Hi everyone, I was pleased to meet several presenters at MCN that are currently working on problems and issues in museum technology through masters and other academic programs. Perian Sully recently shared her Master's thesis, today we have another similar request from Elton and Sarah Sherman recently announced the formation of ARTiFACTs at UCLA. It is exciting to see this activity and rewarding to see that people are thinking of MCN as a place to look for answers.
I would like to know whether other researchers out there are interested in forming a Research SIG. I'd take a pretty broad definition of what constitutes research, including computer scientists working on new image formats, development of new software systems, access, description and retrieval standards, ethnographic or quantitative survey methodologies. We might share areas of research, methodologies, or find ways to work together on research that could be submitted to other related conferences such as IS&T, ASIS&T, M&W, JCDL, etc. The Research SIG might also serve as a liaison for student groups like ARTiFACT. As a current board member I am prohibited from serving as a SIG Chair, but would happily contribute to a Research SIG if someone is interested in taking up the charge. Information about SIG Charters and how to form a SIG are available on the MCN website at: http:// www.mcn.edu/groups/index.asp?subkey=88 Richard Urban, Doctoral Student Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign rjurban at uiuc.edu
