VRA 2009 Toronto
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Visual Resources Association
27th Annual Conference
March 18-21, 2009

At a Glance

Full Schedule (PDF)

Wednesday, March 18

Thursday, March 19

Friday, March 20

Saturday, March 21

 

 

 

General Conference Support
provided by:

Two Cat Digital

Saturday, March 21

7:30 - 9:00 am

Meeting: CCO Project
Meeting: Development Committee


8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Registration


8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Workshop 2: Selling Visual Resources: Educating and Engaging the Educators

As more educators immerse themselves in digital technology and new images/tools become available from a variety of online resources, faculty and students in and outside of the arts are incorporating images into their teaching and research. These image users range from spontaneous do‐it‐yourselfers to those who prefer to have it done for them by centrally provided image services. But what about the users who fall somewhere in between, who might make better decisions about image options if they first consult with professionals? With fewer patrons walking in the door, visual resources curators need to reconsider how to reach and interact with image users, as well as how to provide the best services to accommodate pedagogical needs. This workshop will explore several techniques for reaching and teaching faculty who use, or want to use, images in the classroom.


Workshop leaders will present practical methods for reaching faculty through a variety of marketing and outreach techniques including (but not limited to): video promos, posters, brochures, blogs/wikis, and online tutorials. Participants will have hands‐on time to begin creating a marketing plan and opportunities to experiment with the various technologies required to create outreach materials. Additional presentations, interactive problem‐solving, and discussions will focus on employing sound principles of adult learning, and developing strategies for facilitating faculty use of digital images and the services provided by visual resources collections. A handbook will provide summaries of central issues, practical guides, and references to current research and associated information.

Organizer:

Maureen Burns, UC Irvine

Speakers:

Betha Whitlow, Washington University
Sarah Cheverton, James Madison University
Elizabeth Schaub, University of Texas at Austin

Co-sponsors:

Education Committee & VRA Southeast Chapter


9:00 - 10:30 am

Meeting: Atlanta Committee
Meeting: Travel Awards Committee


9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Special Users Group: MDID

The Madison Digital Image Database (MDID) is a freely distributed, open source software application developed at James Madison University to facilitate teaching with digital images online and in the classroom. This session will bring MDID users, and potential users, together to share their experiences and to ask questions. Members of the MDID development team will demonstrate new features added in 2008, talk about ongoing development, share upcoming enhancements, and give a progress report on the API development project, which is supported by an IMLS grant. Following the formal presentation, there will be an "Ask the Experts" time period. This time period would provide an opportunity for anyone who has MDID questions to have access to the System Engineers to learn about the open source software, make suggestions for further development, or receive technical and/or curatorial help. MDID has become a useful resource for many institutions. It is open source and not revenue generating; therefore there is no budget for staffing technical support for outside users. The VRA conference provides a venue for sharing information with a large group of MDID users.

Organizer:

Christina B. Updike, James Madison University

Speakers:

Andreas Knab, James Madison University
Kevin Hegg, James Madison University


9:00 am - 3:30 pm

VRAffle

See Special Events section.


10:00 - 11:30 am

Walking Tour 3: Old Toronto (Front St. from Jarvis to Bay Street)

See Special Events section.


10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Special Interest Group: Museum Visual Resources

The Museum Visual Resource Special Interest Group provides an opportunity for museum professionals to gather and to discuss issues that are particular to museums. The focus of the discussions will revolve around the changing roles of the museum visual resources professional. The specific roles played in the creation, cataloging and management of digital images as well as any involvement in the museum's Digital Asset Management system will also be addressed.

Organizer:

Margaret C. McKee, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Meeting: VRA Archives


12:30 - 2:00 pm

Leadership Luncheon

This invitation-only luncheon is a chance for the VRA Leadership (including Committee Chairs, Chapter Chairs, Board Appointees, VRA Presidents Group, and the Executive Board) to gather and touch base regarding organization matters and interests.

Birds of a Feather Network Luncheons


1:30 - 3:00 pm

Walking Tour 4: Toronto's Theater District

See Special Events section.


2:00 - 3:30 pm

Special Interest Group: Architecture Curators

VRA members who work in VR collections in an architectural department, firm, or archive will meet to discuss issues of interest to the built environment, including landscape architecture, urban planning, and construction management. The Architecture curators SIG has a listserve of 42 members who would like to meet one another face-to-face, and to encourage other interested curators to participate.
Organizer: Heather Seneff

Organizer:

Heather Seneff, University of Washington

Special Interest Group: Getty Vocabularies; CONA and Multilinguality: Update on the Getty Vocabularies

This SIG will present a discussion and presentation which will focus on a variety of new projects in development in the Getty Vocabulary Program. Topics will include: the structure and implementation of the newest vocabulary, the Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA), progress on the multilinguality of AAT with the addition of thousands of Spanish and Italian terms, extensive contributions to ULAN from the Witt Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Avery Index, and the upcoming addition of 5 million place names into TGN, from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (formerly NIMA). Plus, there will be updates on individual contributions, making the Getty Vocabularies available in APIs, as well as newly published works by Patricia Harpring and Murtha Baca.

Organizer:

Patricia Harpring, Getty Vocabulary Program

Special Users Group: IRIS

The 2008 version of IRIS (Image Resource Information System) will be demonstrated and discussed. This "final" version of the FileMaker application implements the VRA Core v.4.0 and CCO and includes an XML export. IRIS, begun in 1997 as a cooperative venture of 7 institutions, now has 25 member institutions. Anyone is welcome to attend this meeting; you do not need to be an IRIS user to learn from or contribute to the discussion.

Organizer:

Julie Doring, Duke University


2:00pm - 6:00pm

Workshop 3: Photoshop for Artworks; Cool Tools & Techniques for Enhancing Images of Paintings, Sculpture, Prints & Drawings

How can one enhance images of artworks, even those poorly photographed? This eyes‐on workshop will cover tips and techniques for improving and correcting images of paintings, prints, drawings, and other two‐dimensional art forms, as well as architecture and sculpture. Participants will also learn about embedded metadata and rights information.


[NOTE: Previous experience with Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements 6 is required, as this is not an introduction to Photoshop. Participants may bring their own laptop computers to apply the techniques presented in the Workshop to their own images. An 8‐page instructional handout will be provided, so participants may focus on the projected demonstrations rather than taking notes.]

Organizer:

Mark Braunstein, Connecticut College


3:30 - 5:00 pm

VRAffle

Sack-up and Set-up; volunteers needed. See Special Events section.


4:00 - 5:30 pm

Special Users Group: VCat Users Group

VCat (renamed from VireoCat) is a Filemaker-based database that is VRA Core 4 and CCO compliant. It is capable of outputting both flattened Excel and Core 4 validating XML. The database is free and downloadable from the user group website: http://vcat.wordpress.com/

All are welcome to attend; there will be a short presentation about VCat and related data sharing issues and then discussion among the users.

Organizer:

Susan Jane Williams, Independent Cataloging and Consulting Services

Meeting: DIAG Committee

Meeting: Southern California Chapter


6:00 – 7:30 pm

VRAffle


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