(Apologies for cross-posting).

The Visual Resources Association's 33rd Annual Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado, from Wednesday, March 11th, through Saturday, March 14th, 2015, in the Westin Denver Downtown hotel. Please mark your calendars.

Proposals are now being solicited for the 2015 program case studies, papers, posters, sessions, special interest/user groups, and workshops.  All proposals are welcome.  Clickhere to go to the conference proposal form.   

• A session is a maximum 90 minute moderated session with 3 to 4 speakers at 15 to 20 minutes each followed by a facilitated brief question and answer period.

• A workshop is a 2, 3 or 4 hour workshop to develop skills and experience in the field of visual resources, preferably with hands-on activities.

• A paper is an individual idea submission, which will be reviewed for possible grouping into a session.

• A special interest/user group is a 60 to 90-minute informal facilitated group discussion on topics related to a specific community within VRA.

• A case study is detailed information about an individual, small group, or project, generally including the accounts of subjects themselves. Moderators are encouraged to submit proposals. Individual case study proposals will be reviewed for possible groupings similar to the session format.

• A poster advertises your research, and combines text and graphics to make a visually pleasing presentation. (http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=78)

The Visual Resources Association is a multi-disciplinary, international professional organization dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of media

management within the educational, cultural heritage, and commercial environments. Some suggested topics compiled from this year's post-conference survey responses are listed below. Other ideas expanding beyond that which is familiar to VRA are encouraged. Past conference programs and highlights may be found on VRA’s website: http://vraweb.org/WordPress/conferences/. A limited number of honorarium packages are available to support non-VRA member conference participation.  Moderators may put out calls for presenters within a proposed topic before or after submission of proposal. The VRA Executive Board will be looking for articulate and concise submissions with lists of presenters, when applicable. Specificity regarding audio-visual needs including live internet connectivity is recommended.

Some suggested topics:

• Digital preservation

• Digital stewardship

• Digital curation / data curation

• Workflow management and documentation

• Visualization

• Visual Literacy

• Digital Humanities

• VR professionals as bridges for digital humanities research

• Digital mapping

• Image use across disciplines and the curriculum

• Analog media

• Legacy slide collections

• New technology

• Copyright

• Linked Open Data

• Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)

• Museums and Libraries: similarities and differences

• New spaces, repurposing as collaborative learning environments

• Expanding professional roles

• Alternative careers

• Institution-wide involvement

• International issues

• Museum imaging workflow

• Marketing, outreach

• Social media

• Crosswalking & interoperability between metadata standards

• Uses of embedded metadata

Workshop ideas:

• Project management

• WordPress blogging

• Leadership

• Staff development, general management skills

• Copyright permissions for publishing

• Shared Shelf drop-in clinic

Questions about the proposal process and the various presentation formats included in the VRA Conference program can be directed to me at <[log in to unmask]>.

The proposal deadline is July 3, 2014.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Steven Kowalik

____________________________________________________

Steven Kowalik, MSLS

Vice President for Conference Program, Visual Resources Association

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Zabar Art Library, Hunter College/CUNY

695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065

tel: 212-772-5054