This was a 'lightning talk' at JISC's dev8D 'developer happiness' days held in London in February 2009. The slides are downloadable and I've put a transcript on my blog.
2008: an overview
An incomplete, retrospective list of work, talks and more in 2008…
Posts I wrote for the Museum of London / MoLAS blog included: What have you always wanted to ask a curator or museum specialist? and Why should IT students consider working in cultural heritage?.
And my personal blog, Open Objects, was nominated for an award! In the 'programming and development blog' category of the ComputerWeekly.com IT Blog Awards 08!
The ‘Podcasts from the past’ project – audio descriptions of gallery objects created by ordinary Londoners – helped shape my thinking about activities that served two purposes at once. In this case, the project encouraged people to access collections they wouldn't normally have access to, while creating audio for visually impaired visitors.
Panel paper: A Little Web 2.0 Goes A Long Way at "Wine, Web 2.0 and What's New"; Museums, Libraries and Archives E-Learning Group. The Trocadero Centre, London, February 7, 2008.
Presentation: MultiMimsy database extractions and the possibilities for OAI-based collections repositories at the Museum of London, UK MultiMimsy Users Group. Museum in Docklands, London, April 18, 2008.
Panel paper: The role of the IT professional in a heritage institution – I was guest speaker on a panel for a course in 'Culture and Heritage Informatics' at Kingston University, London, April 28, 2008 (my work blog post about it is above, and I blogged on 'Talking to IT students about the cultural heritage sector' on Open Objects too.
Presentation: "Web 2.0 in the Real World" – a case study for an MLA London Workshop on 'Web 2.0 and Social Networking for Museums, Libraries and Archives', held in London on July 14, 2008.
I also went to Bathcamp and Museums on the Web 2008, and published a report on The 2008 Mashed Museum Day and UK Museums on the Web Conference on Ariadne.
Report: The 2008 Mashed Museum Day and UK Museums on the Web Conference
I reported on The 2008 Mashed Museum Day and UK Museums on the Web Conference for Issue 56 of Ariadne. Mashed Museum was held at the University of Leicester on July 18, 2008 (and is the first museum hack day I know of). The Museums Computer Group UK Museums on the Web Conference was also held at the University of Leicester the next day.
Presentation: "Web 2.0 in the Real World"
This was a case study for an MLA London Workshop on 'Web 2.0 and Social Networking for Museums, Libraries and Archives', held in London on July 14, 2008.
Panel paper: The role of the IT professional in a heritage institution
I was a guest speaker on a panel for a course in 'Culture and Heritage Informatics' at Kingston University, London, April 28, 2008. I have summarised some of the discussion on the Museum of London blog and on my personal blog.
Now I look back on it, this is probably where I started to develop ideas about the role of the 'cultural heritage technologist'.