We pass along this call for papers which has appeared on a number of listservs...

CALL FOR PAPERS
CHArt (Computers and the History of Art)
23rd Annual Conference

DIGITAL ARCHIVE FEVER
Thursday 8 - Friday 9 November 2007
London England - Venue to be confirmed

Museums, galleries, archives, libraries and media organisations such as publishers and film and broadcast companies, have traditionally mediated and controlled access to cultural resources and knowledge. What is the future of such "top-down" institutions in the age of "bottom-up" access to knowledge and cultural artifacts through what is generally known as Web 2.0 (encompassing YouTube, Bittorrent, Napster, Wikipedia, Google, MySpace and more)? Will such institutions respond to this threat to their cultural hegemony by resistance or adaptation? How can a museum or a gallery or, for that matter, a broadcasting company, appeal to an audience which has unprecedented access to cultural resources? How can institutions predicated on a cultural economy of scarcity compete in an emerging state of cultural abundance?