[MCN-L] Website surveys - the good, the bad, the ugly
Hi Ari, Check out www.createwithcontext.com. This sort of thing is right up their alley. They're based in the SF area and if they can't help you I'm sure they can provide a referral. Best, Sue Grinols Director Photo Services and Imaging Fine Arts Museums San Francisco -Original Message- From: mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu on behalf of Ari Davidow Sent: Wed 5/27/2009 2:19 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv; nten-discuss at groups.nten.org Subject: [MCN-L] Website surveys - the good, the bad, the ugly I apologize for the cross-posting. We really want to get a sense of how well people feel our website serves them. (Don't get me started on what serves them well means.) I'd like to find someone, preferably based in Boston, who can help us put together a good survey so that we can better understand site visitor satisfaction, and perhaps, understand a bit better what draws the people currently visiting our site there. We don't need technology--we can use Survey Monkey, or put together something in our CMS--but I want someone who understands statistics and what questions to ask to best solicit useful information for a non-profit online site. Any suggestions? War stories? Many thanks, Ari ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] RE: Image Licensing
Alan: The difficulty is, even an economist can't prove a causal link between increased eyeballs on the images and more museum visitors. You would have to stand at the door and ask every incoming visitor Are you here today because you saw or downloaded an image of a work in our collection? Which one? It's much easier and more convincing to prove a connection between a marketing campaign, a special event, or some other datable cause and its measurable effect (10% increase in entrance ticket sales between the ad campaign dates of ...). It's also infinitely easier to prove a cause-and-effect connection between an image sale, the receipt of a check, and it's deposit in the bank. As for staff time saved, that's another assumption that disappoints. It takes a lot of staff time to tend, maintain, grow, keyword, and support a download site -- and if it's successful, it results in even more requests for one-on-one help with custom requests that require advice, negotiation, curatorial consultation, and personal service. Your comment about teachers is interesting. My first reaction was, we are delighted and relieved when they do their own scanning and respect our time, which we need in order to accomplish our own institution's projects on deadline. But that is simply an indication of the conflict that arises when the same staff have to try and meet conflicting goals with the same limited resources. More to the point, most of both of our museums' images are probably in Google Images by now -- Google Images is, after all, the universal solution in the cloud. But I do agree with you that, in the best of all possible worlds, we would beat out Google Images with better quality images (and certainly better caption information) that people could search and discover effortlessly, and download. And that would require a hefty monetary investment. Back to square one. Amalyah ?: ??mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] ??? Newman, Alan [A-Newman at NGA.GOV] ??: ? ? 28 ??? 2009 20:51 : Museum Computer Network Listserv ??: Re: [MCN-L] Image Licensing And cheers to you G?enter. Very nicely done. If we are wrangled into translating the low/no cost distribution of images of public domain works into a business plan we could calculate the multiplier effect of dramatically increased eyeballs on the images, especially in educational environments. This leads to more museum visitors which in turn leads to X dollars a visitor spends in shops, restaurants and admissions. Then we estimate the staff time saved and the minimal revenue lost and graph it all. A good economist could drive this into a believable equation that demonstrates more real revenue by open access. As Radiohead showed in my music example, good will and doing the right thing actually can work financially in the cultural community. Think of all the teachers out there trying to scan our images from books when faced with barriers to receiving good images for the classroom. We want them to come to the source and have respect their time. Amalyah, we?ll discuss this all with G?enter in Portland. Alan Alan Newman National Gallery of Art On 5/27/09 1:03 PM, G?enter Waibel waibelg at oclc.org wrote: I really enjoyed the recent exchange about image licensing, and as I re-read earlier entries of that rich thread, I started copying pasting some of the things most interesting to me into a text file. Before I knew it, I had a little document full of nuggets which I thought very nicely lay out the state of the discussion around image licensing in the museum community. I've written a blog posting about all of this at http://hangingtogether.org/?p=692, in case you'd like to revisit. Cheers, G?nter *** G?nter Waibel Program Officer, OCLC Research 777 Mariners Island Blvd. Suite 550 San Mateo CA 94404 voice: +1-650-287-2144 G?nter blogs at ... http://www.hangingtogether.org http://www.hangingtogether.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] RE: Image Licensing
