Mia wrote:
"Who do we need to talk to, and how do we organise that conversation?"
Clearly, from this positive and engaged discussion, there's lots of
willingness within MCG circles to move on with the machine readable
internet. Equally clearly there's a deal of frustration within our ranks
about how we get to the next level of development institutionally and
strategically.
I'd suggest this is exactly the sort of advocacy task that the MCG
should take on in the future. We need to position ourselves as
independent, informed, but passionate about the need to take the best of
the new technologies, from inside and outside the sector, (as Nick
perfectly illustrates with his point about datasets and measuring
traffic) and really help things to move on. Clearly the other
professional sector associations like the MA (and GEM) lack the
necessary technical understanding of new media issues and opportunities;
but MCG can be an expert advisory group that helps guide decision makers
in the right direction.
We also must make sure these ideas get heard at the right level within
MCG. Within the MCG committee we're right now putting together the next
stage of our organisational evaluation and we feel strongly that this
next phase of activity should not take too long. I'd urge any MCG
members with ideas for MCG development to email them to Ross Parry or
myself, and we'll make sure they are discussed and factored into the
evaluation. Things will be coming together very quickly in time for the
Autumn MCG AGM at the LT Museum - so do keep those feedback emails
coming in, they are indeed being read and factored in.
All the best
Jon Pratty
MCG Committee
Editor
24 Hour Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Ridge, Mia
Sent: 11 July 2008 18:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Let's crowdsource an idea for Showusabetterway?
Nick Poole wrote:
> What it has done is throw into sharp relief the slightly embarrassing
> fact that most public sectors can get together and publish a coherent
> collective dataset, but we can't.
> Whatever the technical solutions and possibilities, we are going to
> have to find a way of shifting this discourse out of the tech-world
> and into the head of managers, politicians and funders.
The last MCG conference was a good case in point. Everyone in the room
has a good idea of what we need to do, we might even argue we have a
responsibility to open up our collections for cross-sector searching and
for a virtuous circle of engagement with our audiences. It's lovely
that we all agree, even if we quibble over the details, but warm fuzzy
feelings don't translate into action.
How many curators, managers, directors, CEOs were in that room? How
many of us went back to our institutions and discussed it with the
people who should have been in that room but weren't? Did any of us
manage to convince someone higher up to push for change in the metrics
by which we're judged? Do our directors even know we think the metrics
should be changed?
Who do we need to talk to, and how do we organise that conversation?
Can we look outside the sector to other public sectors that have managed
to make that transition?
More immediately, is there any reason why we can't use the MCG list/site
to share success stories, and the lessons learnt from the failed
projects?
cheers, Mia
Mia Ridge
Database Developer, Museum Systems Team
Museum of London Group
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London. N1 7ED
Tel: 020 7410 2205 / 020 7814 5723
Fax: 020 7600 1058
Email: [log in to unmask]
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