[MCN-L] Follow up to Honeysett Director, IT Session
Thanks for starting this, Chris! I have 2 things to contribute (you all decide if this can be truly considered a contribution). My disclaimer is that I'm not an information/IT professional. I'm an educator. And the education supervisor for my institution on track for museum administration. But I'm a wanna-be geek and strong proponent for how powerful technology can be for education (and other areas in a museum). Also, I've only been in the museum field for a few years now. In that time and from various conferences, etc, I've heard a lot of the same complaints expressed today from the other museum staff positions. First point, which some folks touched on, but to reiterate... systems people (which many of you are) should be able to relate to this. If there is a problem, one avenue for troubleshooting is looking for the common denominator. If you tend to have a problem with (many) others, and they tend to just have a problem with you, the common denominator is YOU. So consider that the problem is not THEM; the problem is YOU. What are you doing that is causing a problem for others? Another possibility is that you and others have a problem with your administration. So the common denominator is the administration; they are the problem. In your assessment, can you influence that problem to solve it? If not, then LEAVE. As was pointed out today, technology isn't going anywhere (humans have been depending on it for thousands of years now). Those who don't adopt functional, reliable technology won't be around for long (relatively). While natural selection is taking its course, go work for someone else. (I do realize it's never so simple to just leave your job, but if you're not even considering it, you're also playing your part in natural selection.) Second point is relative to the whole generational argument... let's just wait for the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers to die off, and then everyone will embrace the technology. And then we'll never have misunderstandings between the information professionals and administration again. I don't know my history well enough to say for sure, but after some reflection to this, my gut-cognitive reaction is hogwash! Are you telling me that there are not folks of older generations who grew up with whatever technology that they took for granted but their older generations found incomprehensible; and who do not today comprehend the possibilities for new technology? When I started as a freshman in college, my father thought it ridiculous that I should have my own land line phone in my dorm room. When he went to school, he had a pay phone on his floor and that worked fine for him. I have never spent any more time talking on the phone than I have to, but it seemed ludicrous to not have a telephone in my own room (never mind the answering machine I later secretly purchased second-hand). Today, I'm already internally conflicted over what I'll do when my now 4 year old asks me for a cell phone when he's 6. On the surface, I find the request ridiculous. But then I remember my request for a phone in my own dorm room... So what I'm wondering... is it not the case that new technology is always emerging? And while the name of the technology is always changing, the basic concept remains the same. Tech proponents will have to work to convince those who are technologically conservative (i.e. the majority of the populace) that the technology is worth adopting. So you can wait for the Great Generation and the Baby Boomers to die out to implement today's technology (which will be outdated by that point), but then you're going to have to convince the Gen X'ers and Millenials to implement what is new at the time they are the administrators. I'd advocate instead that we do what many folks suggested today--we get better at communicating the value of technology to decision makers (just like we communicate the value of education, collections, conservation, etc.). Thanks again to Nik and the panelists for a great session, tim Tim Gaddie Programs Manager www.minnetrista.net From: mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu on behalf of Chris Alexander Sent: Wed 11/7/2007 7:33 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Follow up to Honeysett Director, IT Session Hello, As a first time attendee of the MCN Conference, I have to say that I was very fascinated by the conversation going on about the relationship between IT Professionals and their Directors. I am fortunate because a little over a year ago the director of the San Jose Museum of Art made a decision to embrace technology and created the position which I currently fill. Piggybacking of some of the discussion about communication, I wanted to offer a little info about a situation that arose recently. Around the one year anniversary of my position I was approached by our Marketing Director who mentioned to me that I need to be a little more
[MCN-L] mass email query
We've been using Ezinedirector.com to send out our monthly newsletter to about 4,700 e-mails a month. We've had e-mail encoding problems (with weird characters showing up), but have had fewer problems when we use Firefox to access the service and not IE!! Sandy Moore IT Manager Toledo Museum of Art Janice Klein jklein at mitchellmuseum.org 11/8/2007 4:11:50 PM We've had really good results with Constant Contact. Janice Janice Klein Executive Director Mitchell Museum of the American Indian 3001 Central Street Evanston IL 60201 847-492-8520 jklein at mitchellmuseum.org www.mitchellmuseum.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Janice Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 2:51 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] mass email query Has anyone researched the various services for sending out mass emails? We have been using Drupal to send out Enews to members/teachers or other mailing lists and thinking of switching to a service. What works and what doesn't? And what volume are you sending on a monthly basis? Janice Craddock IT Manager Amon Carter Museum ___ 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 Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.8/1088 - Release Date: 10/23/2007 1:26 PM Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.8/1088 - Release Date: 10/23/2007 1:26 PM
[MCN-L] mass email query
Janice, I've posted links to lots of articles on this topic on my Resources page at http://www.rlweiner.com/resources.html#email In particular, check out the articles from Alder Consulting, Idealware, and ONE/Northwest. Robert __ Robert L. Weiner Consulting Strategic Technology Advisors to Nonprofit and Educational Institutions San Francisco, CA robert at rlweiner.com 415/643-8955 www.rlweiner.com -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Janice Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 12:51 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] mass email query Has anyone researched the various services for sending out mass emails? We have been using Drupal to send out Enews to members/teachers or other mailing lists and thinking of switching to a service. What works and what doesn't? And what volume are you sending on a monthly basis? Janice Craddock IT Manager Amon Carter Museum ___ 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
[MCN-L] multi-touch table installation
We wanted to take the opportunity to share some background information about our most recent project, especially if anyone is also developing or thinking about multi-touch experiences. As part of a travelling art exhibition, Inspiring Impressionism, we've developed a set of interactive multi-touch tables. The show opened last month at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and then comes to the Denver Art Museum in early February. So far, public response has been great and the technology works well. From an experience point of view, there were three fundamental goals: - introduce works of art that might not appear at all the venues - allow visitors to explore the detailed brushwork of masterworks and impressionist works - create a social experience in which multiple visitors can engage at the same time In short, visitors can choose from ten different works and when they touch the table surface a magnified view of the artwork appears, their fingertip is essentially the magnifying glass. The part that's worked out surprisingly well is that multiple users are naturally drawn to the tables and more than one person uses them at the same time, a departure from the limitations of traditional touchscreens. On the technical side, we've developed the tables as a platform that can be easily adapated and used for different experiences than what we've necessarily designed. The hardware and vision system work independently of the front-end user experience, with the vision system simply throwing a data stream to a receptive application. We've put a preliminary webpage together that goes into additional detail about the project available at http://blogs.denverartmuseum.org/technology/projects/multitouch/. There's also a youtube video showing the interface and technology at work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVN-a4x9aTs. If you're in Atlanta before mid-January, please stop by the High and check out the exhibition. After that, stop by and say hello in Denver. This project was developed entirely in-house (although the software is based on open-source software which is referenced on the above webpage). We'll keep adding to the webpage, but we're happy to share the technology bits, how we've adapted the software (and the software itself), and the physical setup and installation (costs for the physical setup is under $10k). Some of this was surprisingly hard, and if we can help some others suffer a bit less, we're happy to help. Please feel free to send email to bwyman at denverartmuseum.org if you'd like to know more or have any questions. -bw. -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Bruce Wyman, Director of Technology Denver Art Museum / 100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204 office: 720.913.0159 / fax: 720.913.0002 bwyman at denverartmuseum.org