Good point. This is where (by recording link-throughs) a cause-and-effect could actually be proved, and revenue credited to the source (the online image). Without any recordable connection between that source and that sale, it's difficult for our hypothetical economist to prove that the source is worth investing in. Amalyah ?: ??mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] ??? Kenneth Hamma [khamma at me.com] ??: ? ? 28 ??? 2009 23:48 : Museum Computer Network Listserv ??: Re: [MCN-L] Image Licensing We all assume you haven't forgotten to apply your multiplier also to online sale of products, right where those eyeballs are and with as much third-party involvement (fulfillment, payment transaction, hosting) as you wish. Just make it so easy and convenient in your branded venue (National Gallery = as good as it gets) that most everyone who is drawn by that won't care that you might not have a monopoly on the use of the images. ken Kenneth Hamma On May 28, 2009, at 10:51 AM, Newman, Alan wrote: And cheers to you G?enter. Very nicely done. If we are wrangled into translating the low/no cost distribution of images of public domain works into a business plan we could calculate the multiplier effect of dramatically increased eyeballs on the images, especially in educational environments. This leads to more museum visitors which in turn leads to X dollars a visitor spends in shops, restaurants and admissions. Then we estimate the staff time saved and the minimal revenue lost and graph it all. A good economist could drive this into a believable equation that demonstrates more real revenue by open access. As Radiohead showed in my music example, good will and doing the right thing actually can work financially in the cultural community. Think of all the teachers out there trying to scan our images from books when faced with barriers to receiving good images for the classroom. We want them to come to the source and have respect their time. Amalyah, we?ll discuss this all with G?enter in Portland. Alan Alan Newman National Gallery of Art On 5/27/09 1:03 PM, G?enter Waibel waibelg at oclc.org wrote: I really enjoyed the recent exchange about image licensing, and as I re-read earlier entries of that rich thread, I started copying pasting some of the things most interesting to me into a text file. Before I knew it, I had a little document full of nuggets which I thought very nicely lay out the state of the discussion around image licensing in the museum community. I've written a blog posting about all of this at http://hangingtogether.org/? p=692, in case you'd like to revisit. Cheers, G?nter *** G?nter Waibel Program Officer, OCLC Research 777 Mariners Island Blvd. Suite 550 San Mateo CA 94404 voice: +1-650-287-2144 G?nter blogs at ... http://www.hangingtogether.org http://www.hangingtogether.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] do you Skype?
Ad-hoc Skype is explicitly banned here. It may return someday as an organizational initiative, but we're still trying to figure out what the benefit would be for us. (We have sponsored phone service and have virtually no international communication requirements, so our economics may not be typical.) It wasn't always this way - I allowed it for a while. I originally had to ban it because we were short on bandwidth, and some folks couldn't resist using it in ways that completely overwhelmed our connection. That led to a temporary suspension of Skype use pending system analysis, improvements, and re-analysis. After we upgraded our connection I discovered the more troubling property of Skype traffic that led to the current outright ban: As I understand it, Skype can exist as a free service because each user donates spare bandwidth to carrying calls for other users. For home or home-like use that's probably okay since the bandwidth Skype sees as idle is probably actually so. In an enterprise or enterprise-like setting, the individual Skype clients don't do as good a job at measuring excess capacity. My previous service was SDSL at 1.5 mbps, and with 45 people in the office our utilization was over 95% at all times. My second site users were essentially unable to work, and even main site users were losing patience. After the upgrade to 10 mbps (metro-Ethernet), my typical utilization went to 20% (peaking at 90%, but only occasionally and briefly - as it should be) and my remote users were very satisfied. But after installing Skype, even with no active calls and the software sitting idle, my utilization went back up to 90%. I searched for workarounds or ways to manage its bandwidth consumption, but it's not really designed for managed operation - or may even be designed to work AROUND management. It definitely is designed to work around firewall restrictions, so my technological means to block the traffic were somewhat limited. On the bright side, this sequence of events raised the consequences of installing software without approval from it'll piss off the IT department to you could get fired for it. ;-) Dave Salovesh Information Technology Manager National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Dowden, Robin Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 10:31 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] do you Skype? Do you allow Skype in your institution? I've been arguing for its legitimacy as a business tool but our IT department is concerned about misuse and security issues. I'm interested in hearing how/if others are using it, policies, tales of compromised networks as a result of peer-to-peer apps, any relevant or related info you're willing to share. Robin Dowden Director, New Media Initiatives Walker Art Center 1750 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA T: 612.375.7541 F: 612.375.7575 walkerart.org CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This transmission (including any accompanying attachments) is confidential, is intended only for the individual or entity named above, and may contain privileged, work product, proprietary and/or confidential information that is exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or otherwise believe you have received this message in error, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, use of or reliance upon any of the information contained in this transmission is strictly prohibited. Any inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure shall not compromise or waive the confidentiality of this transmission or any applicable attorney-client privilege. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us at mail1 at walkerart.org and delete this transmission from your computer. ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] do you Skype?
