AU & ANZ AI4LAM regional chapter - folded

[Ingrid Mason]

Hi everyone, 

The AU & ANZ AI4LAM regional chapter has folded.  

As a grass roots initiative it has been pretty spectacular to be so warmly embraced by peers from all over the world to join in and to have support to get the community outreach ball rolling in our different time zones and countries.  

Thank you to everyone who has helped out, shared the news, and supported the AI4LAM Australasia and Aotearoa New Zealand regional chapter to flourish from 2020-2026 as a grassroots initiative. 

We wanted to reflect on our journey in sharing this news and note those that have helped out with coordination or joined in to build a community of practice (details below).  May more of this continue... with old and new faces and more initiatives to help us.

Ngā manaakitanga

Ingrid   

The AU & ANZ AI4LAM regional chapter as a grassroots effort came to life with the collective efforts of digital GLAM professionals and humanities and arts academics.  A group of people who saw the merits of collaborating and working together as a community of practice and gave their time.  

Inaugural co-convenors Ingrid Mason and Alexis Tindall kicked off the grassroots efforts and later Rowan Payne joined in.  The chapter was a world first and the purpose highlighted in its charter included: 

• Global understanding of algorithmic and AI literacies

• Best practices for deploying AI in cultural heritage

• Applied knowledge, experience and lessons learned 

• Practical, ethical AI and data science

• Advancement of knowledge and ability

• Cross-sector collaboration

• Support for project work in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand  

For six years a small but very dedicated, helpful and evolving group of people helped to pull together webinars, discuss hot topics and issues with the much welcome support from Sae Ra Germaine (CAVAL) providing Zoom webinar support.  With a little bit of effort from everybody we enabled peers to share ideas, methods and concerns about how AI technologies could, should or would be used.  

A lot of us got the incredible chance to experiment over those years and break new ground and shared our lessons learned and successes.  Some of us got to join in at the NFSA in 2024 when the Fantastic Futures conference was held in Canberra, Australia and we welcomed peers from around the world to share their expertise and experience and network over drinks on a warm Spring evening.  

There is much to be glad of and grateful for looking back - and - looking forward.  AI4LAM is now a member organisation and institutions around the world are invited to join and lead the outreach.  Reach out to Ines Vodopivec (Secretary General) for more information: secretar...@ai4lam.org

If you would still like to be involved in sector events closer to home and in person: the VALA 2026 biannual conference is in the first or second week of November in Melbourne and the NDF 2026 annual conference is slated for 23-25 November in Pōneke (Wellington). Both conferences will have streams focused on AI uptake in GLAM. Rest assured everyone still can join in and be a part of the AI4LAM community by signing up to the Google list and Slack channel. There is also the Fantastic Futures 2026 annual conference coming up in Washington, D.C. 15-17 September to keep your eyes on.

Thanks go to… community leaders and volunteers in your generosity of spirit and can-do. We make the world a better place working alongside our peers. 

Note: some people’s affiliations have changed.

  

• Ingrid Mason, National Museum of Australia 

• Rowan Payne, National Library of New Zealand

• A/Prof Sydney Shep, Victoria University of Wellington

• Sae Ra Germaine, CAVAL

• Basil Dewhurst, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

• Lucie Paterson & Jeff Williams, Australian Centre for the Moving Image 

• Catherine Belcher, State Library of Western Australia

• Ben Chesterman, National Archives of Australia

• Francesco Ramigni, Australian Centre for the Moving Image

• Keir Winesmith, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

• Tori Waqanaceva-Simpson, National Archives of Australia

• Amelia Paxman, National Archives of Australia

• Daniel Lewis, State Library of Victoria

• Elizabeth Long, National Archives of Australia

• Alexis Tindall, University of Adelaide Library

• Katherine Jarvie, RMIT University Library

• Paula Bray, The Australian National Maritime Museum

• Alice Rezende, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art

• James Robertson, National Library of New Zealand

• Dr Jason Ensor, Western Sydney University Library

• Noriaki Sato, Monash University Library

• Liz Stokes, Australian Research Data Commons

• Adam Moriarty, Auckland War Memorial Museum

Contact in the interim 

• Rowan Payne, National Library of New Zealand (Rowan...@dia.govt.nz)