Back to work today after a four day weekend, wondering if all our US museum folks were able to enjoy a long weekend too? Here are the last two submissions from the 2008 MCN scholarship recipients. Amber Morgan and Kyle Bryner have some great thoughts on what it is like to experience the conference from a first-timer’s perspective:
I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to describe my experience at my first MCN conference. I could say that the description in the conference program for the session on Semantic Web started out with “What is the Semantic Web and why should you care?” and that I can now answer both of those questions. I could write about how much I learned about Digital Asset Management systems and why outsourcing isn’t currently a viable option, but might be someday as a result of conversations held in a basement room of the Grand Hyatt. But to be honest, I think the most important thing I took away from the conference (other than this great Grand Hyatt ball point pen) has a lot less to do with computers and a lot more to do with people.
Any time you have museum people talking about their collections, the word “control” comes up a lot. It came up in one of the sessions as we discussed the loss of control of items placed on the web, it came up during the conversation on outsourcing, and it of course came up in the session on data standardization. Why is it that museums haven’t yet reached the high level of standardization of libraries? Control. Tell a curator that has been at an institution for 25 years that she now has to describe all of the works in the collection according to someone else’s system, and see how far you get. “Letting go” isn’t something museum people seem to be very good at doing.
But there are very good reasons to sometimes let something go; to relinquish some control. In the session on DAMS outsourcing, Ari Davidow really struck a chord with me when he was discussing the need for outsourcing. There are IT experts out there; why should museum staff try to replicate that? If you’re a curator, curate. If you are a smaller museum, focus on what it is you set out to do – programming, exhibitions, outreach, whatever it is – and leave IT to the experts. And to do that, you have to change your perception of a loss of control to a gain of insight.
I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for people like me – collections managers, database administrators, registrars – whatever the title, the task is the same. You have to find a way to take what you know about current technology, what you know about collections, and what you know about the people using those collections and merge them together with what other people on staff may have to contribute. The presenters for the Data Standardization Projects session illustrated this as they discussed their methods for getting museum curators to go along with extensive standardization projects. By working closely with the curators and letting them be part of the planning phase of the project, they were able to successfully standardize huge portions of their data. The process was explained to the curators and they were able to see the need for the project; instead of feeling forced into a system they didn’t want, they were able to make it their own system, balancing out the need for standardization as well as the ability to retain some control over their own work.
This example shows that a technology initiative has to be cooperative to be successful, and museum staff have to be able to trust the expertise of their colleagues. With our tight budgets, small work forces, and ambitious drives to do increasingly impressive projects, we need to be able to make the most of the skills we have, and be honest enough with ourselves to acknowledge that sometimes there’s a better solution, even if it’s not our own.
Thanks for the opportunity to join the MCN conference – and hope to see you next year.
- Amber Morgan, Associate Registrar
Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
The MCN Conference: A Newbie’s Perspective
I was one of five lucky scholarship recipients to attend the MCN annual conference in Washington, DC. As a first time attendee to the conference I was nervous that the information would be way over my head. What struck me first about the conference was the range of professions represented by attendees. I expected to meet mostly IT, IS or other technology only experts but I was pleasantly surprised to see registrars and collections managers along with other museum professionals. I often have felt alone tackling and integrating emerging technologies into my museum’s daily functions but I now know others who share my fascination and excitement about the role for computer technology in museums.
The morning showcases were invaluable in learning how other organizations are using technology to network cultural information, broaden the presence of small organizations and promote collections activities. I now have innovative ideas to share with the staff and faculty at my institution. I see new ways dissimilar organizations can pair together using technology to achieve common goals.
I was grateful to hear about the ambitious projects completed by MCN members. Among them were community partnerships, university outreach and student designed projects. As a university employee, I am inspired by these projects and hope to discover new ways my museum can work with students and the community via technology to enhance our role as a resource in our area.
As a first time attendee of the conference I was excited to explore new ideas for my museum and to meet others who share my goals, problems and desire for creative and technological resolutions. I would like to thank the MCN board and membership for supporting scholarships for the conference. Without the scholarship I could not benefit from the fabulous resources I encountered in DC.
–Kyle Bryner, Museum Registrar and Collections Manager
Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC
