Conferences, Diversity, Equity and ..., Tours, Workshops Conferences, Diversity, Equity and ..., Tours, Workshops

VRA 2020 Baltimore: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Events

Greetings All,The Equitable Action Committee invites you to attend the many events during VRA 2020 that are related to the VRA’s equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts.

Additionally, this newly formed committee will be at the Community Partnership Event collecting your concerns related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. If you are unable to attend VRA2020 and have suggestions, you may fill out the form here (http://bit.ly/EAC2020).Contributed by:Equitable Action Committee Co-chairs:

Lael Ensor-Bennett, Johns Hopkins UniversityKendra Werst, Williams College
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VRA Foundation Regional Workshop: Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce that Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media will be held on March 13, 2020 at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media is one of the four workshops being offered in the fifth year of the VRAF Regional Workshop Program. The VRA Foundation is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of this exciting opportunity to partner with cultural heritage and educational institutions.How do I know whether something is protected by copyright? What is fair use and how can I apply it? What copyright exceptions are available for library or archival use? How can I clear a copyright? How do I navigate and negotiate licensing agreements? If you’ve asked yourself these questions, this workshop is for you! Aimed at providing real-world applications within the academic, archival, library, gallery and museum environments, we will use relevant case studies to explore issues such as educational and scholarly usage, securing academic publication rights (including for online use), creative reuse, fair use guidelines, VARA and moral rights, licensing from vendors and rights holders, and the public domain. Participants will also be introduced to tools and resources to help them and their constituents in making decisions regarding appropriate use and dissemination of visual media. will be taught by Cara Hirsch, Deputy General Counsel at The Virtual Reality Company, a studio focused on the creation of content for virtual reality film and other experiences. At VRC, Cara oversees all intellectual property matters relating to the company's business. She is the former Associate General Counsel at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, where she supported Guggenheim’s legal affairs in a wide variety of areas including intellectual property. Prior to the Guggenheim, Cara was Deputy General Counsel for Artstor, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching, and learning in the arts, humanities and other fields. Among her duties at Artstor, Cara collaborated in refining Artstor's intellectual property and other legal strategies for the organization. She also supervised the rights review and clearance process for media collections in the Artstor Digital Library, a digital image resource that makes available to nonprofit institutions over 1.7 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. Cara also worked as an Associate at the law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Andrews Kurth LLP, where she practiced in the field of intellectual property. She served as Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Rights Committee of the Visual Resources Association from 2011-2014. Cara received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.Registration for Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media is open until February 28, 2020. The fee for the workshop is $125. For more information about the workshop and to register, visit here. If you have any questions about registration, please feel free to contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director, bwodnick@princeton.edu. For questions about the venue, please contact Anne Mar, Assistant College Archivist/Metadata Specialist, amar@oxy.edu. 

On behalf of the VRAF RWIT
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VRA 2020 Baltimore: Hotel Rates Ending, Add Workshops and Tours

Book before Tuesday, February 25, 5pm EST to stay in one of Baltimore's top-rated hotels for $149 per night!
We are very pleased to announce that we have exceeded our room block and recommend that you plan on making your reservations as soon as possible while space is still available.
 
The VRA will have almost exclusive use of the conference hotel, Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore, and we want to encourage you to take part in this amazing networking and community building experience.  Reserve a room before special rates end on Tuesday, February 25, 5pm EST.
 
Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore

550 Light Street, Baltimore, MD  21202(410) 234-0550 / 1-800-766-3782Block Name:  Visual Resources Association 2020 Annual ConferenceGroup Code:  0329VSRSAS$149 per night, single/double occupancy, plus taxes and fees

Please contact the VP for Conference Arrangements with any questions about reservations.

 

Why Stay at the Official Conference Hotel?Besides being elegant, convenient, and brilliant for networking, staying at the official conference hotel helps to insure the financial health of both the conference and the association.  When the VRA signs a contract with a hotel to host a conference, the cost of the meeting and event spaces is greatly reduced by our guarantee that a certain number of sleeping rooms will be booked by our attendees.

 

Room Sharing Encouraged
New this year!  A link to a hotel room and ride sharing spreadsheet will be included with your registration confirmation, so you can easily find the perfect roommate(s) and enjoy huge savings on your accommodations.  After you register for the conference, find the link in your email with the subject "Form Submitted Successfully - VRA Conference Registration."

