Notes and action points from fourth workshop on 14th May 2008

1. Meeting was held primarily to plan the pilot workshop to be held at FACT in on either 15, 16 or 17 Oct 2008, which will have a maximum of 15 participants. Campbell from LuxOnline attended as she would be running the FACT workshop. Discussion/planning commenced with Campbell wanting to identify people’s needs with regard to sustainability of their projects.

2. Campbell argued the need for HEI projects to be collaborating internally to exploit IT expertise available and externally to access expertise/help (eg volunteers) and build productive partnerships. For instance, institutions with digital capacity could work with galleries with curatorial expertise. General agreement that with regard to moving image work, the BFI, ACE and UKFC need to be talking to HEIs.

3. There was some discussion about availability of IT support within HEIs, which was generally agreed to be minimal with regard to the kinds of projects represented by the Future Histories network.

4. Lorna highlighted issue that increasingly Universities are having to think about/develop institutional repositories and preservation strategies, but flagged up this issue is a multi-layered one: (1) simply storage on a CD/DVD which is then stored in a cupboard (which preserves data up to a point, but is relatively inaccessible), (2) institutional repositories (which store the data and are accessible internally) and (3) a system which offers full functionality and external access (max accessibility). That is it’s not a straightforward issue for HEIs.

5. Campbell suggested we need to think about how the virtual world works, and argued the need to think in terms not only of what we want, but want we can give back. So, not only taking, but giving back to the community – eg offering training in return for volunteer labour.

6. Alison suggested developing the strategy of projects brokering relationships with funders.

7. There was some discussion about individuals’ specific needs, and Campbell suggested we need to think about what’s worked and what’s not on their specific projects. Important that participants have something concrete to take away that they can use.

8. It was agreed that from our group the following would attend the FACT workshop as participants: Amy Goring, Peter Thomas, Nick Lambert, Steven Ball, Adam Lockhart, BFI person (Mark or Will?), Barry Parsons. Julia Knight, Alison Lloyd and Daisy Abbott might attend as observers/passive participants if space permits.

9. It was also agreed we should target a number of existing projects from around the regions to see if any of them would be interested in attending. Depending on numbers, Campbell in conjunction with JK/SB could then select people for the remaining places in order to offer a good national spread for workshop participation. Agreed to contact:

Lucy: Allie at Picture This (SW) and Marcel Schwerin (Germany)
Ian: Whitechapel (London)
Julia: Elaine Burrows (London) and Daisy Abbott
Lorna: Torsten Reimer (London)
Alison: East Midlands and other regional offices to invite suggestions of projects in the regions.

10. Campbell agreed to set up Google group for all the participants in order to ask them specific questions and facilitate discussion within the group. Campbell also agreed to finalise the date for the workshop.

11. Julia agreed to apply to Grants for the Arts (up to £5000) to fund travel/subs for participants to attend the workshop. JK to talk specifically to Rebecca Shatwell at ACE NE and to liaise with Campbell about the specifics of the workshop for the application.

12. Also discussed what we need to use the 6th and final workshop for. Agreed we should discuss (1) outcomes of the FACT workshop, (2) what goes into the final report to the AHRC, and (3) the future of the Future Histories network.

13. Lucy informed the meeting that she would be leaving LuxOnline in August in order to complete her PhD. She will suggest either Campbell or Tom take her place in the network. JK proposed a vote of thanks to Lucy for her contribution to the network.

14. It was agreed the next and final funded meeting would be on Wed 12 November 2008

 

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