Hi Ari and all, This is just my personal 2 cents as a former MCN SIG (Special Interest Group) chair, but I'd say your experience is not at all atypical and in no way a symptom of cluelessness--rather, a sign of accurate radar. Most SIGs do fall fairly dormant for most of the year, with a few exceptions.
That said, and in the spirit of transparency, inclusivity, and our MCN conference this week (three good things!), two thoughts I can float: 1. This cyclical slide into semi-dormancy is something the SIGs have struggled with forever, to a first approximation; and a SIG is really only as active as its members make it. (By the way, to note this isn't to diss our SIG chairs, but quite the opposite: they're the leaders in this struggle against entropy.) So, I'd encourage conference attendees who feel that they have common interest with any of the SIGs to drop by a meeting or two, speak up, and maybe spur--and run with--an idea. The conference schedule (see At-a-Glance, pp. 7-9, for SIGs) is online at: <http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/index.asp?subkey=2093> . And for a list of all SIGs, please see: <http://www.mcn.edu/groups> . 2. Great ideas re: other approaches to maintaining electronic space for SIG content. MCN's entire assemblage of electronic services is a key area of reassessment and work for MCN, so I'd encourage you--and anyone else who may be interested--to keep sharing your ideas, so we can fold them into that process. The annual general meeting (Thursday, 3PM) will offer a chance to see who's leading MCN committee work in this and other areas, and to hear truly brief updates on what those areas of work are. Hope this may help, and that it didn't veer too far off into boosterism! thanks, Rob ______________________________________________ Rob Lancefield (rlancefield [at] wesleyan.edu) Manager of Museum Information Services / Registrar of Collections Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University 301 High Street, Middletown CT 06459-0487 USA 860.685.2965 Vice President / President-Elect, Museum Computer Network (MCN) On 11/10/08 3:00 PM, Ari Davidow wrote: > As long as I am asking convoluted questions.... > > At the last MCN conference I attended, two years ago, I was very > interested in several SIGs and thought that I "joined". Here it is two > years later. I can't recall any SIG discussions that I have had in the > intervening time (other than the IP-SIG, for which Amalya posts > frequently and noticably), and those particular SIG pages, including > the related resource pages, do not look like they have changed since. > > Is this people's general experience? Did I most likely just not make > my interest known such that it was captured and acted on (as in, be > part of ongoing discussions)? > > And, of course, am I the only person who suspects that a wiki, perhaps > among other CoP tools, might be a better way to capture and maintain > information in these SIGs, as generated, rather than what appear to be > the current static, unmaintained html pages? > > Is there more we can do with SIGs that would be useful? Which ones are > meeting at MCN (I think I noticed two or three SIG meetings--IP SIG, > plus California and Taiwan? in the calendar....) > > ari
