The Museums Computer Group’s 2013 Museums on the Web conference will be held at Tate Modern on 15 November 2013. The theme for UKMW13 is ‘Power to the people’.

There’s a post answering some Frequently Asked Questions on the MCG list.

We are interested in proposals on topics such as:

  • projects that integrate public participation and core museum work, including crowdsourcing, citizen science, citizen history, user-generated content projects and other forms of digital participation and engagement
  • grassroots digital projects, whether people organising themselves to save museums, crowdfunding, finding innovative uses for museum collections and knowledge or using museum spaces in new ways
  • enabling museum staff to learn and play with digital technologies and platforms
  • the rise of director-level and senior digital posts

Papers may frame the subject and put it in context, or may be a case study (whether the outcome was a success, a failure, or something inbetween). We welcome papers from practitioners, academics and those in related fields; our attendees prefer papers that are relevant to the themes of the day, include actionable lessons and realistically discuss the challenges you faced and assess the final impact of any projects discussed. Please make sure you’ve read our Guidance for Speakers before proposing a paper.

If you would like to propose a paper about one of the above topics, please email contact@museumscomputergroup.org.uk by midnight BST on 1 July 2013 with ‘UKMW13 proposal’ in the email subject line. Please include the following information in the body of the email:

  • Your name
  • The organisation you work for (if applicable)
  • A working title for your paper
  • A short (between 100 – 200 words) summary of your proposed paper
  • A brief (one or two sentences) explanation of how your paper relates to our theme(s)
  • Have you given this paper or talked about this project at a previous conference? If so which conference and when?
  • Optional: a brief bio and/or links to any online videos, slides or reports from previous talks that give a sense of your presentation style, relevant project pages or blog posts. However, we are keen to hear from first-time speakers and people from small museums who’ve managed to do interesting things on a small budget so don’t worry if you don’t have anything online to link to.

The UKMW13 Programme Committee aimed to respond to proposals by 4 August 2013. We’re currently waiting for some outstanding reviews from the Programme Committee but will be contacting people regarding their proposals as soon as possible.

If you know of any projects, even if they aren’t your own, that you think we should know about for the conference, please let us know!

As always, MCG’s Museums on the Web is a day for being inspired by the latest ideas, for learning from case studies grounded in organisations like yours, and for networking with other technologists, curators, managers, learning and marketing specialists in the museum and heritage sector. The conference will be an opportunity to take a step back from the everyday and to think about the future of museum technologies.

We look forward to reading your proposals. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via twitter (@ukmcg), our contact page or email contact@museumscomputergroup.org.uk if you have any questions or comments. If you’re not sure whether your idea fits with our themes, drop us a line for a quick chat.

Best wishes,

Mia (for the UKMW13 Programme Committee)