 

It's Easy to Add Workshops and Tours Even If You Have Already Registered
Simply email join@vraweb.org and specify the name(s) of the workshops or tours that you would like to add.  Act fast as the following workshops and tours have already sold-out:  IIIF in 2020 Workshop, American Visionary Art Museum Tour, and Hirshhorn Museum Tour.  The Introduction to Critical Cataloging for Visual Resources Professionals Workshop and the Walters Art Museum Chamber of Wonders Tour will likely sell out soon.

 

Don't forget that the conference continues on Friday, March 27 with more amazing professional development opportunities, including sessions, workshops, and tours!  There is a two-part Grant Writing Workshop with morning & early afternoon sessions.  Carmen Cowick has an art history and archives background and teaches grant writing courses online in addition to other courses on archives, oral history programs, digital curation, and preservation.  Cathleen Tefft is a Senior Program Officer in the Division of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for the Humanities. She works with applicants and funded projects in all of the division's grant programs, and she coordinates the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources competition.
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VRA 2020 Baltimore: Save $100 off Conference Registration

Register by Friday, February 14 to take advantage of early bird rates and save!
Save $100 off your conference registration for members and non-members or $50 off student, retired, and unemployed rates.

 

Use your savings to upgrade your conference experience by adding workshops and tours.
Perhaps you want to try your hand at storyboarding or mind mapping; use tools for editing existing collections data to more responsibly address diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility; get practical know-how about travelling with copy stands, drones, and 3D scanners; or learn step-by-step how to write successful grants.  We have workshops to teach you all of these skills and many more, with prices ranging from $20-$40.  Act Fast:  IIIF in 2020: What You Need to Know to Join the Party has already sold out, so register for your preferred workshops before it's too late!

 

How about a change of scenery and learning out and about in the city?  The local committee has crafted some excellent tours to experience with your fellow conference attendees.  Would you like to visit the stunning Enoch Pratt Free Library and George Peabody Library, embark on a curator-led tour of the Chamber of Wonders at the Walters Art Museum, or visit Homewood House Museum and the Artists' Books Collection at Eisenhower Library Special Collections, both at Johns Hopkins University?  See our full listing of $10 tours.  Act Fast:  the American Visionary Art Museum and Hirshhorn Museum: Conservation Lab & Library Tour are nearly sold out!  

 

Want to save even more?  
Book before Tuesday, February 25 to stay in one of Baltimore's top-rated hotels for $149 per night!
The VRA will have almost exclusive use of the conference hotel, Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore, and we want to encourage you to take part in this amazing networking and community building experience.  This deadline is earlier than usual, so we want to make sure that all attendees get the opportunity to reserve a room before special rates end on Tuesday, February 25.

 

Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore

550 Light Street, Baltimore, MD  21202(410) 234-0550 / 1-800-766-3782Block Name:  Visual Resources Association 2020 Annual ConferenceGroup Code:  0329VSRSAS$149 per night, single/double occupancy, plus taxes and fees

Please contact the VP for Conference Arrangements with any questions about reservations.

 

Why Stay at the Official Conference Hotel?Besides being elegant, convenient, and brilliant for networking, staying at the official conference hotel helps to insure the financial health of both the conference and the association.  When the VRA signs a contract with a hotel to host a conference, the cost of the meeting and event spaces is greatly reduced by our guarantee that a certain number of sleeping rooms will be booked by our attendees.

 

Room Sharing Encouraged
New this year!  A link to a hotel room and ride sharing spreadsheet will be included with your registration confirmation, so you can easily find the perfect roommate(s) and enjoy huge savings on your accommodations.  After you register for the conference at the current discounted early bird rates, find the link in your email with the subject "Form Submitted Successfully - VRA Conference Registration."

 

Plate 12 of Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting Baltimore Oriole, detail 
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Scholarships available for SEI 2020!

The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF), along with the SEI 2020 Implementation Team, are pleased to announce the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Scholarships for the 2020 Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management (SEI), to be held June 23-26, 2020 at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

The Samuel H. Kress Foundation is once again generously funding six scholarships for SEI 2020. This intensive workshop is designed to serve a wide range of information professionals eager to learn about best practices and new technologies and/or update job skills in the realm of digital collections management, as well as to provide significant networking and professional development opportunities. The comprehensive curriculum seeks to address the requirements of today's cultural heritage information professional, including hands-on and lecture modules presented by expert instructors. SEI provides new professionals, current library school students, and mid-career professionals from a wide range of related fields the opportunity to stay current in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Museum professionals, archivists, visual resources professionals, digital librarians, art and architecture librarians, digital project managers, current and recent graduate students, and others in related fields are all encouraged to attend.

