Inexpensive Doesn't Mean Cheap:
Museum Applications for Low-Cost Technology
Heather Marie Wells
Collections Assistant and Podcast Producer
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
Springdale, Arkansas

Write This Down:
http://hmbwells.googlepages.com/home

Disclaimers
● You may have to check with your IT department
to get access to some of these websites or to
download the software
● Check on your organization's regulations and
policies on purchasing or putting out bids for
services

Agenda
● Office Applications
● Communication & Collaboration
● Collections Work
● Publishing & Production
● Exhibit Work
● Fun with Google

Office Applications
● Open Office (download)
● Zoho Office (online)
● Think Free (online)
● Google Documents (online)

Office Applications
● Benefits
– All are free
– All can open and save in Microsoft formats or their
own formats
– Web based apps can be accessed anywhere
● Drawbacks
– Not as robust (i.e. lack of fonts or features)
– Get features and fonts slower than name-brand
software
– Have to have Internet for web based apps

Font Management
● What the Font?
– Identifies fonts
– Sells fonts for as low as $5.00
● Font Viewer3
– Organizes fonts into collections
– Makes fonts available as needed (making software run
faster)
– Print a catalog for your curators
– $8.00 compared to $80.00

File Management
● Back-up (~$5.00)
– Mozy – month, year, bi-annually
– Carbonite – yearly or more
● File Converters
– Zamzar
● You just never know when you'll need to convert a file for-
mat

Web Browsers
● Alternatives to IE
● Firefox ● Often faster than IE
● Opera ● Usually get new
● Safari features before IE (like
● Google Chrome tabs)
● More plugins and add-
ons available
● Cross-platform
● Usually more secure
than IE

Nuke Anything!

And It's Gone!

Communication & Collaboration
● Instant messaging
● Message boards & groups
● Blogs
● Wikis
● Twitter

Collections Work
● Perpetual calendars
● Converting numbers
● Genealogy
● Patent searches

Collections Work
● Perpetual calendars
● Converting numbers
● Genealogy
● Patent searches
● Archivists' Toolkit
● LibraryThing
● DATABASES

Publishing & Production
● Cafe Press
● Lulu
● Vista Print
● Puzzle generators
● Sharing presentations
– SlideShare
– 280 Slides

Audio and Video
● Audacity
● PhotoStory
● Movie Maker
● Loops
● Audio converter

Exhibit Work
● Image Processing
– Editing
– Enlarging
– Sharing
– Sources
● Exhibit Design
– Floor Plans
– 3D Modeling

Photo Editing
● Picnik (online)
– Robust features with free tier
– Next tier starts at $25.00 per year
● Picasa (download) owned by Google
– Excellent photo organizer
– Basic, user-friendly tools for touch-ups
– Integrates with Google's photo sharing site
● GIMP (download)
– Comparable to Photoshop in power and features
– usually less user-friendly
– Free compared to $800.00 for Photoshop

Photo Enlarging - Rastabator
● Online: file can't be bigger than 1MB
● Download version can do smaller dot size
● Enlarges photos up to 20 meters
● You get a PDF to printout and put together
● Best results: photos with high contrast, high
resolution, small dot size

Photo Sharing
● Flickr
– Free tier, limited uploads & storage
– 3rd party integrations = more ways to interact
● SmugMug
– Geared more towards professionals
– Geared more towards making you money
– Better watermarks
– Remove all references to SmugMug so it looks like
your site

Photo Sources
● Generic royalty-free photos
● As low as $1.00
● Upload your photos for others to use, but check
terms of use

Floor Planning
● PlanningWiz – online design tool for simply floor
planning. Made for retail and real estate, but
works for exhibit planning

3D Modeling
● Blender – free, opensource, cross-platform, GNU
General Public License 3D creation suite
– Make things in Blender for Google SketchUp
● Google SketchUp – create, modify, and share 3D
models
– Make things in SketchUp and smash it into Google
Earth for a virtual 3D tour

Google! What Don't They Do?!
● Searches
– Patents
– Images
– News archives
– Scholar
– Blog
– Creative commons license
– Book scanning project

Google! More than Searching
● Google Pages and Sites
● Google Reader
● Google Notebook
● Google Earth
● Gmail
● Google Labs
Note: Google offers free pro versions to schools so
if you are affiliated with a university, college, etc.
check with them on this.

Finding Things Yourself
● Know what you already have
● Look for online educational technology training
and services
● Computer industry websites
● Blogs & Podcasts
● Museum technology groups

Searches
● Open source, Shareware, Freeware + kind of app
you are looking for (freeware presentation
software)
● Name of commercial app + alternative (photoshop
alternative)

Cautions
● Not all Open source and Shareware software is
free
– Open source means you have access to the program
code and you can change it to add your own features
and sometimes this may be more valuable than being
free
– Shareware often goes by the honor system; if you use
it, pay for it or give a donation

More Cautions
● Beta versions
– Ready for general use but haven't finished final testing
– Websites crash or won't be available
– Downloaded software is prone to crash
– Don't be shocked by instability
– They may become inactive when the final version is
released
– Just save often and plan extra time in schedule
– Developers like constructive feedback and often
provide means of contact

Last Words
● Be vigilant about Malware
● Use your searches to find names of software and
then check for reviews from reputable sources
such as computer industry magazines and website
● Never download software from sources you don't
know; discuss with others if they know anything
about the source
● But above all. . .

Don't be Intimidated and
have FUN WITH TECHNOLOGY!!

Thank You for Coming!
Heather Marie Wells
Collections Assistant and Podcast Producer
hmwells@springdaleark.org
http:www.springdaleark.org/shiloh
479-750-8165
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
Springdale, Arkansas