The ICA Virtual Conference 2021, Empowering Knowledge Societies (#ICAEKS2021), scheduled for October 25-28, will explore how the archival, records and data landscape in the 21st century is changing public expectations, how we do our work, what constitutes credible evidence and how we protect our holdings.
Our Programme for this Conference will include 20 sessions, on a wide variety of topics, from speakers all over the world. The sessions will be a mix of live and pre-recorded.
On the first day of the Conference, two sessions will run concurrently, both focusing on artificial intelligence (AI). One session will look at how AI can be used to engage the public, with examples from the 2019 elections in Indonesia, a public digital memory project in China and the use of AI in the museum sector in Saudi Arabia. The second will focus on how AI, machine learning and crowd sourcing can help with the description of archival records.
The second day of the Conference will feature two sessions on the new archival standard Records in Contexts, including an overview of the standard, as well as some implementation case studies. Day 2 will also include the session on Indigenous Knowledge, with speakers sharing perspectives from Canada, Australia and South Africa. This day will also feature the session titled ‘Archives and Ecological Challenges’, which will look at the environmental costs of our archival choices and practices, along with how to preserve and conserve a photographic archive in Egypt. Day 2 will also feature two sessions in the stream focused on Archives, Trust and Evidence. The first of this will look at the duty to remember, with case studies from the National Archives of Catalonia and the International Committee of the Red Cross, along with a discussion of how this duty interacts with the potential right to be forgotten. The second session in this stream will be on prevention and how to unite against thefts and trafficking, including the overview of a self-evaluation tool, as well as some practical suggestions for how to reduce theft. For the final session of Day 2, the Active New Professionals will share the results of their survey titled ‘Whose Stories Do Tell’.
Day 3 of the Conference will focus on the Digital Transformation stream and sub-streams. This includes a discussion of the impact of archives online for the profession and for social groups, as well as a session looking at accessing archives online, with case studies from the National Archives (UK), the Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY), and Heritage Leiden. A session titled ‘Artificial Intelligence Connects Digital Humanities with Archives Knowledge’ includes examples from a UK project called ‘Living with Machines’, the Arab Studies Institute’s Knowledge Production Project, and the New York University Abu Dhabi’s collections-as-data approach to the migration of sound culture. The final sessions of the day look at blockchain, as well as some digital preservation case studies from Nigeria, Brazil and Canada.
Our final day will include a session titled ‘Artificial Intelligence and Archives: Winds of Change’, which will look at the integration of emerging technologies at the National Library and Archives of Iran, in the Department of Culture of Catalonia and at the National Archives of Iceland. The final session of the Conference will look at why records matter and feature a discussion of the nature, value, and future of data, information, and records management in a digital age.
Take a look at the full Programme in English or French.
Haven’t registered yet?
We are offering reduced fees for ICA members. Follow this link to access the Conference website and register!
Please note that the deadline for bank transfers has passed and payments will only be accepted by credit card.
Looking for more information?
Any other questions can be sent to ica@ica.org
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