[open-humanities] "Webwise Reprise" webinar on crowdsourcing cultural heritage tomorrow evening

[Ben Brumfield]

Members of this list may be interested in a webinar to be conducted
tomorrow at 2PM US Eastern Time (7PM BST) by the US Institute of
Museum and Library Services.  Tomorrow's session will focus on
crowdsourcing manuscript transcription, while a similar session on
June 28th will focus on oral history.  So far as I am aware, none of
the issues in discussion are US-specific and the webinar is open to
all.  (I'll apologize in advance for my accent, however, which is
US-specific.)

From: http://www.imls.gov/webwise_reprise_live_online_webinars.aspx
(working links are in the original)

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in
cooperation with Heritage Preservation, is presenting WebWise Reprise,
two online events based on the IMLS WebWise 2012 conference. The first
event, on June 14 at 2:00 pm EDT, will be "Sharing Public History
Work: Crowdsourcing Data." The second event, on June 28 at 2:00 pm
EDT, will be "Oral History in the Digital Age."

WebWise Reprise will be hosted in the Virtual Meeting Room of the
Connecting to Collections Online Community. This Online Community is
part of Connecting to Collections, a multi-faceted national initiative
of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to aid museums and
libraries in their care of collections. The Online Community draws on
many resources that were developed for the initiative, including the
Connecting to Collections Bookshelf and the Raising the Bar Workshops
and Webinars.

Since 2000, the WebWise conference has brought together
representatives of museums, libraries, archives, systems science,
education, and other fields interested in the future of high-quality
online content for inquiry and learning. This annual conference
highlights recent research and innovations in digital technology,
explores their potential impacts on library and museum services, and
promotes effective museum and library practices in the digital
environment. It also provides recipients of technology-based grants
from the Institute with an opportunity to showcase their exemplary
projects. This year’s conference, WebWise 2012: Tradition and
Innovation, was held in Baltimore, Maryland from February 29-March 2.

Moderated by Heritage Preservation Vice President Kristen Laise, these
90 minute webinars will each begin with a 20 minute video presentation
from WebWise 2012. Participants will watch the video live together
along with some of the presenters from each panel. (It is recommended
that you have broadband access in order to watch the video live. If
you are concerned about your system’s capabilities, you may want to
watch the videos before the webinars. Click here to view the videos.)
After the video, presenters will provide additional insights and
participants will have the opportunity to ask questions live.

WebWise Reprise is being offered free of charge and no
pre-registration is required. You do not need to be a member of the
Connecting to Collections Online Community to participate in these
webinars. Simply go to the Community’s Virtual Meeting Room at the
time of the webinar, enter your name and location, and join the
conversation. If you would like to run a technical check of your
system before the webinar, please click here.

Sharing Public History Work: Crowdsourcing Data
Thursday, June 14, 2012, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. EDT Public historians and
librarians have long relied on their local communities for volunteers
to assist paid staff as docents and interpreters, and as collections
and reference assistants. More recently, a variety of collaborative
online tools have it made possible for volunteers from a larger pool
to assist museums and libraries to share in content work through
crowdsourcing. We will watch the WebWise presentation of Ben
Brumfield, Software Engineer at FromThePage Open-Source Transcription
Software. In it, Ben discusses valuable lessons learned from
crowdsourcing indexing of small collections. He will be joined by
Sharon Leon, Director of Public Projects at the Roy Rosenzweig Center
for History and New Media at George Mason University to answer your
questions.

Oral History in the Digital Age
Thursday, June 28, 2012, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. EDT The sound of voices from
the past can bring history to life in a powerful way for the
21st-century learner. In this Webinar, we will watch the WebWise
presentation of Dean Rehberger, Director of MATRIX: the Center for
Humane Art, Letters, and Social Science Online at Michigan State
University and learn about MATRIX's newest Web site Oral History in
the Digital Age project (http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu). Dean will
provide a tour of the site which includes best practices on issues
about collecting, curating, and disseminating oral histories and
narratives using current technology. He will be joined by Doug Boyd,
director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the
University of Kentucky Libraries to answer your questions about oral
histories and how their projects might assist you in your work.

Please help us to spread the word by sharing this with your colleagues!

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of
federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
Through grant making, policy development, and research, we help
communities and individuals thrive through broad public access to
knowledge, cultural heritage, and lifelong learning. To learn more
about IMLS, please visit www.imls.gov.

About Heritage Preservation
Heritage Preservation is a national non-profit organization dedicated
to preserving the cultural heritage of the United States. By
identifying risks, developing innovative programs, and providing broad
public access to expert advice, Heritage Preservation assists museums,
libraries, archives, historic preservation and other organizations, as
well as individuals, in caring for our endangered heritage. To learn
more, visit www.heritagepreservation.org.