[with apologies for the inevitable cross-postings]

As the theme of the 30th Annual Conference of the Association of Art
Historians next year is 'Old and New', I have been planning a section of
the conference which would take as its theme 'old art and new technologies'.

Rather than plan an academic session, however, I want to run a showcase for
digital resources for those who teach and research the history of art and
design. Previous sessions, forums, etc. on computing, ICT and art history
at the AAH conferences have tended to speak to the converted, being - by
definition - events which were attended largely by those with an interest
in these subjects. Next year, in contrast, I want to bring some of the many
worthwhile projects which use digital technologies to create or present
tools or resources for teaching and research in art and design history to a
broader audience, who might - if they knew about them - find themselves
using them for their work. To this end, I've arranged for people with
projects they would like to publicise to give a series of short (10-minute)
introductions to their projects during the tea, coffee and lunch-breaks.
The idea is to provide an overview of what the project or resource can
offer the (at least partially captive) audience of art historians who are
gathered there. The aim is publicity, not to explain the details of the
project. Consequently, I intend that participants should be presenting
resources that are already available when they make their presentations, or
will be available shortly afterwards. This is also not intended simply as a
place for commercial organisations to advertise their wares - I'm fully
aware that budgets are tight in most art-history departments and, in any
case, the conference book fair exists for money-making ventures. Thus,
resources should be freely-available, or at the very last charge only
nominal fees for their use. However, I've no real concern where projects
originate, and hope that, at the very least, there'll be a few from museums
and galleries as well as from academic institutions.

So, if you have a project you would like to publicise at the conference,
please e-mail me in the next couple of weeks with some details of the
project and, ideally, a URL where I can find out a bit more. And, of
course, please feel free to circulate this e-mail to other people or lists
who might be interested in it.

The conference will be held at the University of Nottingham from Thursday 1
to Saturday 3 April 2004; I'm afraid they run a strict policy whereby all
conference participants must pay the registration fee, although this is
reduced for speakers (and I'm sure will be reduced for people presenting
projects in this event). Conference fees with the speakers' reduction are
£100 for AAH members, £155 for non-members (with further reductions for AAH
members who are on reduced subscription-rates) - these are for places
booked before 20 February. Basic information on the conference can be found
online at http://www.aah.org.uk/confs/2004aah/2004aah.html

I look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes,

Rupert


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Dr Rupert Shepherd, Ruskin Project Manager
Department of Western Art, Ashmolean Museum,
Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH, U.K.
T +44 (0)1865 278050 F +44 (0)1865 278056
E [log in to unmask]
W www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/ash/amulets/ruskin/
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