Details:

  • The six Kress Scholarship recipients will each receive $1000 towards the cost of SEI.

  • Kress Scholarship applications are due by Monday, March 9, 2020.

  • Recipients will be notified no later than Monday, March 30, 2020.

  • Each Kress Scholarship recipient will be required to write a report detailing how they benefitted from SEI and the scholarship upon completion of SEI 2020.

Instructions:

  • Submit a resume or curriculum vitae and a cover letter (no longer than two pages) describing the effect attending SEI would have on your studies and/or your career.

  • All applications will be evaluated by three SEI co-chairs based on the criteria established for the award (including current or future career goals as well as financial need) and any additional directions from the Kress Foundation staff.

  • Submit your application materials via e-mail in a single document (PDF preferred), using the following file naming convention: LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_KRESS2020 to SEI 2020 Senior Co-Chair Courtney Baron at courtney.baron@louisville.edu. 

Best wishes,Courtney Baron, SEI 2020 Co-Chaircourtney.baron@louisville.eduBridget Madden, SEI 2020 Co-Chairbridgetm@uchicago.edu

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VRA 2020 Baltimore: Workshops to Promote Communication and Success

Hello all!

Our exciting slate of workshops for 2020 Baltimore continues, with three more options for fostering efficacy in your communications. These workshops only have a limited number of seats available, so register for the conference today!

What to improve your retention and communication of key ideas?Visual Communication for Knowledge Acquisition, Processing and Dissemination on Tuesday, March 24: 8:30am - 10:30amJohn Trendler (Scripps College) and Rebecca Moss (University of Minnesota) help you learn how to mind map, sketchnote, draw, and storyboard for exploiting the power of visual communication.

Want to communicate your need and vision to successfully get grant funding?Grant Writing I on Friday, March 27: 8:30am – 10:30amCarmen Cowick (Preserve This) walks you through the grant process and how you start to identify grants to match your need and write clear goals and objectives that will resonate with granting agencies.

Grant Writing II on Friday, March 27: 11am – 1pmCarmen Cowick (Preserve This) leads you through the grant proposal and how to communicate your project in an elevator speech, a narrative/story statement of need, and through email correspondences. Cathleen Tefft (National Endowment for the Humanities) will discuss the ways of preparing for an NEH grant and tips for navigating the federal application process.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sara SchumacherVice President for Conference ProgramVisual Resources Association

Architecture Image LibrarianArchitecture LibraryTexas Tech University Librariessara.schumacher@ttu.edu806.834.1245Pronouns: she, her, hers

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VRA 2020 Baltimore: Workshops to Advance Your Digital Collections

Hello all,

As we have an exciting slate of workshops for 2020 Baltimore, I wanted to share some details of three that can improve your skills and help you make an impact. These workshops only have a limited number of seats available, so register for the conference soon!

Want to know how to optimize your digital collections functionality through IIIF?IIIF in 2020: what you need to know to join the party on Tuesday, March 24: 8:30am - 10:30amJeff Mixter (OCLC) and Piotr Adamczyk (Artstor) provide a hands-on workshop of the tools and solutions to deploy an IIIF server with vendor or local support and use IIIF Image APIs, Manifests, and Presentation APIs to unlock the full potential of your image collections.

Want to learn how to address diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility in your collections?Introduction to Critical Cataloging for Visual Resources Professionals on Thursday, March 26: 8:15am -12:15pmKaren Li-Lun Hwang (Asian American Arts Centre) and Treshani Perera (University of Kentucky) provide the theory and tools for expanding digital collection descriptions for greater inclusion and crafting responsibly ethical policies at various stages of the digital project lifecycle.

