Ross Parry
Programme Director - Digital Heritage
University of Leicester
Department of Museum Studies
103-105 Princess Road East
Leicester
LE1 7LG
United Kingdom
http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/
Dr. Ross Parry has been Lecturer in Museums and New Media at the University of Leicester since 1998. In 2005 he was made a HIRF Innovations Fellow for his work on developing in-gallery digital media, and in 2007 was awarded a University Teaching Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to meeting the training needs of the cultural heritage sector. Between 2002 and 2007 he was Programme Director for Leicester’s campus-based Masters degree course in Museum Studies. He is currently chair of the university’s Digital Heritage Research Group (DHRG), and currently supervisor to a number of PhD students. Since 2001 he has convened Leicester's 'Spring School in New Media', an annual three-day event for museum practitioners and researchers to reflect upon the impact of digital technology on their work. He also leads the development of an innovative new postgraduate degree programme in 'Digital Heritage'. He continues to sit on the committee of the Museums Computer Group, since 2004 he has co-convened the annual UK Museums on the Web Conference, and since 2003 has been on the judging panel of the Jodi Awards (the UK's national award recognising museum, gallery, library, archive or heritage websites that demonstrate commitment to meeting web accessibility standards). With the 24 Hour Museum and MDA, he has also recently lead the 'Semantic Web Thinktank' (funded by an AHRC research workshop award) investigating the impact of semantic web technologies on the UK museum sector. His research is interested in the relationship between new technology (including pre-digital technology) and the ways memory institutions such as museums manage information and display knowledge. He is compiling a new addition to the series of Leicester Readers in Museum Studies entitled 'Museums in the Digital Age' (forthcoming 2008). He is also the author of 'Recoding the Museum: digital heritage and technologies of change’ (Routledge 2007), the first major history of museum computing.
Ross will present Semantic Dissonance: Do We Need (And Do We Understand) The Semantic Web?. [Mini-Workshop]
