[MCN-L] Reminder CFP - Taking Stock: Museum Studies and Practices in Canada - Nov 30 Deadline

2009-11-12 Thread Christine Castle
Please note -- This is a follow up email to the one sent recently on the
"Taking Stock: Museum Studies and Museum Practices in Canada" conference
call for papers. Please note the revised e-mail address for submission of
Paper Proposals is now: takingstockmuseumstudies at gmail.com. If you have
already submitted a proposal and you have not received confirmation of
receipt from us, please resend your proposal to
takingstockmuseumstudies at gmail.com. We apologize for this change in e-mail
address.

@
REMINDER: CALL FOR PAPERS

Taking Stock: Museum Studies and Museum Practices in Canada

Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto,
Canada
April 22-24, 2010

(Deadline for submissions: November 30, 2009)

http://takingstockmuseumstudies.ischool.utoronto.ca/

Over the past 40 years, the discipline of Museum Studies has grown beyond
its foundational premise as the study of museum organization and management
to become a field informed by interdisciplinarian approaches, pedagogies and
techniques. Some have argued that Museum Studies has not only come of age,
as an academic discipline it has moved into the mainstream. Yet for many,
the very formulation of this discipline continues to be a subject of intense
reflection and debate, while its relationship with the community of
professional practitioners it intends to serve is complex.

While much has been written on Museum Studies/Museology from the UK, US,
Australian and European perspectives, less has been articulated about
Canadian traditions in the field. Despite over four decades of formal
academic training and almost two centuries of professional practices, there
are no Canadian national journals, nor annual academic conferences dedicated
to the subject of Museum Studies. Doubtless a Canadian museology exists,
however the research of Canadian museum scholars continues to be diffused
across regional, linguistic, and disciplinarian lines.

The Master of Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto marks its
40th anniversary with a conference that aims to create a forum for a
nation-wide debate and critical examination of the academic discipline of
Museum Studies in Canada in historical and contemporary contexts, and how
this discipline registers within broader global traditions, pedagogies and
practices.

Robert R. Janes will be providing the keynote address on Thursday, April 22,
2010.

**Instructions for submission of paper abstracts:

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers (8-10 pp) that address the
field of Museum Studies in Canada, as academic discipline and in terms of
the nature of research this field and its practitioners undertake. We
welcome contributions from a wide range of viewpoints that interrogate the
field of Museum Studies, its histories, epistemologies, theoretical
underpinnings and practices. Acknowledging that the discipline is itself
informed by a variety of other disciplines, we are interested in diverse
methodological and subject-area approaches. Presentations may include
analyses of case studies, historical overviews, and comparative frameworks,
as well as theoretical articulations of and for museological practice.

Possible trajectories of enquiry may arise from the following themes:

?   What is "Canadian" about Museum Studies in Canada?
?   National/regional traditions in the discipline of Museum Studies:
its curriculum and research interests;
?   The relationship of Museum Studies to professional museum practice
in Canada;
?   Citizenship and national museology;
?   Museology and Canadian cultural policy;
?   History and theory of Canadian museological practices;
?   Canadian museological theory and praxis in contemporary political
context;
?   How Canadian museological practices respond to contemporary issues
of citizenship, identity, community, and meaning-making.

Please send a 300-word paper proposal and one-page C.V. to
takingstockmuseumstudies at gmail.com no later than November 30, 2009.
Indicate "Taking Stock" in the subject box of your message, and include the
title of your presentation and your institutional affiliation in your
correspondence. Successful applicants will be notified in December 2009.

Delegates who would like to participate in the event but who wish not to
present are encouraged to contact Nina Boric at nina.boric at utoronto.ca
(416.505.8009) to register their interest. Information is also available on
the website http://takingstockmuseumstudies.ischool.utoronto.ca/

Please feel free to post and/or share this call with interested others!
[Apologies for cross-postings]





[MCN-L] New England SIG-in-formation - meeting today, noon, Weidler/Halsey

2009-11-12 Thread Ari Davidow
Bring lunch and join us to share perspectives and talk about setting
up a New England SIG. Goal: one or two regional meetings during the
year and opportunities for collaboration.

ari



[MCN-L] MCN needs your help with a matching donation from Gallery Systems

2009-11-12 Thread Richard Urban
== on behalf of Info at mcn.edu ==

Dear MCN Community,

We need your help. MCN is here to support museum information and  
technology professionals and the greater community by providing a  
variety of resources and opportunities to explore new technologies and  
best practices in the field. Many of the resources and services that  
MCN makes available are open to the community at no cost. These  
include the MCN-L email list, the MCN Project Registry, and  
information available on MCN's website.

MCN is grateful to all of you who have been able to support us through  
your organizations, individually, or as a corporate sponsor or  
advertiser. Your contributions make it possible to grow the  
organization and advance the services we offer to the greater  
community. MCN's biggest activity is the annual conference, which  
addresses a wide range of topics confronting museums and museum  
technologists today, and is attended by professionals from cultural  
heritage institutions in the United States and around the world. This  
year for the first time, MCN is making five sessions available as live  
webcasts for those who are unable to attend the conference.

As you know, the downturn in the economy is affecting all of us,  
including MCN. Almost every dollar in Membership, Conference  
Registration, and Sponsorship goes towards the annual conference. This  
year attendance, membership, and sponsorships are all down  
considerably over our already conservative estimates, and we expect  
the 2009 MCN conference to lose money. The MCN Board has acted quickly  
to cut expenses in areas where we have flexibility, but that is just  
one key part of a two-part solution.

We are delighted that one of our sponsors, Gallery Systems, which  
already generously provided a $10,000 sponsorship to support this  
year's annual conference, has agreed to provide an additional $5,000  
in matching funds to help us close the gap. This is a unique  
opportunity for those of you in the MCN community who value the  
services and resources MCN offers, to donate and have your funds  
matched dollar for dollar until the total match is met. Please also  
consider becoming a member, if you are not already. Your membership  
dollars will be matched with this challenge, as well.

Please make your tax-deductible donation at the MCN website:

http://www.mcn.edu

When you are at the conference, or elsewhere, please make a point to  
thank the sponsors who have made MCN 2009 possible.

With thanks for your support,

Rob Lancefield, MCN President
Erin Coburn, MCN Vice President / President-Elect
Kevin Conley, MCN Treasurer
Rich Cherry, MCN Secretary




[MCN-L] Project management systems for inter-organizational cooperation

2009-11-12 Thread Hanan Cohen
Hello,

We at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem are taking part in a
number of international projects.

Managing and participating in these projects using Email is becoming
hard.

We are considering two solutions - Google Groups (with other Google
tools) and http://huddle.net

Both have pros and cons.

If any of you is using those tools for this purpose or use other tools,
we would love to hear your opinions.

Thanks,

Hanan Cohen
Webmaster
Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem
www.mada.org.il - Facebook - Twitter - YouTube