I'm a little confused. Why would Skype need to run down someone's pipe only to jump back out again in a way of utilizing bandwidth for other calls? That seems quite inefficient to take a detour in routing of a telephone call. Thomas Deliduka Director of Information Technology Columbus Museum of Art 480 East Broad Street Columbus, OH 43215 ph 614/629-0345 fax 614/629-0950 thomas.deliduka at cmaohio.org ? ART SPEAKS. JOIN THE CONVERSATION -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of David Salovesh Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 11:51 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] do you Skype? Ad-hoc Skype is explicitly banned here. It may return someday as an organizational initiative, but we're still trying to figure out what the benefit would be for us. (We have sponsored phone service and have virtually no international communication requirements, so our economics may not be typical.) It wasn't always this way - I allowed it for a while. I originally had to ban it because we were short on bandwidth, and some folks couldn't resist using it in ways that completely overwhelmed our connection. That led to a temporary suspension of Skype use pending system analysis, improvements, and re-analysis. After we upgraded our connection I discovered the more troubling property of Skype traffic that led to the current outright ban: As I understand it, Skype can exist as a free service because each user donates spare bandwidth to carrying calls for other users. For home or home-like use that's probably okay since the bandwidth Skype sees as idle is probably actually so. In an enterprise or enterprise-like setting, the individual Skype clients don't do as good a job at measuring excess capacity. My previous service was SDSL at 1.5 mbps, and with 45 people in the office our utilization was over 95% at all times. My second site users were essentially unable to work, and even main site users were losing patience. After the upgrade to 10 mbps (metro-Ethernet), my typical utilization went to 20% (peaking at 90%, but only occasionally and briefly - as it should be) and my remote users were very satisfied. But after installing Skype, even with no active calls and the software sitting idle, my utilization went back up to 90%. I searched for workarounds or ways to manage its bandwidth consumption, but it's not really designed for managed operation - or may even be designed to work AROUND management. It definitely is designed to work around firewall restrictions, so my technological means to block the traffic were somewhat limited. On the bright side, this sequence of events raised the consequences of installing software without approval from it'll piss off the IT department to you could get fired for it. ;-) Dave Salovesh Information Technology Manager National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Dowden, Robin Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 10:31 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] do you Skype? Do you allow Skype in your institution? I've been arguing for its legitimacy as a business tool but our IT department is concerned about misuse and security issues. I'm interested in hearing how/if others are using it, policies, tales of compromised networks as a result of peer-to-peer apps, any relevant or related info you're willing to share. Robin Dowden Director, New Media Initiatives Walker Art Center 1750 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA T: 612.375.7541 F: 612.375.7575 walkerart.org CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This transmission (including any accompanying attachments) is confidential, is intended only for the individual or entity named above, and may contain privileged, work product, proprietary and/or confidential information that is exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or otherwise believe you have received this message in error, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, use of or reliance upon any of the information contained in this transmission is strictly prohibited. Any inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure shall not compromise or waive the confidentiality of this transmission or any applicable attorney-client privilege. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us at mail1 at walkerart.org and delete this transmission from your computer. ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] Subject: Call for Proposals, 28th Annual VRA Conference, 2010, Atlanta, GA, 1st Reminder
A gentle reminder: Proposal deadline July 3, 2009. Call for Proposals, VRA Atlanta 2010 The Visual Resources Association's 28th Annual Conference will be held in Atlanta, GA from Wednesday March 17th through Saturday March 20th at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1023 (http://tinyurl.com/ovd96 ) We are now soliciting proposals for the 2010 program sessions, workshops, papers and special interest groups. http://vraweb.org/conferences/2010Atlanta/proposal.php A *Session* is a 90 minute moderated session with 3 or 4 speakers at 20 minutes each followed by a facilitated brief question and answer period. A *Special Interest Group* is a 60 to 90-minute informal facilitated group discussion on topics related to a specific community within VRA. A *Workshop* is a 3 to 4 hour workshop to develop skills and experience in the field of Visual Resources, preferably with hands-on activities. General areas of interest include, but are not limited to: digital photography; digital imaging and presentation technologies; strategic planning; cataloging and metadata (including non-western, non-art, and special topics cataloging); trend forecasting for the visual resources profession; copyright and fair use; user instruction; and professional status issues. Attendees at the VRA Conference range from students and new professionals to seasoned mid and late career VR curators. Proposals from and directed to all attendees are welcome. We are always looking for ways to round out our programming, make it fresh and unique for our attendees, and therefore encourage submissions in VR-related areas not listed above and from new constituencies. In our post-conference survey we found that our members are particularly interested in the following themes topics. Overall these topics reflect a concern with managing change balanced with continuity in the future of our profession and the collections we manage. ? Joint library visual resources concerns ? Intellectual property issues, particularly in an international context as they involve contemporary art; also differences in perspective on copy photography between libraries VR collections ? Image cataloging commons / resource sharing - the nuts bolts ? Tips for younger professionals managing older staffers with emphasis on user training for new technology tools ? New technologies (encore! encore!) ? Marketing selling visual resources collections services ? User instruction to various constituencies - faculty, students, campus/institution-wide ? Time management, particularly in relation to job cuts increased workloads ? Planning for retirement ? Reconfiguring equipping the former slide library for the digital environment ? Leadership mentoring ? Deposition of analog materials no longer in use Look for the proposal link (above) to appear on the VRA.org homepage very soon. The quality of conference content depends upon YOUR ideas and contributions. The VRA Executive Board will be looking for complete, concise and articulate submissions with full lists of presenters. Moderators may put out calls for speakers within a proposed topic before submitting their completed topics to the Executive Board. Specificity regarding audio-visual needs including live internet connectivity is required. If there is an area of concern or interest that you feel has not been addressed in previous programs, do consider submitting a proposal. Questions about the proposal process and the various presentation formats included in the VRA conference program can be directed to me at hraatz at artsmia.org. The proposal deadline is July 3, 2009. I look forward to receiving your proposals! Sincerely, Heidi S. Raatz Vice President for Conference Program Heidi S. Raatz | Visual Resources Librarian Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404 (612) 870-3196 | (612) 870-3029 - permissions | hraatz at artsmia.org | permissions at artsmia.org | www.artsmia.org ( http://www.artsmia.org/ )
[MCN-L] do you Skype?
