JISC

Cardiff conference will help ‘inspire delegates... to improve access and the educational experience’

Delegates are gathering in Cardiff today for a major international symposium organised and hosted by JISC to explore national and international policies and strategies around e-content.  

With the European Commission developing major programmes to support the delivery of online content for the education, research, heritage and cultural sectors, and with public sector and commercial initiatives increasingly looking to widen access to resources for all citizens, the symposium represents an important landmark in the continued development of national and international approaches to the delivery of e-content.‘I want Wales to be seen as an exemplar in the way that organisations work together to digitise, interpret and present online our history and achievements. I hope that delegates will leave Cardiff inspired to develop new innovative online resources, which will improve access and the educational experience.’

Among the speakers at the invitation-only event will be Patricia Manson (Head of Unit at the EC’s DG Information Society and Media), Kevin Guthrie (President of the US-based Ithaka), JISC’s Head of Development Sarah Porter and Chris Batt, Chief Executive of MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council). The symposium will address national and consortium strategies, business models, sustainability, mass digitisation and the development of standards, among a range of other issues. 

The symposium is the latest in a series of JISC-organised international events held over the last three years to draw together experts from around the world to address the place of e-content in a rapidly changing online environment and to look at how e-content can be made more widely available for lifelong learning, teaching and cultural use.

Delegates will be joined on Thursday by around 130 leading figures from education, research, cultural heritage, public broadcasting and industry in the UK and beyond for a further two days for a conference on digitisation which will showcase national and international digitisation initiatives - including JISC’s £22m digitisation programme - and explore the potential for cross-sectoral cooperation in this area.  

The two-day conference will open tomorrow with a speech from Carwyn Jones, Minister for Education, Culture and the Welsh Language in the Welsh Assembly Government. With Wales having established an international reputation for the digitisation of online materials for educational and cultural use, the location of the conference and the presence of the minister will, say organisers, support the conference’s stated aim to showcase the best in international digitisation initiatives.

Speaking before the conference, Carwyn Jones, Minister for Education, said: ‘I want Wales to be seen as an exemplar in the way that organisations work together to digitise, interpret and present online our history and achievements. I hope that delegates will leave Cardiff inspired to develop new innovative online resources, which will improve access and the educational experience.’

The proceedings of the digitisation conference will be available on a conference blog at: Conference blog 

For further information, please contact: Philip Pothen