https://covidmuseumsanonymous.wordpress.com/

A Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY), an initiative designed to capture people’s experiences of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, has put out a call for submissions regarding museums’ responses to the pandemic.

While there is a great deal of excellent work being done by museums and other cultural institutions in response to both the pandemic and the not-unrelated Black Lives Matter protests, this moment has also made working in the cultural sector more difficult for many already precariously-employed individuals. It is just as important to document these struggles as it is to document cultural institutions’ successes.

Though A Journal of the Plague Year cannot directly collect anonymous submissions, it can receive donations of third-party anonymous surveys. To that end, please use this survey to document any experiences you would not feel comfortable sharing publicly as someone who works in (or would like to work in) a cultural institution during this time.

Responses will be compiled weekly. Check the Survey Results page each Wednesday for updates.

Click Here to take the survey. The survey was designed by ETS of JOTPY. If you are interested in knowing more, contact me.

Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals invites articles on the subject of collections in the areas of scholarly research, case studies, guidelines, and discussions and interviews. In addition, proposals are invited for focus issues of the journal that seek to present a range of perspectives on a single topic. The journal also publishes book reviews.

Manuscripts submitted to Collections should not be under consideration by any other publishers, nor may the manuscript have been previously published elsewhere. If a manuscript is based on a lecture, reading, or talk, specific details should accompany the submission. A complete manuscript submission shall include the following:

• An abstract of no more than 150 words
• Manuscript (At the head of your submission, please include appropriate contact details that will appear in print. Contact details should include: name, title, institutional affiliation, and email.)
• Notes, References (Bibliographies and references should conform to Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Notes and Bibliography)
• Illustrations (up to five figures or tables may be included with your submission). Captions should include appropriate credits. Authors are responsible for observing the laws of copyright when quoting or reproducing material and for any reproduction fees incurred.
• Journal Contributor Agreement

Submit your manuscripts online at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cjx. Journal information may be found here.

View the journal archive here: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/CJX/current.

Join us for our 5th annual symposium at RIT!

The Frameless Symposium is an interdisciplinary symposium focused on research, innovation, and artistic creation in the fields of virtual and augmented reality. The Symposium Committee invites contributions from users and creators of immersive technologies and experiences involved in academia, non-profit and educational organizations, and industry.

New this year! At this time, we intend to hold this conference virtually with the possible addition of onsite participation. Therefore, we are exploring options for distance participation through VR and other digitally synchronous means to broaden the range of opportunities for presentation and attendance.  Please stay tuned to the conference website where we will share information and updates.

Topics of Interest: Almost anything involving XR and immersive technologies is within the scope of the symposium. Papers, talks, workshops, demos, installations, performances, works-in-progress, and flash talks may cover any of the following topics:

Technology and analysis (system design, displays, optics, engineering, perception)

• Theoretical Foundations (approaches as well as theories and aesthetics of XR)
• XR Practices and Case Studies involving game design, storytelling, theatre, artistic expression, documentary, museums and cultural heritage, and health and well-being
• XR Studies and Education (as a discipline or method, in formal and informal education)
• History and Impact (analysis, critical history, societal impact, and influence on contemporary culture)
• Analyses and Evaluation of Systems (UI/UX, affect and emotion, presence and engagement)
• Archiving and Preservation of XR experiences as well as the use of these technologies to preserve cultural heritage and archaeological sites. 
• Universal Design, Accessibility, and Inclusion (embodiment, modality, empathy, and representation)

Please consider submitting an abstract even if your research area is not listed above, as we seek broad and inclusive approaches to the concepts and themes related to XR.

Info here: http://framelesslabs.rit.edu/symposium-2020/.

Call for Papers

Focus Issue: Collections and COVID-19

Articles are sought for a focus issue of the journal Collections which will consider collections and COVID-19. How have museums, archives, and libraries been impacted by COVID-19? What impact has COVID-19 had on collections, particularly?

