Today (September 15, 2004) is the final day for early-bird registration for the 2004 Museum Computer Network Conference. Join us in Minneapolis on November 10-13 for Great Technology for Collections, Confluence & Community! Online Registration, the Preliminary Program and Hotel & Travel information is available at: http://www.mcn.edu Late Breaking Conference News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOWN HALL MEETING The Minnesota Electronic Resources in the Visual Arts (MINERVA) Symposium joins together with the Museum Computer Network (MCN) to present a dynamic Town Hall Meeting at the Hilton Hotel. The Town Hall Meeting will examine copyright and intellectual property issues associated with the administration of digital image resources. Professionals from around the country associated with libraries, museums, historical and archival centers, academic and other research institutions with an interest in digital image collections are invited. The Keynote speaker for the Town Hall Meeting, Glenn Otis Brown, Executive Director of Creative Commons since Summer 2002, will kick off the meeting. Brown will discuss the concepts behind the Creative Commons and its innovative approaches to the marketing and distribution of intellectual works, in both the private and public spheres. With his years of experience involved with the evolution of the Creative Commons, Brown will articulate the intent of the non-profit licensing model and how it serves to expand the notion of intellectual property rights. Brown will elaborate on how the Creative Commons serves an easy yet reliable way to gain exposure and widespread distribution, and specify how the licensing structure may be useful to academics and the academic institution, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and artists. A Panel will respond to Brown's presentation, with special guest moderator Diane M. Zorich, Information Management Consultant. Panel respondents include Alan Newman, Chief, Division of Imaging & Visual Services, National Gallery of Art, Allan Kohl, Art Historian, Visual Resources Librarian at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, and Eric Celeste, Associate University Librarian for Information Technology at the University of Minnesota. JUST ADDED - SATURDAY SESSIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reproduction charging models & rights policy for digital resources - a Mellon Study This session will detail the results of a survey and in-depth interviews of USA art museums regarding their policy and practice on rights and reproduction for digital assets. The project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, explores the cost and policy models adopted in arriving at pricing structures for delivering surrogates of unique or rare items as digital objects. With over 100 survey responses and 25 museum interviews the results provide a unique examination of the way that digital assets are created and marketed with a strong commentary upon the reasons behind pricing structures for rights and reproduction fees. The study was carried out by Simon Tanner, Director of King's Digital Consultancy Services on behalf of the Mellon Foundation. Further details are available at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kdcs/content/USart.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Direct Digital Image Capture of Cultural Heritage in American Institutions Session Chair: Dr. Franziska Frey, Assistant Professor, School of Print Media, Rochester Institute of Technology Panelist: Dr. Mitchell R. Rosen, Munsell Color Science Laboratory and the Visual Perception Laboratory for Imaging Science at RIT Many museums, archives, and libraries are engaged in the direct-digital-image capture of cultural heritage. Many more are considering the move from conventional to digital imaging. Through experience and standards organizations, conventional chemical based photography developed a set of "best practices," that is, methodologies and expectations concerning the quality of photographic reproductions. Best practices in digital imaging are still evolving, particularly for cultural heritage. Since July of 2003, a research program has been underway at RIT to help understand direct-digital-imaging practices in American museums, evaluate standard procedures to define color and spatial image quality, and to help develop a roadmap to defining best practices and future needs. The research has four components. The first was a survey compiling current imaging practices. Over 40 institutions have participated. The second component consisted of compiling standard practices of quantifying quality and developing a set of targets, procedures, and analytical methods to measure the quality of digital archives. The third component was to perform case studies at four representative institutions. Each institution was visited, their practices observed and interviews conducted. Several months later the case study sites were revisited, and analytical experiments to quantify their quality were performed. The fourth component consisted in compiling and disseminating the results of the survey, case studies, and methods for measuring quality.
