Hello MCN-L'ers! I've recently joined this list at the suggestions of a couple of folks. I'm an IT professional by trade and while I may not be as technical as I once was, I hope to be able to provide some helpful input in the near future :)
With alot of the general public embracing Web 2.0 technologies and collaboration, sometimes we, "the IT people" and museum professionals, find ourselves fighting fires for our users and members and less time developing solutions that make OUR lives easier. We've recently soft-launched a new site called www.MuseumProfessionals.org<http://www.museumprofessionals.org/>and are looking for some input from the people that know technology and how it fits into the daily lives of musuem professionals. That's YOU! Within 2 weeks, we've had over 300 people create accounts on the site, but we'd love to start having some active discussions on there. Would the MCN-L list be interested in helping to pilot our forum system? I've even created an Information Technology forum just for that purpose.... But first, let me take a step back and introduce you to the site :) This is an excerpt of an email that I sent to the Museum-L list and its owner. ================ First, we started with a solid bulletin board foundation. Then we added the components that we believe you'll find useful. We have created discussion forums for all major museum disciplines so that if you have specific questions pertaining to your role, you will be able to capture the "right" audience. Of course we've created a general discussion area where you can offer your advice or ask questions to a broader audience. In addition to these general and specific areas, we have created forums regarding certain topics like "Professional Development" and "Fellowships & Grants." We are also open to any other forum area suggestions you might have. (http://forum.museumprofessionals.org) The great thing about this forum system is that you have the ability to subscribe to various threads/posts. What does this mean? This means that you can be alerted as soon as someone answers your question or responds to your post. It also helps you to keep track of all of the discussions you are participating in. We have created an extensive job framework where you can submit available jobs and view them by museum category. (http://jobs.museumprofessionals.org) If you are searching for a new job, you can post your resume on the site as well! (http://resumes.museumprofessionals.org) We have a calendaring system where you may post events that help your peers grow and gain knowledge. (http://calendar.museumprofessionals.org) There is also a social news section which we hope you'll enjoy. You are able to submit fun and interesting museum related news headlines and then comment on them. If you are familiar with sites like reddit.com or digg.com, this is very similar. The great thing about this section is that news stories are updated when YOU or your peers find them! Of course, we'll be adding them on our end as well. So check back throughout the day. (http://news.museumprofessionals.org) When you go to the site, you will also notice a link to "Articles." We are hoping to find a few brave members to write up articles that will be published for all to see! This is a great resource if you are looking for some professional exposure. (http://articles.museumprofessionals.org) Last, but not least, we have a User Profile system. Here you will be able to create a page where you can post Museum related photos, tell us a little bit about yourself, and even make a few new friends! You can create groups to help you keep in touch with fellow alums or association members. You have the ability to leave visitor messages and send private messages as well. Please don't think of this section as a replacement to your mySpace or FaceBook profiles, but rather an additional concentrated museum community to help enhance your professional network. (http://members.museumprofessionals.org) You can see an example of a profile here (you will be able to see more once you've actually registered and logged in): http://www.museumprofessionals.org/forum/member.php?u=3 Don't worry about having to remember all of these URLs! You can get to all of them by simply going to http://www.museumprofessionals.org The best part of all of the things we've mentioned: They're all FREE :) (And it only takes two minutes to register!) ------------------ I'd like to spend the rest of this email discussing why we saw the need to create MuseumProfessionals.org. What we wanted to do was create a one stop shop for fun and interesting news as well as a location for individuals to find career opportunities and also post their resumes. At the same time, we also wanted a good way to network. It is doubtful that everyone on this list knows all of its members. With MuseumProfessionals.org, we'll be able to get a good idea of who each member is, what museum they are associated with, their associations, and biographies.... Wouldn't it be great to actually get to know the person who just posted a new message, rather than just an email address and perhaps an email signature? With a simple click of a name or avatar you are able to view profiles and create friendships. You may say, "Well, this list serv works well." We agree, but we also believe MuseumProfessionals.org is an even better alternative! First, it clears out your email inbox. In the past, I subscribed to about half a dozen email lists. If email threads really started going, I'd end up with, 100 emails in my inbox, and none of them even pertained to me! So I'd just delete them. This may not apply to those that subscribe to the digest, so let me address a problem that digest owners run into. You usually only receive the digest once a day or once a week. What if you need to have a question answered as soon as possible, do you wait till the digest comes in? Do you turn your membership to immediate emails just for that day, or do you keep on logging on to the Museum-L archive site until you see a response. With the MuseumProfessionals.org framework, you can subscribe to your own question so that as soon as it's answered, you can be instantly notified! You no longer have to sift through digests and you no longer have to fill up your inbox. And that's just for Museum-L! We've noticed that there are probably a hundred museum related mailing lists that are sprawled across the Internet for different organizations and groups. Those mailing lists may be on corporate list servers, university list servers, yahoo groups, google groups, you name it! And what we are seeing is that if someone wants some information from these lists, he or she has to subscribe to each one individually. Because of this, we see alot of cross posting going on between lists. This wastes time and is inefficient. We also see inboxes become cluttered with all of the different emails that come in from each different list. We've surveyed list members who say that they are unhappy with the number of emails that come into their inboxes, but they value the resources, and put up with them. Also, because they are usually empathetic to others like them, they try not to send emails to the list unless they are absolutely important.... a number of the people we've asked have said that they've wanted to respond, but they didn't want it to clog up people's inboxes. In my opinion, that does not foster a good arena for collaboration. Additionally, we see people ask questions and say things similar to, "please respond to me so we don't interfere with the list." The problem with that mentality is that messages received offline might also be valuable to others on the list, but alas, they don't get to see them. Now from a manageability/functionality standpoint, the current Museum-L infrastructure is fairly simple and straightforward, but in today's world, people may or may not want to have more options. If they do, MuseumProfessionals.org can provide those options. We can create custom forums and sub-forums in minutes. We can set permissions, moderate, and edit posts. We have the ability to create member only groups. Searching through the MuseumProfessionals.org database is also more efficient. MuseumProfessionals.org can be as easy as you want it to be. Users can register in less than two minutes and begin posting away as soon as they activate their accounts. ----------------- I'd appreciate any of your thoughts on what I've written (even if it was originally written for a different audience). Thank you so much! Sincerely, J.J. Antequino
