Art and History at your Fingertips: Web-Wise Conference Showcases Digital Access to Museum and Libary Materials
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal agency that supports museums and libraries, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Library, are co-hosting the 2004 Web-Wise Conference in Chicago, March 3-5.
The "Sharing Digital Resources" sessions highlight outstanding digital projects that are pushing the boundaries of digitization and feature national leaders exploring the key infrastructure issues in these projects.
Thomas DeFanti, distinguished professor in the department of computer
science, director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory and of the
Software Technologies Research Center at the University of Illinois at
Chicago, will give the keynote address Thursday morning on technology
and the future of learning. DeFanti is an internationally recognized
expert in computer graphics, visualization and virtual reality. He and
EVL co-director Daniel Sandin conceived the CAVE virtual reality
theater in 1991.
A full schedule with a listing of conference presenters and topics is available at http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/systems/webwise2004/agenda.html.
"Technology plays an important role in helping us meet the information needs of students, faculty and other patrons," said Nancy John,
UIC's interim librarian and chair of the organizing committee. "Our technology-based partnerships with local Chicago museums -- notably the Field Museum, the Chicago Botanic Garden and, of course, the UIC Hull-House Museum -- are making unique primary research materials available to the UIC community at their desktops."
Conference organizers say the concept of sharing has many implications in the
digital environment, including interoperability and integration of
resources, access, cultivation of new audiences, and the formation of
new partnerships to achieve common goals.
Approximately 350 developers of digital libraries, museum and library
professionals, funders and policy makers will attend.
