“Knowing your Public(s)—The
Significance of Audiences in Public History”
2013 Annual Meeting, National
Council on Public History
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, April 17-20, 2013
In 2013 the National Council on Public History will meet at the Delta
Ottawa City Centre, in the heart of downtown Ottawa,
Canada, with Canada’s Parliament buildings, historic ByWard
market, national museums and historic sites, river trails, the UNESCO World
Heritage Site of the Rideau Canal, and
numerous cafes and restaurants within easy walking distance. The program
committee invites panel, roundtable, workshop, working group, and individual paper
proposals for the conference. The
Call for Poster sessions will be issued in fall 2012.
As Canada’s capital, Ottawa is the national centre of the museum,
archival and heritage community, and its historical and cultural attractions draw 5 million national and
international tourists annually. Ottawa’s
two universities have strong connections to public and applied history. The federal
government employs many history practitioners and creates a market for private
consultants. With so many diverse
fields of Public History theory and practice represented, Ottawa is an ideal place to consider
issues and ideas associated with the theme of “Knowing your Public(s)—The
Significance of Audiences in Public History.”
These
could include:
- the changing
nature of the public and the evolution of the discipline over the last
forty years;
- how the public and Public Historians
influence each other in the production of history;
- the effects of changing approaches to public participation,
reciprocity, and authority on Public History theory and practice;
- the impact of
digital media on expanding or excluding public engagement;
- generational
differences including Public History for the millennial generation;
- intersections
between Public History practised at universities and in the broader
community;
- issues related
to working with ‘closed’ audiences in fields such as litigation, or
government-directed, research;
- access to and
use of grey literature
- the increasing
need for audience relevance in times of economic recession;
- and diverse
cultural and multi-national approaches to commemorating events such as the
bi-centennial of the War of 1812 or the 60th anniversary of the
armistice of the Korean War.
We welcome submissions
from all areas of the field, including teaching, museums, archives, heritage
management, tourism, consulting, litigation-based research, and public service.
Proposals may address any area of Public History, but we
especially welcome submissions which relate to our theme. Case studies should
evoke broader questions about practice in the field.
The program committee prefers complete session proposals but will endeavor
to construct sessions from proposals for individual presentations. Sessions are
1.5 hours (working groups may be longer); significant time for audience
discussion should be included in every session.
The committee encourages a wide variety of forms of conversation,
such as working groups, roundtables, panel sessions, and professional
development workshops, and urges participants to dispense with the reading of
papers. Participants may be members of only one panel, but may also engage in
working groups, introducing sessions and leading discussions.
See the NCPH website at www.ncph.org for
details about submitting your proposal and be sure to peruse past NCPH programs
for ideas about new session/event formats.
Proposals
are due by July 15, 2012.
All presenters and other participants are expected to register for
the annual meeting. If you have questions, please contact the program committee
co-chairs or the NCPH program director.
2013 Program Committee Co-Chairs
Michelle A. Hamilton
Director of Public
History
University
of Western Ontario
Jean-Pierre Morin
Treaty Historian
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
NCPH Program Director
Carrie Dowdy
