The Carnegie Museum of Art launched the Hillman Photography Initiative today. Inspired by the widespread proliferation of images on social media platforms like Flickr, Instagram and Facebook, the new project aims to address contemporary issues in photography, particularly the intersection of artistic practice and technology. It is named for artist, collector and museum benefactor William T. Hillman and funded by the William T. Hillman Foundation.

Over a 12-month cycle, five "agents," comprised of photography and technology experts from outside the museum along with Carnegie curator Tina Kukielski, program manager Divya Rao Heffley and Nathan Martin of the Pittsburgh design studio Deeplocal, will develop exhibitions, programs and collaborations to be implemented at the museum as well as other institutions, as well as online features. The group will meet for the first time on Apr. 21-22 to develop a yearlong theme.

The first group of experts includes Marvin Heiferman, independent curator, writer and A.i.A. contributing editor; Alex Klein, curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics and director of the CREATE Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; and Arthur Ou, director of the photography BFA program at Parsons The New School for Design, New York.

After every cycle, two experts will remain while two new contributors will fill the other positions. Activities are expected to begin in early 2014. The public can track the initiative's progress at initiative.cmoa.org.