Want to discover dynamic digitization practices to incorporate at your institution?Taking Your Digitization on the Road on Thursday, March 26: 3:45pm - 5:45pmChris Strasbaugh (The Ohio State University) and Doug Daniels (UCLA Library) give you the opportunity to get your hands around traveling copystands, drones, and 3D scanners, so that you can make the case for deploying these solutions at your institution.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sara SchumacherVice President for Conference ProgramVisual Resources Association

Architecture Image LibrarianArchitecture LibraryTexas Tech University Librariessara.schumacher@ttu.edu806.834.1245Pronouns: she, her, hers

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Apply to Host a 2019-2020 VRAF Regional Workshop

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce that it is accepting host applications for the VRAF Regional Workshop Program for 2019-20. The application deadline is Friday, August 23 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Thanks to the continued generous support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, this program will allow the VRAF to continue to realize its mission to promote scholarship, research, education, and outreach in the fields of visual resources and image management.

For the 2019-2020 program, the VRAF will support four workshops for up to $3000 each, including an instructor stipend and travel expenses, a stipend for the local organizer, catering, and other minor expenses incurred by the host institution. The VRAF will provide significant logistical support, including locating a qualified instructor and managing registration. With the VRAF Regional Workshop Grant, host institutions will be able to offer a workshop without the burden of developing it from within, and provide valuable programming not only to their local constituents, but also to their broader region. This opportunity is open to Visual Resources Association (VRA) Chapters, VRA affiliates, related information management organizations, museums, libraries, and academic institutions. For a reasonable registration fee, the workshops will provide an immersive experience on a single topic, framed in a manner that is relevant to digital asset management professionals, users of cultural heritage information, and the larger information community.

Applications will be accepted to host one of the following workshops:

We will also consider applications in which the host site proposes its own workshop topic. International hosts welcome to apply. Please review the description of the VRAF Regional Workshop Programas well as the VRAF Mission Statement prior to confirm that your proposed workshop fits within both the program’s parameters and the larger goals of the VRAF.

To conform to the guidelines of our Samuel H. Kress grant, workshops must be held by June 2020. For more information about the VRAF Regional Workshop Program, visit https://vrafoundation.com/regional-workshops/. To apply, visit https://vrafoundation.com/apply/. If you have additional questions about the program, please contact the Regional Workshop Implementation Team, vraf.rwit@gmail.com. The deadline for application is Friday, August 23 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

On behalf of the VRAF Regional Workshop Implementation Team

vrafoundation@gmail.com
vrafoundation.com
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https://www.facebook.com/visrafoundation/

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Registration Open: Metadata and Management of Cultural Heritage Digital Media

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce registration is now live for “Metadata and Management of Cultural Heritage Digital Media: From Fundamentals to Future Trends” hosted by the Smithsonian’s Freer|Sackler Museum on April 26, 2019.
This one-day workshop will provide you with the background and tools to effectively organize, catalogue, and distribute your institution’s digital assets by introducing you to the core concepts of managing digital content. Participants will receive an overview of metadata standards, as well as how to manage, share, and publish digital content.

The workshop will be taught by Shyam Oberoi, the Chief Digital Officer for the Royal Ontario Museum, where he oversees the Museum’s digital and technology strategy.  Before coming to the ROM, he was the Director of Technology and Digital Media at the Dallas Museum of Art, where he led the Museum’s digital and technical initiatives with responsibility for media creation, gallery interactives, technical services and mobile experiences. Among his successes was a multi-year project to comprehensively digitize every object in the DMA’s collection, and publish the entire collection online with extended scholarly content.

To register or read the full workshop description, visit here. The workshop fee is $125. If you have questions about registration, contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director, bwodnick@princeton.edu. For questions about the venue, contact Cory Grace, gracec@si.edu.

Please register by April 19, 2019.

The VRAF is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of this exciting opportunity to partner with cultural heritage and educational institutions.

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VRA LA 2019: Save $100 off Conference Registration

Register by Friday, February 15 to save.  Take advantage of early bird rates to save $100 on your conference registration for members and non-members or $50 for student, retired, and unemployed rates.

"Just think it’s like getting 2 or 3 workshops or tours for free."

Workshops:  
Perhaps you want to learn how to manage a large digital humanities project centered on mapping, streamline your embedded metadata workflows, or deliver active learning experiences that empower students to understand copyright and take advantage of fair use.  We have workshops to teach you all of these skills and many more.  See our full listing of workshops that range in price from $30-$80.

Act Fast: 
Monday’s workshop The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself: Public Speaking for Introverts and Other Reluctant Presenters only has one slot left!

