All, 

For your information, here is first announcement of the next Culture.mondo roundtable being held in Croatia in October that the 24 Hour Museum has been working on. It's a great demonstration of how we in the UK are leading the debate and discussion about cultural portals - there impact, success and future.

Please feel free to forward/share with colleagues.

Thanks Jane 

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FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

2nd INTERNATIONAL ROUNDTABLE
October 20-22, 2006 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
Co-organized by the Culture.mondo and Culturelink networks


Cultural portals: A new era of cooperation

The 2nd Culture.mondo International Roundtable offers a unique opportunity for cultural portal experts from all continents to enhance their working practices, to recognize emerging trends and to exchange experience.

Following the success of its first International Roundtable, Culture.mondo in partnership with Culturelink invite cultural portal experts from around the globe to gather in Dubrovnik, Croatia on October 20-22, 2006.

The objectives of this 2nd International Roundtable are to consider how as cultural portals we respond to our users' and stakeholders' needs, to explore new avenues of cooperation and information, and to share how we measure our success in achieving our respective goals.


A unique, applied and informal agenda

This two and half day Roundtable will focus on the following aspects of cultural portal management:

International Cooperation

What can international partnerships bring us? How can we identify new models of cooperation amongst ourselves as Web professionals and also with our audiences? How can we usefully share information and best practices using concrete indicators such as users metrics and financial sustainability in measuring our contribution to cultural development and the promotion of cultural diversity?

Measures of success

How can we meet the challenge of developing a successful portal and online brand in a crowded, competitive and commercial marketplace shaped by dominant technology and players? Cultural portals, as new public spaces, are successful when they are an alternative to mainstream entertainment sites, responding to a more subtle set of audience needs. At the same time, we must operate as good businesses and demonstrate clear measures of success in order to justify the support of public investments.

Web 2.0

The emerging generation of Web technologies brings new opportunities for us as online publishers. Its democratic potential leads a social phenomenon in the approach to creating and publishing Web content: open communication, decentralization of authority, and freedom to share, create and re-use on-line content. But how can this be balanced with our own editorial voices? What is the role of the institution if separated from its content? How do we safeguard authenticity? Also, new platforms allow us to deliver information to users as they are on the move. Are our cultural portals ready to meet the new challenges of accessibility and mobility?


Hosting in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik is a city inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The richness of its culture and artistic happenings will provide an attractive cultural setting for the participants. Hosting the Roundtable in Croatia will also provide an opportunity to survey the trends in cultural portal development in South Eastern Europe and Croatia and to investigate in greater detail the regional situation.


Participants of the Organizing Committee include:

24 Hour Museum (United Kingdom)
www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

Collections Australia Network
www.collectionsaustralia.net

Conaculta (Mexico)
www.ecultura.gob.mx

Culture.ca (Canada)
www.culture.ca

Culturelink Network (Croatia)
www.culturelink.org

Culturenet Sweden
www.kultur.nu

CultuurNet Vlaanderen (Belgium)
www.cultuurweb.be

OCPA - Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa
http://ocpa.irmo.hr/index-en.html

on-the-move: The Performing Arts Travelling Toolkit (Europe)
www.on-the-move.org

Program Office of National Digital Archives Program (Taiwan)    
http://www.ndap.org.tw

CONTACTS

Marie-France Joli-Cour, Coordinator
Culture.mondo Network Secretariat
15 Eddy Street, 8th Floor
Gatineau QC, Canada     K1A 0M5
Tel:  +001 819 953-6989
Fax: +001 819 953-4330
E-mail: marie-france_joli-coeur @ pch.gc.ca
Web site: www.culturemondo.org

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