Technology for Small Museums

Technology for the Small Museum Kaia Landon kaia@mesahistoricalmuseum.org Assistant Director and Curator of Collections Mesa Historical Museum Museum Association of Arizona Annual Conference May 14, 2009

First, a quote from the American Association for History Computing 2009 Conference: “Turns out that not too many jobs ask you to write a 7- to 10- page research paper.” --- Jeff McClurken @jmcclurken on Twitter

Framework for Choosing Technologies • Start from problems, work toward solutions • What are your goals? • Does it fit with your strategic plan? • What’s the hoped-for ROI for the project? More tech is not necessarily better

Issues to Consider • Cost • Availability • Necessity • Maturity • Demand • Transition • Scope • Opportunity • Complexity Lin Nelson-Mayson, AAM 2006, as • Maintenance in The Digital Museum: A Think Guide • Image

Top Ten Technologies 1 Word processing Software 2 Website/email 3 Credit Card Capabilities* 4 Collections Software* 5 CRM* 6 Digitization Tools 7 Social Media* 8 Scheduling Software (facilities, people, events) 9 Network/Intranet/Shared files 10 Event Planning/Ticketing

Credit Card Capabilities If you accept money, you need to accept credit cards.

In Person • Talk to your bank, do web search • May have to buy terminal ($50-$500+) – What features do you need? – Will it work with your phone lines? – Can it integrate with other software (i.e., Quickbooks)? • Discount fees (usually <3%) • Monthly fees ($10-$30) • Set-up fees (free to ???)

On the Web • Google Checkout • Custom through bank • Paypal

Abbreviations to Know SAS = Software as a Service FOSS = Free and Open Source Software

Collections Software PastPerfect/TMS/Embark/Re:Discovery FOSS Alternatives: – Collective Access www.collectiveaccess.org – Archivist’s Toolkit www.archiviststoolkit.org

Archivist’s Toolkit

Online Exhibits Option A = Code your own in HTML/XML/Flash = can be VERY time consuming, requires high degree of knowledge of technology, can be a lot of work to change Option B = Find software to do it for you!

HTML/PHP Web Design Software • Dreamweaver ($$$, steep discount through TechSoup (cost is $35)) • Kompozer (free!) • CMS options (free, but +tech expertise) – Wordpress – Drupal – Joomla – Plone

Drupal Example

Flash Requires Adobe Flash ($$$) + lots of tech knowledge Or there are numerous online tools to help you build flash presentations – many are free, but may include branding/ads you can’t get rid of, and are not easy

Museum Alternatives • Omeka • Open Museum • Arizona Memory Project • ContentDM • Pachyderm • Open Exhibits (planned – doesn’t yet exist)

Pachyderm

Digital Asset Management (DAM) Some FOSS options: • Gallery • Razuna • Montala • OpenEdit

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) • PastPerfect • CiviCRM • eTapestry • Blackbaud/Raiser’s Edge • Many options Low Cost Donor Management Report (NTEN) http://nten.org/research/download_idealware_d ms?sid=20089

SOCIAL MEDIA

Listen First! If you’re going to use Social Media, it’s a good idea to start by listening – Learn what people are saying about you – Learn how the platform works Google Alerts

MYSPACE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

All the Rest • YouTube • Ning • Wikis • Flickr • SecondLife • Widgets • ArtBabble • Steve.museum

QUESTIONS?

Technology for Small Museums

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