In particular this call seeks contributions which address any of the following:

• institutional efforts at rapid response collecting;
• the intrinsic value of building collections during this historic time;
• the role and messaging of collections during the pandemic;
• the shift to online collection display as a way of providing opportunities for online engagement while institutions are not permitting visitors;
• the role of “essential staff” and their duties as related to collections;
• the financial impact of COVID-19 on collections; and
• other topics within the scope of “Collections and COVID-19”

For this issue, we are seeking articles, essays, and case studies of 2,000-3,000 words (8-12 pages double-spaced, plus notes and references). Authors should express their interest by submitting a 150-word abstract, anticipated article length, number of images, and any relevant information (such as context, short bio, pertinent URLs) to the guest editor carrie.meyer@unmc.edu and the journal editor jdgsh@rit.edu  by Tuesday, June 30, 2020.  

Notification of acceptance will be made by July 15, 2020, with the deadline for submission of final papers set for August 30, 2020 through the SAGE online submission portal. Publication is anticipated for volume 17 with an issue date of 2021. For additional information or to receive samples of the journal, please contact the journal editor, Juilee Decker, jdgsh@rit.edu.

Is your institution collecting materials related to CoVid-19? How is your museum addressing closure? In what ways are you pivoting toward re-opening?

You are invited to contribute to Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY): An Archive of CoVid-19, a crowdsourced public archive developed and run by a consortium of faculty, students, practitioners, and professionals across a number of fields who are interested in collecting digital artifacts of the CoVid-19 pandemic. Artifacts include the following submission formats such as photographs, textual personal accounts, video and audio recordings, screenshots of born-digital content including social media posts, emails, news stories, and memes.

We are particularly seeking submissions related to museums, and we invite you to contribute items in any number of ways!

We are seeking first-person accounts of the impact of CoVid-19 on your life and/or the life of your institution. What are the images of your institution’s closure to the public? What will be the new normal once your institution re-opens to the public?  

We are also seeking submissions related to materials in your collection that relate to CoVid-19. Are you actively collecting items related to CoVid-19? Are you undertaking rapid-response collecting? Do you have a home for these items online? You are invited to contribute your collections to the archive and have the Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY): An Archive of CoVid-19 host your items, with full credit and attribution to you and/or your institution as the Contributor. Or, we invite you to share your already-hosted content with the Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY): An Archive of CoVid-19, with full credit and attribution to you and/or your institution as the Contributor. [The difference between the two is that the former instance provides a home for content otherwise not online and/or not aggregated in one location by you or your institution: The Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY) becomes the repository for your content. The latter instance offers a snapshot of content that lives on your or your institution’s website, meaning that your permanent URLs are linked in the JOTPY site.

The Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY): An Archive of CoVid-19 is a crowdsourced initiative with more than 80 curators from across the US and Australia. The archive is supported by the Public History endowment at Arizona State University. The initiative was launched on March 13, 2020, and as of today, we have more than 5,000 contributions: https://covid19.omeka.net/items/browse. The majority are from the US, although we have representation from Australia, Peru, Brazil, Thailand, China, and many other locations.

We hope that you will consider joining our archival journey to document CoVid-19. You are welcome to upload your submission on the Share Your Story page. Check the box “Publish my contribution to the web” to make the submission visible on the site; otherwise it will remain private. Or, reach out to me, and I will be glad to help facilitate a single submission or multiple submissions from you or your institution. We also have some support through ASU to provide an intern who may be able to help with uploading your items to the JOTPY site.

Finally, we want to send a word of hope and promise. There is no question that the coronavirus emergency is deeply affecting all our lives. How will these times be remembered? We are hoping to build an archive that provides glimpses of what the crisis means to individuals, and we want to be sure that museums and their communities are represented. We hope you can join us!

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, 

Juilee Decker, Museums Lead of Curatorial Team

Journal of the Plague Year (JOTPY): An Archive of CoVid-19