Carry on Collecting? Internet Delegates Wanted This conference takes place at the Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester from the 14 to 17 April. Details of speakers, papers, abstracts, etc. can be found on the Leicester University Web site: http://www.le.ac.uk/cwis/ad/ms/co/msco.html We are keen to have input from delegates worldwide who have not been able to make it to Leicester. The conference audience is truly international representing about 20 countries. The conference is examining how museums can develop strategies to collect more effectively. The conference has an Internet Lounge from which delegates will have the opportunity to discuss the topics raised with the Museum-L audience. Introduce your ideas to the conference audience - these will be displayed in the conference hall or read out at the review of the previous day. Please say if you want these read out anonymously or not at all! Particularly useful comments may also find their way into the conference volume and will be credited. Alternatively, email the conference on [log in to unmask] Suggest topics we should perhaps be discussing or comment on some of the themes already identified. Research groups will be examining the following issues: On Collecting - Monday Morning 15 April Why should museums continue to collect? How does culture affect collecting? What have been the implications of past collecting practices? How far should past collecting approaches determine future strategies? What are the relationships between collecting as a popular social phenomenon and museums? Is the psychology and even practice of museum collecting any different from popular collecting? Can the 'unfocused' and 'unsystematic' collections museums have inherited contribute to an understanding of the past or have value in the present? If better use was made of existing collections, to what extent would we still need to collect? What expertise can collectors offer to museums and vice versa? Who are the stakeholders in museum collecting and what are the implications of this? How far do you agree that museums should be less concerned with directly collecting, and instead do more to reflect collecting as a popular social phenomenon? How far do you agree that the collections in museums tell us more of the collecting habits of curators than convey a coherent view of the past? Rethinking Collecting - Monday Afternoon 15April How far do you agree that collecting information is more important than collecting the 'real thing'? Will the video camera replace the need to collect objects? How far is photography an under-valued collecting technique? Consider the impact of developments in IT on collecting practices. What is 'uncollectable'? What are the implications of this? Do you agree that collecting memories negates the need to collect material culture? Is contemporary collecting effective, or is the benefit of hindsight essential? If contemporary collecting is so important, why do so few museums undertake it? How is contemporary collecting possible in a world of ever-increasing consumerism and rapid changes in technology, fashion and lifestyle? Should collecting be seen as a 'science' or an 'art'? Problems of Collecting Tuesday Morning 16 April What are the ethics of collecting? How far should durability affect what we collect? Should we throw away to collect? Should cost dominate collecting objectives? To what extent should international law constrain collecting? Do we collect to preserve or to serve our educational mission? What should we not collect? Who should decide what to collect? How do we currently select what to collect? What are the problems? Do current collecting policies simply validate anarchy? Politics of Collecting Tuesday Afternoon 16 April Patronising the disenfranchised? Tokenism? Are museums capable of more than this when collecting from subcultures or 'deviant' groups? How far can museums continue to collect in times of crisis such as war, and how is this of value? Post-apartheid collecting - an opportunity to redress the past? Can 'political' collections be 'depoliticised'? What is a 'nation' in terms of collecting? How far do museums need to redress the imbalance between 'high' and 'popular' culture in their collections? How is gender an issue in museum collecting? Can we collect effectively from another culture? Should we collect 'other' cultures? What obligations do museums have if they collect from 'other' cultures? Strategies Wednesday 17 April Regional, national or international strategies for collecting - where do we draw the line? What could be the roles of national strategies for collecting? What could be the roles of international strategies for collecting? How far should 'Cultural Significance' define what we collect? International collaboration to record biodiversity - how can museums represent all life? Do we need international rules for the recording of data from the collecting process? How can contemporary collecting stop being just a fashionable idea and become a reality? How can collecting strategies overcome the problem of the non-survival of material? How can museums evaluate their collecting strategies? How can an individual position their work within an international strategy for collecting?