changing one monitor setting you can start down the road to more accurate colour. This talk aims to help you achieve better colour no matter what your budget is.

Biography

Tony Harris has been a New Media Officer for the Government Art Collection since January 2000, and is involved in a wide variety of different projects, but digital imaging is his core role.

'Collective Conversations' Malcolm Chapman [Powerpoint]

'Collective Conversations' is a project funded by the NW Hub providing a two-way dialogue with local community groups, working initially with the Anthropology collections. The collections are being re-catalogued, photographed and re-stored to provide increased public access. At the same time local community groups are taking part in recorded 'conversations' with the artefacts. The resulting narratives and catalogue records will be available over the web. Initial work has been with Somali refugee communities in Manchester but there are plans to extend this to other groups around the city and even worldwide. A parallel Designation Challenge Fund project is creating links between the Anthropology and Natural Science collections and aims to include community and academic voices from the Pacific.

Biography
From 1989 until 2000 Malcolm worked in the Collections Data Management Section at The British Museum, cataloguing collections, training curators and developing the collections database. From 2000 until 2004 worked as Registrar at The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, managing various ICT and documentation-based projects. Currently Principal Curator (Collections Management) at The Manchester Museum where his responsibilities now include policy and strategy development as well as management of documentation and conservation.

'ICT at the Ashmolean' Dr Jonathan Moffet. [Powerpoint]

The Ashmolean is about to undergo a dramatic change. With the award of an HLF grant, plans to carry out a major redevelopment of the museum are now moving forward. These will involve the demolition of the rear, early 1900's galleries, and their replacement with a modern, state-of-the-art building which will make better use of the space available. This is scheduled to begin in 2006 and be completed in 2009.

It is, therefore, an opportune moment to assess the past, present and future of ICT in the Ashmolean. This presentation will attempt to answer the question: are there any lessons to be learnt from the last 20 years that can be applied to the future implementation of ICT?

Biography

Jonathan is the University of Oxford Museums' ICT Manager, based in the Ashmolean. He came to Oxford in 1986 to work on a collections database for the Ashmolean's Antiquities department, after doing a doctorate in computer applications in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, London. His role gradually changed over the years and lost much of its archaeological element, becoming more museum-orientated as well as becoming more focused on the ICT side of things, in particular the Web. Jonathan was chairman of the MCG (1987-1992), when the world of IT was a lot simpler!

'Objects, Time and Learning'Carol Strohecker [Powerpoint]

Background
Carol Strohecker was a Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the Everyday Learning research group at Media Lab Europe, the European research partner of the MIT Media Lab. She is concerned with how people think and learn, and how objects, artefacts, and technologies can elicit and support these processes. Prior to joining MLE in 2001, Dr. Strohecker worked in the United States at MERL Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories and in the Human Interface Group of Sun Microsystems. She earned the PhD of Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, and the Master of Science in Visual Studies from MIT in 1986. She contributed to early efforts in interactive video and has worked extensively in publishing and print media. She holds 4 US patents for her work in interactive media tools and methods.

Biography
Dr. Strohecker was a Lecturer in MIT's Media Arts and Sciences Programme. She is on the Editorial Board of the MIT Press journal, Presence, and is Vice-Chair of the International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition. She is also on the Advisory Boards of the Dublin Digital Hub’s Liberating Learning project and the 6th International Conference on Computational and Cognitive Models of Creative Design. Additionally, she is serving on the Program Committees of the ACM International Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning and the 8th Eurographics Workshop on Multimedia. Dr. Strohecker was a Presidential Nominee on the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences. She held Fellowships from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Massachusetts Council for the Arts and Humanities, and the US National Endowment for the Arts.