Proposed Theme for MCN and CIDOC Meeting, Aug.-Sept. 1994

[David Bridge, MSC VAX System Manager]

Dear Friends:

The Museum Computer Network (MCN) and the International Committee on
Documentation (CIDOC, part of ICOM) are holding a joint conference in
Washington, DC USA from August 28 to Sept. 4, 1994.  The conference
planning committee tentatively selected the following conference title
and theme:  Cultures Connected:\  Automating Museums in the Americas.

We would like your reaction.  We are still in the early planning
stages for the 1994 conference, your comments and suggestions will be
useful in improving the conference.

Does this theme fit into, or relate to programs or initiatives that
you are currently working on?  Explain how?  Would you like to be on the
program and make a presentation?

Substantial and active participation by all major areas in the Western
Hemisphere is important to the success of the conference.  Individuals
from United States and Canadian museums have expressed interest in this
theme.  Can you suggest key contacts and important museum personnel in
Central America, the Caribbean area, and South America?

Please forward this message to anyone you think is interested in the
topic and would be interested in commenting.  Please send your
comments and suggestions to David Bridge, a member of the local
planning committee by March 31.
        BITNET:  David at SIMSC
        Internet:  David at simsc.si.edu
        FAX:  301-238-3513
        US Mail:  Museum Support Center, Room F-1103
                  Smithsonian Institution
                  Washington, DC  20560   USA

Thank you in advance for your time and interest.
yours,
David Bridge
=====================================================================

      Cultures Connected:\  Automating Museums in the Americas

Vast cultural and scientific information is stored in the world's
museums.  Rapid advances in communications and computer technology are
bringing isolated museums to the gates of the global electronic
village.  Images and data from museum collections can be shared
electronically across a city, throughout a county, and around the
world.  The conference will explore topics needed by museums to pass
through these gates and into the Information Age.  These include such
topics as:
 -- global data standards
 -- information data exchange standards
 -- information presentation and access techniques
 -- networking museums, link local museums into the national network,
       and global connections
 -- using museum resources to support biodiversity studies,
       conservation, exhibits, distance education, and cultural
       diversity studies
 -- using electronic networks to disseminate information to local
       audiences and distant patrons
 -- how museums are part of National Research and Education Network (NREN),
       the National Information Initiative (NII) and other initiatives,
       which will shape and define information processing in the future
 -- access to on-line museum data bases and indexes
 -- access to on-line identification services and keys