The CHArt 2005 CONFERENCE, which takes place on Thursday 10 - Friday 11 November 2005 at The British Academy, is hosting a

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) Cinema, 4.00pm – 6.00pm, Thursday 10 November 2005.

DEMOCRATIZING THE IMAGE: CREATING A GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

The widespread use of digital technology in the field of art history has the potential to help forge an international learning community in which the widest range of students, educators, and researchers share unprecedented access to the world’s cultural heritage.  Indeed, the capability to connect individual databases worldwide has existed for some time.  In practice, however, institutions have pursued an assortment of individual solutions.  One of the greatest ironies of attempting to make cultural property widely accessible is that the guardians of this material (museums, archives, etc.) are frequently and unknowingly at odds with the community of end users (educators, researchers, students).  While museums view their primary role as safeguarding precious resources, the academic community demands ever freer on-line access to cultural artefacts.  The other overriding issue here is that of copyright, and any comprehensive effort of this sort has to take an active role in defining a new global understanding of “educational fair use.”  After brief statements from a diverse range of experts (artists, educators, curators), this session will function as open forum on the possiblities and challenges of creating an international digital image database.  Focusing on efforts currently underway in the UK, the panel will also consider how these initiatives could be linked with corresponding efforts in Germany and in the United States.

The event  will be moderated by David Ehrenpreis, Director, Institute for Visual Studies, James Madison University and participants will include: Tom Bilson, Head of Digital Media, Courtauld Institute of Art; Charlie Gere, Reader in New Media Research and Director of Research at the Institute for Cultural Research, Lancaster University; Jemima Rellie, Head of Digital Programmes, Tate; Mike Pringle, Director, AHDS Visual Arts; Duncan Smith, Digital Artist and Artistic Director of ACAVA (Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art); along with a representative from Prometheus, the distributed digital picture archive for research and learning, used throughout the German university system.

The ICA, the Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH (www.ica.org.uk) is located behind the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH (www.britac.ac.uk)

The booking form for this event and the CHArt conference is available on the CHArt website (www.chart.ac.uk).  The round-table fee is £5.  If you are attending all or part of the CHArt conference, the round-table fee is included in the conference fee. 

If you have any queries, please contact CHArt, Centre for Computing in the Humanities, Kings College London, Kay House, 7 Arundel Street, WC2R 3DX. tel: +44 (0)20 7848 2013, fax: +44 (0)20 7848 2980, [log in to unmask] (please use the subject heading CHArt Conference 2005 in any email queries).