Garage Museum of Contemporary Art announces the sixth annual Experiencing the Museum conference. This edition’s theme is the role of web and digital technologies in creating an inclusive and accessible environment.
As new technologies are changing the world around us, it makes us consider the social construction of the future. The conference Experiencing the Museum suggests taking a look at what web and digital mean for inclusion and diversity. How can cultural and educational organizations become more accessible by using assistive technologies or creating web content accessible to all user categories? How do novel technologies enable artists facing various barriers to participate in the life of cultural institutions?
An important part of the conference will be the preceding program of education events. From February 8 to March 18, the Museum will run the online course Inclusion in the Area of Web and Digital Technologies: Assistive Technologies and the Accessibility of Digital Products. The course is aimed at product and cultural managers who are looking to make their product accessible to everyone or develop a new technology that helps to make space and information accessible to different audiences. Over two months, the participants will learn the basics of designing accessible digital products, learn more about assistive technologies and the principles of their work. The core of the course, however, is its practical orientation. Participants will develop their own projects of an assistive product (e.g. an application, game, or platform), which they will have the opportunity to present at the Experiencing the Museum conference.
The conference Experiencing the Museum: Web and Digital Technologies as Tools for Museum Accessibility will run for three days, each covering a specific topic, including assistive technologies, methods of developing accessible web and digital projects (applications, games, educational platforms), technology as an artistic method, and technology assistance in education and ensuring independent living. The list of participants will feature experts in the fields of culture, education, and assistive technologies design from across the world.
The previous iterations of the conference Experiencing the Museum were devoted to the work with deaf-blind, deaf and hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired museum visitors, visitors with learning disabilities, as well as people with migrant and forced migration backgrounds.