Project Methodology (3/3)

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Forums
Conservation professionals and representatives from allied communities met in three different forums to define the community’s current digital environment and discuss how it might be shaped to support future endeavors. To elicit a wide array of insights and issues, each forum had a different purpose, structure, and group of participants. The latter were selected by the project team using criteria such as domain experience and the ability to do “big picture” thinking. All forum discussions were conceptual and strategic rather than technical, with outcomes that informed the project team as it moved through the various phases of the project. A fourth and final forum served as a wrap up meeting for the project team and advisory committee.

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Forum 1 – San Francisco, May 31, 2014
This first forum took place at the AIC annual meeting and served as the official project “launch.” Four experts provided context for the project with presentations that included a project overview and preliminary review of the survey findings; a history of digitization efforts in the field, what they reveal, and possible ways forward; a demonstration of one conservator’s experience with online information and digital resources in her daily work; and a case study from outside the community on data sharing, collaboration, and lessons for the conservation community. The open discussion that followed these presentations identified concerns about privacy and preservation issues, the information needs of conservators in private practice, and community support of online resources. The forum was open to all conference attendees.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Forum 2 – Weismann Preservation Center, Harvard University Library, Cambridge, MA, September 11-12, 2014
This forum was held over two days and was structured as a series of large and small group discussions. The first day’s discussions focused on current digital resource issues and the limitations they put on the profession. On the second day, attendees were asked to identify the outcomes that might be possible if known limitations were removed, and to think about strategic ways the profession could move towards these outcomes. The 25 participants represented conservation and allied professionals from museums, libraries, and historic sites, conservators in private practice, funders, and administrators.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Forum 3 – Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, December 4-5, 2014
The discussions in this two-day forum were structured around a series of case studies, followed by commentary from representatives in allied communities. Forum participants also identified practical steps (grassroots efforts and “low-hanging fruit” projects) the community could take to build capacity that leads to greater digital integration in the profession. The 28 participants included museum conservators, conservation fellows, independent conservators, senior administrators, university faculty, funders, and representatives from the library, computer science, and preservation services communities.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Forum 4 – Washington, DC, February 19, 2015
The final forum was a project “wrap-up” meeting, attended by the core project team and advisory committee. The group reviewed project outputs to identify key findings from the project activities, identified gaps that were not addressed in previous project discussions, suggested possible “next steps” and recommendations, and outlined a structure for the final project report.