Visual Resources Association (VRA) is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of image management within the educational, cultural heritage, and commercial environments. For more information on VRA: http://vraweb.org/.

 

Call for Proposals

 

The Visual Resources Association’s 2020 Annual Conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland from Tuesday, March 24^th through Friday, March 27^th, 2020 at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore.

Presenting at the VRA Conference provides you with the opportunity to see how your ideas, research, work, and passion connect to those of other dedicated professionals while building networks and friendships in an open, collaborative environment.

 

Click here to access the conference proposal form.

 

The VRA Executive Board is soliciting proposals for papers, sessions, special interest/user groups, and workshops for the 2020 program until Friday, July 19^th. All proposals are welcome, and if you have other conference ideas or suggestions that do not fit the conference proposal form, please reach out to the Vice President for Conference Program, Sara Schumacher. Please note a call for Lightning Round presenters will go out in the fall/winter, so that we can better accommodate recent innovations and activities, as well as, students and emerging professionals.

 

• A paper is an individual idea submission, which will be reviewed for possible grouping into a session. Your ideas, whether they come to us alone or in a group, are equally valued in the Board's proposal and selection process.
• A session is a maximum 60-minute moderated panel, usually consisting of no more than 3 presenters each, speaking for 15 to 18 minutes, followed by a brief facilitated question and answer period. If you feel your session topic requires more time, consider dividing it into two sessions, consisting of a Part I and a Part II.
• A special interest/user group is a 60-minute informal, community -driven, facilitated group discussion on topics related to a specific segment of the VRA membership.
• A workshop is a 2, 4, or 8-hour workshop to develop skills and experience in the field of visual resources with hands-on activities.

 

 

What should you propose?

 

Past conference schedules can give you an idea of the range of topics presented in previous years or read through the list below of suggested topics compiled from the 2019 post-conference survey responses to find inspiration. Please, do not be afraid to deviate and propose something new or highlight an area of concern that you feel has not been adequately addressed previously, as you may find new collaborators and colleagues. Moderators may put out calls for presenters within a proposed topic before or after the submission of a proposal. The VRA Executive Board will be looking for articulate and concise submissions with lists of presenters, but submissions without presenter lists are encouraged as well.

 

Suggested topics:

 

• Coding (PHP, Python, SQL, etc.)
• Community Outreach
• Copyright/Intellectual Property
• Digital Asset Management, Digital Curation, Digital Preservation, etc.
• Digitization (Workflows, Digital Capture and Imaging Technologies)
• Digital Scholarship and Digital Humanities
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Cultural Competencies, Social Justice
• Project Management (Communication, Grant writing, Prioritization, Leadership, etc.)
• Linked Data
• Materials/Objects collections
• Metadata/Cataloging Ethics (Decolonizing vocabularies, Radical cataloging)
• Storytelling and Oral History
• Technologies (GIS and mapping, 3D imaging, etc.)
• Tools: Open Source, Evolution, Future Trends
• Workplace cultures and professional transitions (academic departments, libraries, cultural heritage institutions, archives, corporate, etc.)

 

 

Please contact the Vice President for Conference Program, Sara Schumacher at [log in to unmask] with any questions or concerns.

 

Again, the proposal deadline is Friday, July 19^th, 2019.  Click here to access the conference proposal form.