This weeks sees two interesting conferences clashing in London, if ‘clashing’ is the term to use. The events will, partially, be taking place at the same time in different venues, but there is also a collaboration between them to allow interested parties to enjoy parts of both.

The two events are GLAM-WIKI:UK –  Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums & Wikimedia: Finding the common ground and the UK Museums on the Web Conference UKMW10 – Doing more with less: Rising to the digital challenge in difficult times. The events have a common theme: both take the current difficult time as a starting point and look at what the cultural sector, and museums in particular, can do.

In these times of economic austerity, Galleries, Libraries and Museums have to look for new and imaginative ways to maximise the impact of their collections and knowledge. (GLAM-WIKI webpage )

Confronting head-on our immediate digital challenge, [UKMW10] will explore the ways digital heritage can respond to these difficult times. (UKMW10 webpage)

GLAM-WIKI is a two day (and one evening) event being held in the British Museum on 26-27 November. The program features a series of presentations on different aspects of collaboration between the cultural sector and Wikimedia (details on the GLAM-WIKI page). The evening session on the Friday is a Wikimedia UK – Museum Computer Group joint event: ‘The free-conomy & the cultural sector’, featuring a key-note by Dr. Kenneth Crews followed by panel responses and an audience Q&A.

UKMW10 (26 November) proposes to look at what the recent policy and funding announcements will mean and discuss what the community can do, high-lighting four ways to approach the challenges:.

the conference will highlight four clear and distinct ways in which, together, we can engage with the challenges ahead: through smart aggregations of our digital collections; open-source tools and methods for designing our systems; creative approaches to collaborative working; and new and imaginative models for funding our work. (UKMW10 webpage)

More information about the events can be found on the respective webpages: UKMW10 and GLAM-WIKI. The events are already being discussed on Twitter – look for the hashtags #ukmw10 and #GLAMWIKI.