TechStyle

Archiving new media

One of the issues that I've been failing to tackle, but know I must get around to facing, is how we can capture, collect and archive new media for the long term. Museum's are great at preserving objects, but so far have yet to tackle the enormity of software and ephemeral technology and media. The issue of digital preservation and archiving is one that various groups are looking at (including the Computer Conservation Society with the Science Museum, the Internet archive and the Digital Curation Centre), but the importance of capturing significant advancements and the culture of this technology was emphasised to me recently when I curated a small exhibition on A Decade of Interactive Content. Looking at the last 10 years we drew together the most significant websites, interactive TV, CD Roms and installations, but these were only on graphic panels. There was very little you could still display that was interactive.  Some projects can just about pull together a few images (thanks BBC New Media archivist) but many don't exist any more and there is no code saved on a dusty old drives somewhere. Something else to put on the 'to do' list of the Curator of Computing...

Modified Toys

One of the highlights of ContentLab 2006 was the conference dinner entertainment from Brian Duffy's Modified Toy Orchestra. Armed with only a Texas Instrument's Speak and Spell, a Touch and Tell, a Barbie and kids drum machine, the band went on to make sweet music. Well OK... it was a little harsh on the ear, but the crowd loved it. I'm still holding my breath for the ZX Spectrum Orchestra.

ContentLab 2005

PACT's ContentLab 2005 starts tomorrow in Birmingham and if last year is anything to go by it should be a fun event. With a keynote by Hilary Cottam from the Design Museum and sessions on online learning and Ofcom's 'big idea', the Public Service Publisher, it should be set to raise an interesting agenda about the future of interactive content. The most lively session looks likely to be  iRoom 101, where Peter Cowley from Endemol will be placing his most hated interactive content. This will be inspired by my own exhibition on the walls of the conference, looking at 'A Decade of British Interactive Content'. Watch this space for updates.

Cross-connexions Conference

If you are interested in the History of Telecommunications the Cross-connexions conference at the Science Museum is taking place this weekend. The sessions include some lively papers  on telegraphy, System X, Videotex and the GPO film unit. My own research will be looking at the shifting our understanding of the History of the Internet from its innovation to its use in the home. Delegates can sign up for a day or for the full three days, and there is a conference dinner on Saturday at the top of the BT Tower. I'll be the one clutching the wall and suffering from Vertigo...

Digital Preservation

Anyone who missed the Digital Curation Centre conference last month, or felt it was a bit too data focused, could do worse than head to the Digital Preservation and Heritage Colloquium at Abertay Dundee in November. The sessions will be looking at the application of digital technologies to the long-term preservation of cultural and heritage resources. I'm hoping to raise issues around the preservation of computer software, but also look at one example of how the Science Museum has created a digital resource around its material culture which is more than just the digitisation of objects online. So if you are headed for Scotland in November I look forward to seeing / meeting you there.

doors 8 revisited

doors8_holi_53
Originally uploaded by ma:kəs.

I've only just seen this review of the Doors 8 conference, but it seems to capture the woodstock of all conferences rather nicely.  Will 'work' ever be such fun again?

Folksonomy

Its always good when ideas come together from lots of sources. On the plane over I read Bruce Sterling's Wired article on Folksonomy. Then one of the most interesting workshops at Museum and the Web 2005 was one on 'Cataloguing by Crowd' by Susan Chun from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The idea is that you can use the network to do your keyword cataloguing through games such as ESP. It will send shudders down the spines of museum information architects, but may mean you actually end up with the keywords that people use to search.

Rachel on 2 way comms

Rachel on 2 way comms
Originally uploaded by TechStyle.

Breakfast brainstorming the ways that blogs can be used in museums, from curators posts to weblogs tracking exhibition development. Then Gail Durbin led a workshop on way to make your site communicate in two-ways, with lots of examples from the old favourites like iCan and some new ones like Mr Picasso Head.

M&W2005

Last night I scrambled through the jetlag with our first social trip to the UBC Museum of Anthropology. It's a beautiful glass and concrete structure which gives the appearance of being outdoors and has the true Vancouver feel - open air, trees and *lots* of totem poles.

Then this morning we kicked off the conference, with plenary sessions by Eileen Sarkar - 'museums are an extention of what it is to be a citizen' - and Namir Anani who gave us a rousing start by telling us that museums help us to imagine and shape the future. In the Finding Stuff session Bowen and Fantoni taught us about the 'Dark Matter' of the web, and how to not end up being it.

I went to some sessions on Hand-helds this afternoon, with one particularly interesting paper on MoMo, an algorithm based system that enables museums to taylor their content to the user and attribute attraction levels to artifacts and so that visitors pass that way. I gave also my own paper (thanks to Ideasbazzaar for some facts) with one women standing up and saying how amazed she was by the site. Very pleasing!

Heading to Vancouver

I'm leaving for Vancouver tomorrow to eat sushi...  oh yes and give a paper on 'Curating for Broadband'.  Museums and the Web has a great line-up, but will the emphasis be on social software or will the museums still be hung up on 'authority'?