The California SIG grew out of recognition
that there were lots of MCN members and friends in California museums who were
in close enough proximity to visit each other and learn from each other.
We wanted to have a sort of mini local
network of professionals who wouldn’t mind sharing their successes and
challenges in a more in-depth way than was possible at the conference.
The success of the CAL SIG has been mostly
its dedicated members who are willing to present and listen to each other, and
secondarily, its informal nature. We have no set schedule of meetings—we
alternate between northern and southern California, sometimes in the same year,
sometimes in alternate years. We give members the opportunity to show off
their facilities and projects they’re working on, or to talk about any
other issues of concern to themselves and the audience. The groups range
in size from 20-30 people, and at present, events are free to members.
Hope I will be forgiven for butting in with
the historical perspective; our two sparkling new chairs, Margaret Kendrick
(Northern) and Diana Folsom (Southern) have only been in office a short time.
Marla Misunas
Former Chair and Founder, CAL SIG
I like the idea of regional MCN SIGs, like the one in California. I believe that many, many years ago there may have been one in the Washington, DC area, but was abandoned after only a very brief time. I tried to
find out what happened and I think the DC SIG closed down because of lack of
funding and lack of people who had time to organize various get-togethers,
however informal.
I'm
wondering if the California SIG (or other regional SIGs) can speak to
their success?
We
have a huge number of small historical sites in the DC metropolitan area that
have little or no resources for IT, let alone IT consultants. I think
face-to-face, informal gatherings between the smaller museum, archives,
libraries, historical societies, etc. and the "big guys" (Library of
Congress, Smithsonian, USHMM, & others) could be of great value to both.
I am also wondering what others might think of this idea? Thanks,
Lisa L. Holt
Museum Information Specialist
Outreach Technology Division
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024
I am hoping to start a discussion. Over the
last several weeks I have had
interactions with colleagues attending various
conferences. In all cases
the discussions where about where IT professionals
can go to share
information and learn about the issues of
technology management or as some
have put it, how to keep the computers running and
the data safe. MCN and
other conferences are great (see MCN prelim
program) at looking at the
application of technology and the management of
information. I have learned
much over the years about data standards,
intellectual property and how to
repurpose my collections management data.
But where do I go for information
on network infrastructure decisions, help in
developing a technology plan,
help in designing and managing the installation of
a new technology
infrastructure in a new building, business
software selection (yes we also
use retail store and accounting software, a much
different collections
management issue)? Where do developers go to
share code and discuss how
that new interactive was created? Where do
we go to talk about remote
control of desktops, end user training, software
deployment, etc.
You get the point. The discussion I want to
start is about this. Is MCN
the place for museum technology professionals to
meet and share information
on these issues? Are these issues best left
to other places or other
specialized professional forums? I would
hope MCN is the place for these
discussions. Since IT is core to realizing
an institution's goals
discussing the management of technology along with
those goals would seem
more valuable that in a generic technology
conference. I do see at many
conference presentations though, the IT staff
referenced in less than a
collaborative role in many technology projects.
It seems that in many
places the staff responsible for keeping things
working does not get
involved in the process of developing these
projects. I would also like to
discuss whether this is something we should/can
work to change. If MCN is
not the place for these discussions where are my
fellow IT professionals
going to get this information? Is there a
role for MCN to coordinate access
to these other resources?
So these are my questions. Please respond
and expand as you all see fit.
Bill
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