I probably misspoke in saying each user donates spare capacity. The role of a Skype supernode is to serve as the directory and router for other users, in lieu of Skype operating their own centrally managed servers. Any Skype user (node) can become a supernode given the right conditions which are supposed to include spare processor and connection capacity and a routable public IP address. That didn't apply to us, but I still saw outrageous bandwidth consumption that correlated with the presence of Skype. I guess I can't explain why Skype was so bandwidth-hungry for us, but removing it and banning its re-installation resolved the problem. I suppose that - like anything else - if you are considering using it you might want to do thorough testing before committing to its adoption. Dave Salovesh Information Technology Manager National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Deliduka Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 2:43 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] do you Skype? I'm a little confused. Why would Skype need to run down someone's pipe only to jump back out again in a way of utilizing bandwidth for other calls? That seems quite inefficient to take a detour in routing of a telephone call. Thomas Deliduka Director of Information Technology Columbus Museum of Art 480 East Broad Street Columbus, OH 43215 ph 614/629-0345 fax 614/629-0950 thomas.deliduka at cmaohio.org ? ART SPEAKS. JOIN THE CONVERSATION -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of David Salovesh Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 11:51 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] do you Skype? Ad-hoc Skype is explicitly banned here. It may return someday as an organizational initiative, but we're still trying to figure out what the benefit would be for us. (We have sponsored phone service and have virtually no international communication requirements, so our economics may not be typical.) It wasn't always this way - I allowed it for a while. I originally had to ban it because we were short on bandwidth, and some folks couldn't resist using it in ways that completely overwhelmed our connection. That led to a temporary suspension of Skype use pending system analysis, improvements, and re-analysis. After we upgraded our connection I discovered the more troubling property of Skype traffic that led to the current outright ban: As I understand it, Skype can exist as a free service because each user donates spare bandwidth to carrying calls for other users. For home or home-like use that's probably okay since the bandwidth Skype sees as idle is probably actually so. In an enterprise or enterprise-like setting, the individual Skype clients don't do as good a job at measuring excess capacity. My previous service was SDSL at 1.5 mbps, and with 45 people in the office our utilization was over 95% at all times. My second site users were essentially unable to work, and even main site users were losing patience. After the upgrade to 10 mbps (metro-Ethernet), my typical utilization went to 20% (peaking at 90%, but only occasionally and briefly - as it should be) and my remote users were very satisfied. But after installing Skype, even with no active calls and the software sitting idle, my utilization went back up to 90%. I searched for workarounds or ways to manage its bandwidth consumption, but it's not really designed for managed operation - or may even be designed to work AROUND management. It definitely is designed to work around firewall restrictions, so my technological means to block the traffic were somewhat limited. On the bright side, this sequence of events raised the consequences of installing software without approval from it'll piss off the IT department to you could get fired for it. ;-) Dave Salovesh Information Technology Manager National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Dowden, Robin Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 10:31 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] do you Skype? Do you allow Skype in your institution? I've been arguing for its legitimacy as a business tool but our IT department is concerned about misuse and security issues. I'm interested in hearing how/if others are using it, policies, tales of compromised networks as a result of peer-to-peer apps, any relevant or related info you're willing to share. Robin Dowden Director, New Media Initiatives Walker Art Center 1750 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA T: 612.375.7541 F: 612.375.7575 walkerart.org CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This transmission (including any accompanying attachments) is confidential, is intended only for the individual or entity named above, and may contain privileged,
