Dear all
To add my views - I find the approach used by the Museum Web-Guide to be
distasteful and unnecessary. Design is very subjective and whilst everyone
has the right to free speech, the approach chosen by Ian Crawley is not
helpful.
Sounds like a sales-pitch to me; so the next step is to demonstrate good
designs.... and I wonder who created them????
On a couple of other issues, whilst I am not a lawyer, I believe the issues
raised on the copyright situation are correct; there is also potential for
libel proceedings, especially if this is a commercial site that goes on to
try to make money from the alleged "bad sites" (which are not bad, all
praise to those museums for at least getting some functional pages up
there). If I worked in one of those museums, I'd consult my lawyer.
I did a little investigation; there is no organisation registered as Museum
Web-Guide and the site has been registered with Supanames, which offers an
all inclusive hosting package for 13.99 - so my guess is that we are not
dealing with a huge organisation.
Oh, and in my opinion, museum webguide is hardly an example of good web
design either; and I've been working on and with the Internet since 1995!
Regards
Chris Meaney (AIMC)
Managing Director
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Philippa Tinsley
Sent: 22 May 2001 15:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Museum Webguide
As well as agreeing with all the concerns that others have already
expressed, I think the sites creators are treading a razor's edge legally by
copying complete pages onto their own site.
Looking at the three sites they mention, Bolton at least has a copyright
notice that clearly prohibits the copying of part of their site without
permission (which I'm assuming the Museum Webguide did not get, although of
course I could be wrong). With Neath, they have used 'deep linking' (not
linking to a home page) which is certainly frowned upon, is currently being
debated in court as part of the Napster case, and has already been declared
illegal in the Netherlands.
I think this highlights the importance of the copyright of our website for
all of us. The excellent 'Guide to Copyright for Museums & Galleries' by
Wienand, Booy and Fry includes a short section on copyright and the internet
with some suggestions on how museums can protect themselves (and a good rant
from all of us at MCG probably helps too!).
Philippa Tinsley
Collections Manager, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Poole <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 22 May 2001 14:57
Subject: Museum Webguide
>Dear All,
>
>Just to throw my lot in as well, I am extremely uncomfortable with the
>approach taken by the Museum Webguide, and also with the apparently
>deliberate anonymity of the site's creators. The site itself is far from a
>textbook example of good practice in web design, and I am concerned about
>the authority and criteria with which the sites have been selected.
>
>While the aim of encouraging museums to develop high-quality websites is
>laudable, I really don't feel that this is the best way to go about it,
>particularly since, as Ian Rowson has pointed out, there are serious
>financial implications for any organisation in developing an online
>presence. The current approach can only undermine the creators of the sites
>in question. I would encourage Ian Crawley to contact the list again and
>provide more information about his intentions in creating the
>museum-webguide.co.uk site, his links with either museums or professional
>web design, and how he hopes to create a useful dialogue with the sector to
>achieve his stated intention.
>
>All the best!
>
>Nick Poole
>ICT Adviser
>Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
>16 Queen Anne's Gate
>London
>SW1H 9AA
>
>Tel 020 7273 1410
>
>Website - http://www.resource.gov.uk
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