Tours: 
How about taking a break from the hotel and learning out and about in this amazing city?  The local committee has crafted some excellent tours to experience with your fellow conference attendees.  Do you want to go behind-the-scenes at the Library and Archives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and tour 3D: Double Vision, visit the Imaging Lab at the Huntington Library while enjoying their art galleries and botanical gardens, take a walking tour organized by the Los Angeles Conservancy of glamorous art deco architecture, or take a curator-led tour of Oscar-nominated costumes and designers at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM)?  The list goes on and on!  See our full listing of tours that range in price from $10-$25.

Act Fast: 
Thursday’s Behind the Scenes Tour of the Japanese American National Museum only has one slot left! The same tour is also available on Wednesday.

Register Today!

P.S.  Don’t forget to book your room.  Special room rates are still available at the DoubleTree by Hilton Los Angeles Downtown.

Contributor:
Amy McKenna
Public Relations and Communications Officer, VRA Executive Board

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VRA LA 2019: Spotlight on Friday Workshops

Dear colleagues,

Continuing on the theme of last week’s email, I’m writing again to give you some details on the workshops available to you on Friday at the VRA 2019 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. The final day of the conference features three technology-focused workshops designed to teach you new skills that you can take home and apply to your work. Again, participation in these workshops is limited, so don’t wait to register and take advantage of the great opportunities listed below.

  • Advanced Embedded Metadata Export-Import in Adobe Bridge
    This workshop will introduce attendees to advanced use of the VRA Bridge export-import tool and Excel to streamline embedded metadata workflows. The export-import tool has several user controlled options including the ability to create custom field mappings. Combining these with strategies for text manipulation in Excel, users can reduce the time it takes to move metadata between media files and local databases. Topics covered:
    -Bridge Export-import tool options and custom field mapping
    -Preparing metadata for import in Excel (converting to and from text formats, batch transformations)
    -Troubleshooting Bridge export-import errors
    -User’s tips and tricks – tell us how you use it

  • Mapping an Archive: Data, Data, Data
    As more faculty and students turn to visual representations and presentations of their research, whether it be for a class or a larger research project, we are tasked with interpreting and setting forth a path to help them carry their vision to reality. We are often left feeling overwhelmed and asking “How do I start such a large digital humanities project?” This workshop endeavors to present a case study in which a patron presents you with an archive of documents they would like to visualize on a map to answer one or more research questions. You will be guided through questions you should ask, best practices for setting up your data collection, models for employing student labor, and various mapping products that can display your data to a variety of ends (including pure visualization and narrative). Attendees will be expected to bring a laptop. We will focus on platform neutral online mapping programs, but will also discuss open source and desktop client software that is available. Although many tools are available, we will focus on selecting the right one for the project at hand, which includes budget, license, and skill level
    .
  • Practical Coding for Visual Resources: Python & Version Control
    Learn to code in Python! Building off the excitement of last year’s Python workshop, we’re hosting another. Basic program design, version control, data management and task automation with tutorials and live coding exercises. This hands-on live coding workshop will help data managers learn Python and version control. Participants are required to bring their own laptop with a Windows, Mac, or Linux operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they are able to install software on. Instructions for setup will be sent to registrants prior to the workshop.
    This workshop will take place from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, including a one hour break for lunch.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in a couple of months! As always, please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Contributor:
Jacob Esselstrom
Vice President for Conference Program, VRA Executive Board

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Summer Educational Institute Registration is OPEN!


Registration for SEI 2019 is now open! We are very excited about this year's curriculum, and hope to see many of you at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, June 4-7, 2019.

SEI is a fantastic learning and networking opportunity for professionals interested in creating and maintaining sustainable digital collections of cultural heritage materials, including librarians, archivists, museum curators, visual resources librarians, and graduate (and recent graduate) students. The workshop offers participants the chance to meet colleagues from various institutions who are facing similar challenges. Faculty and students share ideas and solutions to these challenges and make lasting professional connections. This intensive workshop has a limited number of seats and fills up fast, so be sure to register soon!

Don't forget that six Kress Scholarships are available to help with the costs of attending. The deadline for applications is February 8.
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact SEI Co-Chairs Lesley Chapman and/or Courtney Baron.

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VRA LA 2019: Spotlight on Tuesday Workshops

Hello everyone!

We are now a little more than two months away from the start of VRA 2019 in Los Angeles. As part of the countdown to the conference I wanted to share the details of the three great workshops that are on the schedule for the morning of Tuesday, March 26th.

  • Clean, Transform and Enhance Your Data – Getting Started with OpenRefine
    Spend less time editing more records while improving the quality of your data using OpenRefine (http://openrefine.org/), an open source program that offers a practical approach to efficiently clean and transform data. Data comes from multiple sources and is messy. Cleaning data takes time, and is challenging when staffing and resources are limited. In this workshop, you will be given an overview of the program, learn how to analyze your data, and transform it with text faceting, filtering, clustering, and using GREL (General Refine Expression Language) expressions that will allow you to write code to further manipulate data.

    One of OpenRefine's most advanced features is the reconciliation service which allows you to connect to Linked Open Data (LOD) on the Web and enrich your data with additional information (Wikidata, Getty vocabularies, LCSH and LCNAF, VIAF, and more).  Use of the built-in Wikidata reconciliation service will be demonstrated in a pre-recorded video by Samantha Norling (Digital Collections Manager, Newfields).

    Participants will need to bring a laptop to follow along with the exercises. Instructions on how to download and install OpenRefine, data sets, and additional documentation, will be emailed to you prior to the workshop.

  • Lesson Planning for Fair Use and Visual Literacy
    The open access e-book Fair Use in the Visual Arts: Lesson Plans for Librarians (ARLIS/NA Occasional Paper No. 17, 2018) builds off of the CAA Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Artsto guide art information professionals in designing and delivering active learning experiences that empower students to understand copyright and take advantage of fair use in their art, design, and academic practices. This workshop, featuring instructor Dani Brecher Cook (Director of Teaching & Learning, Library, University of California, Riverside), will introduce art information professionals to frameworks and best practices for user instruction and equip them with tools and strategies to teach fair use in their own institutions. The workshop will give attendees an understanding of fair use and other visual literacy issues and how to integrate them into library instruction.

  • The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself: Public Speaking for Introverts and Other Reluctant Presenters
    Many of us have a fear of public speaking that prevents us from sharing our great ideas and experience, and even those who speak frequently admit that getting up in front of a room can still induce trembling hands and sweaty palms. While useless tips like imagining your audience in their underwear to banish nerves abound, in truth simple steps can be taken to help you survive and even thrive before a crowd. Betha Whitlow, in a highly supportive and interactive environment, will lead workshop participants in an exploration of the causes (and even potential benefits!) of stage fright, and discuss how to mitigate it through mindfulness and other stress reduction techniques, the fear minimizing power of a well-crafted talk, and cover other techniques for public speaking. After taking this workshop, you may still not actively court the limelight. But you will have the tools--and ideally newfound confidence--to transition from perpetual audience member to speaker on the stage.

These workshops only have a limited amount of seats available, so register for the conference soon! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Contributor:
Jacob Esselstrom
Vice President for Conference Program, VRA Executive Board

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Registration Open for VRAF Regional Workshop: Digital Mapping Technologies

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce registration is now live for “Something Mappy This Way Comes: An Introduction to Digital Mapping Technologies” hosted at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on January 25, 2019.

This workshop will be a crash course in Digital Humanities mapping and related technologies. Examples of digital platforms will be given, with discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and budgets. Participants will learn about current DH mapping projects from the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab and do a deep dive into what makes them successful and cutting edge. Discussions of data workflows and best practices will set the stage for learning about digital storytelling. Lastly, you will work with primary source data sets to create a digital mapping project that allows users to explore historical information with 21st century mapping technology.

The workshop will be taught by Justin Madron, the Digital Scholarship Lab’s GIS Project Manager & Analyst at the University of Richmond (VA). He is in charge of GIS related tasks and technologies required for the production and maintenance of American Panorama, a digital atlas of American history project. He has a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from West Virginia University and a Master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Environmental Studies with a focus on Geographical Information Systems and Technologies. His graduate research was on the historical and present reforestation of red spruce in the Appalachian Mountains.

To register or read the full workshop description, visit here. The workshop fee is $125. If you have questions about registration, contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director. For questions about the venue, contact Lori Birrell, Head of Special Collections. Please register by January 18, 2019.

The VRAF is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of this exciting opportunity to partner with cultural heritage and educational institutions.

