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Dear Rhiannon, Many thanks for your email about the BPMA Wiki. I would be really interested to know more about why the BPMA took the decision to implement a Wiki. Is it something your online audience have been requesting? Is there a specific target demographic for whom a Wiki is their preferred form of interaction? The reason I ask is because of your comment about taking time to get people on there. Of course, this may simply be the inertia faced by any fledgling service, but at the same time I am not sure whether this is central to your mission or an incidental add-on. Not to be too negative about things, but (bearing in mind the recent exchange between Frankie and Mike) I remain sceptical about the appropriateness of models like social networking and participative media to the delivery of museums online. As Mike notes, there's no hard and fast rule - it's appropriate when it's appropriate - but I'd be really interested to know whether this is a case of 'because we can' or whether there is a genuine audience/marketing driver behind this thing. Similarly, I'd be very interested to know more about the outcomes of your dissertation - not just from a quantitative point of view (how many museums are doing this), but also from a qualitative one (of those museums, how may are doing it well, and how many will still be an actively supported resource in 2 years time). Of course, I see the potential of crowdsourcing interpretation and selection, and the Wiki model certainly offers a potential channel for people to get at the museums back-end systems, but I think we run the risk of overlooking the very specific psychology and demographics of User Generated Content, and regarding it as something appropriate for a generalist audience. Any further info gratefully received! Best regards, Nick Nick Poole Chief Executive MDA www.mda.org.uk www.collectionslink.org.uk Tel: 01223 316028 Fax: 01223 364658 MDA (Europe) Ltd: Company Registration No: 1300565 Reg. Office: 22 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1JP. -----Original Message----- From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rhiannon Looseley Sent: 26 March 2008 17:43 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: British Postal Museum & Archive Wiki Dear all I thought some of you might be interested in hearing about the new British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) Wiki: www.postalheritage.org.uk/wiki. It's based on Zwiki technology which is Zope/Plone developers' answer to Wiki technology. It's a bit of an experiment and at the moment, unsurprisingly, it's taking a bit of time to get people on there. I've started a few 'seeds' to get people started. At the bottom of this email is an example of the email we sent out to our E-Newsletter mailing list to try and encourage people to contribute. It gives you an example of some of the seeds we're using at the moment. We've created similar flyers and newsletter articles as well. I would be interested in hearing any suggestions others might have on topics we could use to get people started and also experiences of building up a community like this. I'm particularly keen to find ways of making the most of Wikis' potential for collaborative work. Also if you're interested, I'm currently writing my MA in Museum Studies Dissertation on Museum Wikis, with ours as a case study. I'm blogging about my progress at: http://rhiannonlooseley.blogspot.com if anyone is interested in following my progress. I'd welcome any comments along the way (please let me know if you specifically don't want me to quote your comments, either on my blog, or by email, in my dissertation). Best wishes, Rhiannon Looseley -------------------------------------- Rhiannon Looseley Web Officer Tel: 020 7239 2588 Fax: 020 7239 2576 [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) Freeling House, Phoenix Place, London WC1X 0DL www.postalheritage.org.uk <http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/> British postal communications helped to shape the modern world. The British Postal Museum & Archive illuminates the lives of people in the Post Office, the messages carried by Royal Mail, the history we all share. Our history through the post. The BPMA is the public identity of the Postal Heritage Trust. Registered as a charity in England and Wales. Registered Charity Number 1102360 Company Number 4896056 Family History Research Researching your postal ancestors? Want to share what you've discovered with a wider audience? Why not use the Wiki to tell others about your research? Use the Wiki Family history research <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OE7Q6963B7UOK4YSTV> page to get started. Postal History Do you know a lot about a certain aspect of postal history? Have you uncovered a particularly interesting story in our archive? Why not tell us more about them on the Wiki? Use the Wiki Postal history <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OEYMPO78SIJ7MY0JO3> page to get started. Working with our collections Did you/do you work for the Post Office? Do you recognise some of the objects and documents in our Collections section <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OE0QP7O71MVGI0PIQW> ? Why not tell us about what it was/is like to work with them? Use the Wiki Working with our collections <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OEBHDGUI0DHZ2L69O7> page to get started. Working for the Post Office Did you/do you work for the Post Office or Royal Mail? Tell us about your experiences on the Wiki. What do you think has changed over the years? We'd be interested to hear what you think. Use the Wiki Working for the Post Office <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OECZXA1DOTRLJIRJAD> to get started. Letter boxes Do you have a digital image of a particularly interesting letter box? Why not upload your image to the Wiki and tell us more about it. Is there a letter box near you that you would like to know more about? Maybe someone else out there can help you with your query. You could post a question on the Wiki. Use the Wiki Letter boxes <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OE789FM2I4ZDYIV491> page to get started. War Memorials in the Post Office Have you noticed a War Memorial in your local Post Office? Please help us compile our database of Post Office War Memorials. Use our Wiki War Memorials in the Post Office <http://www.massmailer.co.uk/go.php?RKKH2J8JU8N459OETUG225U1E5M98XFF> page to get started. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ ************************************************** For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk ************************************************** ************************************************** For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk **************************************************