There is another way of looking at it. It can be beneficial for
museums to be built in as a local authority service, with the
expectation that they will deliver as such on a par with other
services. I visited such a service a short while ago and I was amazed
and delighted to find the priority that they allocated to making
their collections accessible and useful (my current obsession!). The
collections are part of the local authority resources and as such are
required to be properly used.
So should museums always strive to make themselves stand-alone and
different, or should they accept that as (often) publicly funded
bodies they should act as another, excellent and special, service?
Now, a spot on the main council website - indeed. and perhaps there's
room for both approaches.
cheers
suzanne
On 17 May 2007, at 11:47, Ian Edelman wrote:
> Nick... sometimes long... but never boring
>
> Many local authority museums have been slow to exploit the web,
> whether
> because of managerial, practical or technical reasons.
>
> In smaller authorites the internet is an IT led process and web
> staff tend
> to be technical not creative. But as the web is now recognised by
> local
> government as one of the primary communication tools, museums managers
> should be lobbying their managers and councillors to develop
> websites that
> support the needs of the museum.
>
> For sure many local authority websites don't encourage imaginative
> design
> or content, yet it is not that difficult to create interesting and
> attractive content even when constrained by municipal design values.
>
> Museums are generally one of the few 'good news' areas of local
> government... they need to articulate all the good reasons for having
> decent websites under their control.
>
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