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Registration Open for VRAF Regional Workshop: Documenting Cultural Heritage at The George Eastman Museum

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce that registration is open for Documenting Cultural Heritage: Strategies and Spaces for Digital Capture, to be held on November 30, 2018. This workshop will be hosted by the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY, and is open to cultural heritage professionals, the information, museum, and educational communities, and anyone interested in visual culture. Documenting Cultural Heritage: Strategies and Spaces for Digital Capture is the first of four workshops being offered in the 2018-2019 VRAF Regional Workshop Program. The VRAF is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of this exciting opportunity to partner with cultural heritage and educational institutions.

Workshop Description: “Digital capture” encompasses a broad range of technologies and processes. While the role of a digitization space has historically revolved around slide and flatbed scanners, these represent just two of many possible approaches to digital imaging. The first part of this workshop will explore traditional methods for digital capture, including scanners, DSLR cameras, copystands, lighting, and specialized imaging devices for specific uses. Part two of the day will take participants beyond the basics by focusing on emerging technologies and their impact on the capture, dissemination, and storage of cultural materials.  All workshop content will be framed within the important questions you should be asking when planning the present and future directions of your digital capture project or facilities. Participants will also receive significant supplemental material, including recommended equipment, buying guides, and a variety of workflow documents from several institutions. When combined with the presented information, participants will have the tools in place to build an efficient digitization space that is as unique as their specific resources and project needs.

Documenting Cultural Heritage will be taught by Chris Strasbaugh, Digital Library Archivist and Curator at the Knowlton School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City and Regional Planning at The Ohio State University.  As photographer, art historian, and now digital curator, Chris has always been driven to document and preserve cultural heritage. His work as a Digital Library Archivist and Curator is a perfect mix of his passions in preservation, photography, emerging technology, open access, and metadata management. He works with an archive of unique work, documenting the history of the various programs in the Knowlton School as well as highlighting new work that showcases the students in the programs.

Chris has recently presented on the topic of digitization at the 2+3D Photography – Practice and Prophecies – 2017 conference at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, HASTAC 2017 in Orlando, and the June 2017 Images: Digitization and Preservation of Special Collections in Libraries, Museums, and Archives, NISO Virtual Conference. In addition to conference presentations, he has also produced online learning trainings, taught local workshops, and has actively assisted special collections in designing and streamlining their digitization process.

To register for Documenting Cultural Heritage: Strategies and Spaces for Digital Capture and to learn more about the workshop, visit https://vrafoundation.com/current-regional-workshops/documenting-cultural-heritage-eastman-2/.  The fee for this day-long workshop is $125. If you have questions about registration, feel free to contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director, bwodnick@princeton.edu or for questions about the program or venue, please contact Elizabeth Chiang, echiang@eastman.org.

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Save these Dates: 2018-2019 VRAF Regional Workshops Schedule

The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce the host sites for the 2018-2019 VRAF Regional Workshop Program. Now in its fourth year, and thanks to the continued and generous support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, this program is allowing the VRAF to realize its mission to promote scholarship, research, education, and outreach in the fields of visual resources and image management.The 2018-2019 workshops are:Documenting Cultural Heritage: Strategies and Spaces for Digital Capture at the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY, to be held on November 30, 2018Something Mappy This Way Comes: An Introduction to Digital Mapping Technologies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, to be held on January 25, 2019.Exhibit, Instruct, Promote, Collaborate: An Introduction to Omeka for Digital Scholarship at The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, to be held on March 1, 2019.Metadata and Management of Cultural Heritage Digital Media: From Fundamentals to Future Trends at The Smithsonian’s Freer|Sackler, Washington, D.C., to be held on April 26, 2019.With the VRAF Regional Workshop Program’s funding, host institutions will be able to offer a workshop without the burden of developing it from within, and provide valuable programming not only to their local constituents, but to their broader region. For a reasonable registration fee, the workshops provide an immersive experience on a single topic, framed in a manner that is relevant to image management professionals, users of cultural heritage information, and the larger information community. The call for host sites for the 2019-2020 VRAF Regional Workshop Program will be announced in summer 2019.For more information about the VRAF Regional Workshop Program, including this year’s offerings, please visit: https://vrafoundation.com/regional-workshops/ For questions about the VRAF Regional Workshop Program please contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director, bwodnick@princeton.edu.For more information about the Visual Resources Association Foundation, and its mission, projects, and giving opportunities, please visit us at https://vrafoundation.com

