I work for the Indianapolis Museum of Art and we are currently in a planning
process discussing the use of various technologies in the museum. Part of this
(very theoretical) discussion includes networking the museum. It's likely that
a few new positions would have to be added, and we are struggling to create a
model for how a network would be overseen. One proposal is to create an
Information Technologies division independent of the curatorial, operations and
marketing divisions.

Are there any museums where this is being done, and if so, do you think it is a
successful arrangement? Some of us see the Information Technologies personnel
as engineering types in an operations divion department (i.e. they are not
their own division).

Also, in the proposal already mentioned, a multimedia programmer would be a
member of this Information Technologies division. This person would
(theoretically--not a real job yet) engineer CD-ROMs, web pages, interactive
kiosks and other multimedia projects brought to him/her by marketing, education
or curatorial personnel. This particular issue is sticky, as at least one peron
(me) fervently believes this is a design position that should be in marketing,
education, or a shared position between the two. I would love to know if there
are any museums out here who have structured their creative multimedia
design/programming  separate and independent of marketing, education and
curatorial, and if so, how well does it work? (I am opposed, but open to
experiences and opinions of others). I would also like to hear reactions to the
idea, even if you have no such position. Any feedback will be appreciated.

Anne Robinson