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| Museum Computer Network Conference | |
|---|---|
| Name | Museum Computer Network Conference |
| Abbreviation | MCN Conference |
| First | 1979 |
| Frequency | annual |
| Location | rotating cities across United States and Canada |
Museum Computer Network Conference
The Museum Computer Network Conference is an annual professional gathering for staff from Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Modern Art, British Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, and other institutions focused on technology in cultural heritage. The conference convenes practitioners from Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Brooklyn Museum, and Getty Center to share projects, platforms, and best practices. Attendees typically include representatives of Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Canadian Museum of History, American Alliance of Museums, and various university museums.
The conference originated in 1979 with participants from Smithsonian Institution, American Association of Museums, Baltimore Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Peabody Institute experimenting with early computing, networking, and digital cataloging. During the 1980s the event attracted speakers from MIT Media Lab, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University who introduced microcomputers, CD-ROMs, and early database standards. In the 1990s representatives from National Gallery, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Smithsonian Institution Libraries discussed web publishing, digitization, and metadata schemas alongside delegates from European Commission, UNESCO, and Internet Archive. The 2000s saw participation by teams from Google Arts & Culture, Microsoft Research, Wikimedia Foundation, OCLC, and Library of Congress driving discussions on interoperability, linked data, and open access. In the 2010s and 2020s the conference included contributors from CoOPER Hewitt, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Digital Public Library of America, and Smithsonian Institution Archives focusing on mobile apps, augmented reality, and machine learning.
Programming typically comprises keynote addresses from leaders at Smithsonian Institution, Getty Trust, Google Cultural Institute, Wikimedia Foundation, and Microsoft Research alongside panel sessions featuring staff from Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Museum of London', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Royal Ontario Museum. Concurrent tracks include case studies presented by practitioners from CoOPER Hewitt, Brooklyn Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art; hands-on workshops led by teams from Stanford University Libraries, University of Toronto Libraries, National Research Council Canada, American Alliance of Museums, and Library of Congress; and poster sessions with contributors from Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Digital Public Library of America, Internet Archive, OCLC Research, and Europeana. Pre-conference tutorials and intensive workshops have been offered by experts affiliated with MIT Media Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and New York University.
Recurring themes include digital preservation initiatives advanced by Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Digital Preservation Coalition, LOCKSS Program, and Preservica; metadata and cataloging efforts driven by Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, OAI-PMH, Linked Data Platform, and Schema.org; web and mobile user experience projects from Google Arts & Culture, Apple, Adobe Systems, Mozilla Foundation, and Wikimedia Foundation; and access, equity, and audience development work involving American Alliance of Museums, Association of Science-Technology Centers, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, and Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Milestones include early demonstrations of museum databases by Museum of Modern Art and Art Institute of Chicago; the introduction of web-focused panels in partnership with World Wide Web Consortium, Internet Archive, and Netscape Communications; the formation of working groups on standards with Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, CIDOC CRM, and OCLC; collaborative projects announced with Google Arts & Culture, Wikimedia Foundation, Europeana, and Digital Public Library of America; and landmark sessions on ethical AI featuring researchers from MIT Media Lab, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, OpenAI, Microsoft Research, and Harvard Berkman Klein Center.
The conference community draws members from museums such as Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, British Museum, National Gallery of Art, and Royal Ontario Museum; technology providers including Google, Microsoft, Adobe Systems, Amazon Web Services, and Preservica; nonprofit partners such as Wikimedia Foundation, Internet Archive, Digital Public Library of America, Europeana, and OCLC; and academic collaborators from Harvard University, Yale University, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, and Columbia University.
The conference has influenced standards adoption advocated by Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, CIDOC CRM, Schema.org, OAI-PMH, and IIIF Consortium and has catalyzed collaborations between Smithsonian Institution, Getty Trust, Wikimedia Foundation, Google Arts & Culture, and Digital Public Library of America. It has helped seed open-source tools and platforms developed by teams at GitHub, Internet Archive, OCLC Research, IIIF Consortium, and CollectionSpace and informed grant-funded programs from National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation.
The conference is organized by the Museum Computer Network nonprofit membership body with oversight from an elected board that has included professionals formerly associated with Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, CoOPER Hewitt, and Brooklyn Museum. Volunteer committees coordinate programming drawing on partnerships with American Alliance of Museums, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, IIIF Consortium, Wikimedia Foundation, and Digital Public Library of America. Annual host institutions have included New York University, University of Toronto, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Smithsonian Institution.
Category:Museum conferences