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VRAF Regional Workshop: Visual Literacy: Learning to Look and Looking to Learn

Visual Literacy: Learning to Look and Looking to Learn

VRAF Regional WorkshopUniversity of California BerkeleyFebruary 26th, 2016Session 1:  10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Berkeley Art MuseumSession 2:  2:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m., Visual Resources Center, 308A Doe LibraryThe Visual Resources Association Foundation is pleased to announce that registration for Visual Literacy: Learning to Look and Looking to Learn is now live! This workshop will be held at University of California Berkeley on February 26th, 2016, one of two workshops being offered in the first year of the VRAF Regional Workshop Program.  This workshop will be hosted by the Visual Resources Center in the History of Art Department at UC Berkeley, and is open to image management professionals, image users, and the broader information and educational community. The VRAF is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their generous support of this new opportunity.Part one of this workshop will focus on visual literacy skills and pedagogical approaches by exploring objects at the new Berkeley Art Museum. In part two of the workshop, participants will discuss and develop ways to implement their own visual literacy program at their institutions, and learn how staff, students and faculty can use digital archives, art objects, and other primary sources in developing visual literacy skills.InstructorVisual Literacy: Learning to Look and Looking to Learn will be taught by Jessica Sack, the Jan and Frederick Mayer Senior Associate Curator of Public Education at the Yale University Art Gallery. During her fifteen years in the field of museum education, Jessica has developed training programs in visual literacy for information professionals, teachers, faculty, and students.RegistrationThe fee for the workshop is $75 for either the morning or afternoon session, or $125 for the full day.  To register or learn more about Visual Literacy: Learning to Look and Looking to Learn, visit http://vrafoundation.org.s119319.gridserver.com/index.php/projects/visual_literacy_regional_workshop/If you have questions about registration, feel free to contact Betha Whitlow, VRAF Director, bwhitlow@wustl.edu For questions about the University of California Berkeley venue, please contact Lynn Cunningham, Curator of Visual Resources, lynncunningham@berkeley.edu.

Joan La Barbara performing her "Circular Song" on our plush circle.

A photo posted by BAMPFA (@bampfa) on

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VRAF Regional Workshop: Exhibit, Instruct, Promote: An Introduction to Omeka for Digital Scholarship

Omeka LogoExhibit, Instruction, Promote: An Introduction to Omeka for Digital Scholarship

VRAF Regional Workshop Hunter College, City University of New YorkFebruary 19th, 2016 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.The Visual Resources Association Foundation is pleased to announce that registration for Exhibit, Instruct, Promote: An Introduction to Omeka for Digital Scholarship, is now live! This workshop will be held at Hunter College, City University of New York, on February 19th, 2016, one of two workshops being offered in the first year of the VRAF Regional Workshop Program.  This workshop will be hosted by the Judith and Stanley Zabar Art Library, and is open to image management professionals, image users, and the broader information and educational community. The VRAF is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their generous support of this new opportunity.Omeka is a rich, open-source web publishing tool with a diverse array of functions for digital scholarship projects. For information professionals, faculty and students, Omeka can provide an easy way to publish and share digital content, as well as serve as a platform for building online exhibitions as academic and/or student projects.  In this full-day workshop, participants will be provided with a comprehensive overview of both Omeka.net (hosted) and Omeka.org (installed on a server) and case studies that demonstrate the use of Omeka in a variety of contexts, ranging from providing access to digital collections to projects that engage students in the learning process. While focused on Omeka, this workshop also will touch on other similar tools used for digital scholarship (such as Scalar) and offer practical information for planning digital projects.InstructorExhibit, Instruct, Promote will be taught by Meghan Musolff, Special Projects Librarian for Library IT at the University of Michigan Library. As part of her role, Meghan coordinates the U-M Library’s implementation of Omeka for the creation and presentation of online exhibits.RegistrationThe fee for Exhibit, Instruct, Promote is $125. To register or learn more about the workshop, visit http://vrafoundation.org.s119319.gridserver.com/index.php/projects/omeka_for_digital_scholarship_regional_workshop/If you have questions about registration, feel free to contact Betha Whitlow, VRAF Director, bwhitlow@wustl.edu. For questions about the Hunter College venue, please contact Steven Kowalik, Art Librarian, Judith and Stanley Zabar Art Library, skowalik@hunter.cuny.edu

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