Museums and the Web: We couldn't do it without you!

One of the major challenges for us as we organize Museums and the Web is putting together the various committees that help produce the conference. David and I rely heavily on the knowledge and assistance of the MW Program Committee, the Best of the Web Judges, and the Local Arrangements Committee. Here what they each do, and yes, since each has a part to play on-site in Denver, attending MW2010 is part of the role:

Program Committee (~20)

The MW Program Committee plays a critical role in defining the conference program. Members offer assistance in the Fall (critically in September / October) by:

• encouraging colleagues – from your country,  your disciplinary area, or anywhere you think the MW program could benefit –  to submit proposals in response to the Call For Papers (available as a PDF) and of course making your own submissions.
• reviewing proposals and offering feedback to the conference co-chairs and the proposal author(s). This takes place in October, is the key role of the Program Committee, and is the major time commitment.
• reviewing the program selection made by the Co-Chairs based on all committee comments
• encouraging participation by other organizations (in the Exhibit Hall, as Sponsors, or as pre-conference tour venues for example)
• identifying suitable scholarship recipients and encouraging them to apply
• chairing a session at the conference
• anything else you can think of that would help improve Museums and the Web!

Best of the Web Judges (~20)
The BoW judges have a formal process, outlined  for MW2009 (and similar each year, subject to committee review). Each year, they:

• Review feedback from prior years
• Review Conflict of Interest Guidelines. Any site from your institution, or that you worked on, cannot be nominated if you are a judge
• Finalize the Judging Process and Guidelines. Last year's at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/best/judging.html
• Review the Categories and volunteer to judge 1 or 2. Last year's at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/best/categories.html
• Encourage Nominations 
• Review nominated sites
  - 10 sites to review and rank (per category) in February
  - 5 sites to review and rank (per category) in March
  - AGREEMENT on the Best of the Web by March 31
• Prepare BoW Awards Ceremony presentation before the conference
• Present Awards at the conference

Local Arrangements Committee (~6-8)
The Local Arrangements Committee provides Museums and the Web with eyes and ears on the ground in our host city. They:

• help MW connect with local institutions and events
• identify venues for pre-conference tours and tour lunches
• identify venues for conference receptions, and work with us on arrangements
• identify local attractions of interest to MW delegates, and help put together lists for the web site and on-site distribution
• identify local restaurants and bars of interest to MW delegates, and help put together lists for the web site and on-site distribution
• invite Directors of local institutions to attend

Each year we ask for volunteers on the Evaluation Form, and are thrilled with the response. We'll be in touch with everyone who volunteered on their form. We strive for balance on each group, including representing geography, kinds of museums, types of jobs and, yes, gender [if you watch me tweet you'll know how i feel about that]. But every year a few people say they'd like to volunteer, but don't put their name on the form, so:

If you'd like to help out with Museums and the Web 2010, now's your chance.  Let us know you're interested, through a comment, an email to the mw2010 address @archimuse.com, a tweet to @museweb, or through the contact form on the site. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Denver!

jennifer and David

thanks to sekimura on flickr for the photo