The Museums Computer Group is inviting proposals for our 2016 Spring workshop, to be held at the Hospitium in York on May 6, 2016. Continuing the MCG's long-standing interest in how museums respond to the changes that digital technologies bring, our event theme is 'Life Support: living with digital projects'.

Museums have invested in digital projects for exhibitions, events, audience interaction, collections management and more. Myriad funders, from government to trusts and foundations to philanthropists, are willing to provide project funding for museums to complete website rebuilds, develop new digital interactives and apps, create online collections sites and picture libraries. But what happens the day after a project launches? How do individual projects affect the rest of the museum? And a year after launch, what traces remain of the lessons learnt?

We are seeking proposals from colleagues willing to share their insights on the aftermath of digital projects in the cultural heritage sector. How have you successfully integrated digital projects into core business? Where have you struggled, and what lessons have you learned?Topics of interest include:

* Maintaining digital projects after the funding has run out
* The pros and cons of building in-house expertise vs outsourcing and agencies
* Integrating project learning into core practices, workflows and job descriptions
* The role of project evaluation internally and in the wider sector
* How partnerships change and evolve after the end of a project.

We are looking for a number of short (c. 20 minute) talks that share practical experience and will give delegates concrete ideas to take back to their organisations. We would also be interested in sessions that take a different approach, whether that be a workshop, debate or roundtable - feel free to be creative in pitching your idea! If you're not sure about your proposed topic or format, then get in touch: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/contact/

Our application form is here: http://goo.gl/forms/5qddYLUN6r

*The call closes at midnight GMT on March 21, 2016. We will review proposals and get back to you within a fortnight.*

Other event information:
In what's probably a first for the cultural sector, the MCG has started sharing the profits from our events with speakers. Speakers can choose to 'pay it forward' and contribute to bursaries for low income/unwanted attendees, or accept a small sum in recognition of the work it takes to prepare a presentation.

Our keynote speaker is a major figure from the museum world - stay tuned for an announcement this week!

Don't miss out on event news - follow @ukmcg or register for occasional updates on Calls for Proposals and ticketing: http://museumscomputergroup.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8562366cd3e252e8ce0b84eb2&id=c42ece539e

Early bird tickets are now on sale - buy now and save: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mcg-spring-workshop-2016-life-support-living-with-digital-projects-tickets-22239111782

Find out why people love coming to our events: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/meetings/

Finally - save the date! UKMW16 will be held at the Wellcome Collection in London on 19 October 2016.
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