MESSAGE TO ICOM-L subscribers (recent and potential):

This message has 3 main purposes:

(1) to say thank you;

(2) to remind people of ICOM's increased presence on the Internet
and capacities for electronic discussion and communication;

(3) & (4) to raise two points about the triennium ahead
(& communication opportunities on this very channel of ICOM-L).

(1) THANK YOU TO ICOM-L SUBSCRIBERS FOR ASSISTING THE REFORM PROCESS
(ICOM-RTF)

My message first is a general but heartfelt thank you to all the
members of ICOM, as well as Chairpersons of the many Committees, who
contributed valuable energy, ideas and commitment (and thank you,
especially, Per Rekdal and Patrick Boylan for your stubborn
persistence!) on the open channel of ICOM-L: assisting exchange of
ideas in the review and reform of ICOM during the last year or more.

As Chairperson of ICOM-RTF (ICOM Review and Reform Task Force during
that period) I cannot adequately convey in just a few words here how
much all those arguments, proposals and exchanges invaluably
assisted us.  It was the first time in my experience of ICOM that
really open discussions could evolve on many different issues of
crucial importance for an effective ICOM, which exists to serve and
stimulate effectively our world-wide museums community.  Also new
was that such discussions could occupy more "real time" of evolving
work, not just the necessarily limited channels of occasional,
pressurised meetings in Paris.

The Reform Task Force adopted protocols of just listening to those
debates on ICOM-L in the ICOM reform-incubation period.  We did not
participate. We felt that any intervention from RTF would only
inhibit the real breadth needed for us to learn and consider the
maximum input from others.  Therefore we restrained ourselves, when
we often were tempted to "dive in" with others. This meant that the
reform discussions were lively and wide-ranging, but - frustratingly
at many points - not really convened or "led" by a single individual
or couple of key individuals.  Some moderation is desirale to keep
editing and shaping any ideas being advanced in a forward-moving
discussion.

Now, however, I thank everyone who contributed to ICOM-L and want to
declare how you helped us. (And I thank Cary Karp for his list
moderator's role.)

However I would like to raise several points about the present
moment of change and the communication opportunities ahead.


(2) ICOM-L DISCUSSION OPPORTUNITIES ON SPECIFIC MATTERS
(ORGANISATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL or THEORETICAL)

As we saw in the last 12-18 months: without discussion leadership,
proposals or ideas can just expire for want of muscle or oxygen
provided by someone helping to keep things together, to keep
advancing somewhere.  (Discussions need to be concluded also, when
they have exhausted their purpose or subject - again requiring a
moderator to achieve this successfully.)

In the triennium ahead, the ICOM-L channel could be used in much more
proactive ways:

(A) for some declared general topics of discussion (but I would urge
with discussion leaders or moderators), or

(B) for more restricted discussions, when like-minded individuals
can pursue specific subjects of shared interest, in a more
self-selected discussion list on a particular them. (But not
shutting out any interested party who wants to "enter" such
discussion lists by topic (the rules on ICOM-L forbid exclusion of
any interested party, including non-ICOM members).  Remember ICOM-L
(using LISTSERV software) is a truly "open" discussion list system.
I remind everyone that Cary Karp, as moderator of ICOM-L, can best
administrate the steering of any specific discussion groups into
existence.)

(3) ICOM'S INCREASED ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND PRESENCE ON THE
INTERNET:

Use of ICOM-L should be revived, as an important twin-feature of
ICOM's greater and more broad-ranging presence on the Internet.
The partner is of course the hugely important "dot-museum"
initiative to advance the networked presence of museums in a new
top-level domain, linking ICOM-verified "museum" identities together
globally (also captained by Cary Karp, as President & CEO of the
relatively new Museum Domain Management Association, instigated
jointly in 2000 by ICOM and the J. Paul Getty Trust).  It is also
noteworthy that the newly launched dot-museum domain can even
include remote, small and less affluent museums. It is possible to
secure them an electronic identity in the global Internet
registration network, whether or NOT they individually have the
resources to use Internet access individually.  It is possible
thereby to link and broadcast all legitimate museum identities in
the new domain, and project their presence world-wide.  This is one
way in which resources can be "shared" within a world-wide museum
community, securing a protective presence for all, beyond the level
of individual museums' specific technical capability as Internet
users.


(4) KEEPING ICOM VOICES ACTIVE DURING A PERIOD OF CHANGE-OVER
(FROM ONE TRIENNIUM TO ANOTHER)

My fourth and final point is that we have just experienced a very
successful ICOM General Conference in Barcelona, during which a
remarkable level of general goodwill was manifested towards the
reform proposals and ongoing revisionary process (54 Reforms and a
comprehensive ICOM Action Plan, 2001-2007 were accepted - and also
the important ongoing revisionary work of the Ethics Committee).

At a General Assembly of ICOM, many persons change position among
the Chairpersons and other crucial executive members of boards of
all ICOM's parts: the 28 International Committees; the 13 Affiliated
Organisations;  the 7 Regional Organisations, and the 110-plus
National Committees at any period.  It is crucial, in my view, to
capture many people, especially many long-experienced professionals,
who can "slip through our fingers" and pass out of immediate contact
at such a time.

It is important not to lose the input of all those who have been
active: to make sure they are still "in-play" in ICOM circles of
professional and personal interaction, and feeding in to advice on
the new task forces, and many cross-functional instruments and more
flexible communication channels now opened up in a self-reforming
ICOM.

So in summary: thank you to all who contributed to ICOM-L in the
last triennium (especially assisting the reform recommendations we
achieved in Barclona); and I hope the ICOM-L discussion channel
becomes used in new and more flexible (but discussion-led) ways in
this triennium - a final plea not to loosen the network threads of
contact at this time of "changing of the guard" within ICOM's
collective community of experienced active professional people.

I'm aware that I am communicating in English.  However "languages
and ICOM communication" is also a subject that the new Executive
Council will be reviewing and seeking others' input to examine as an
important topic for ICOM's future - especially as the next General
Conference and Assembly will for the first time be in an Asian
country.

Any proposals for continued use of ICOM-L?  (I'm sure a pause after
Barcelona is timely, and some people are taking vacations in the
near future.  However suggestions in due course would be welcome.)

Best wishes,
Bernice Murphy
(ICOM Vice-President)



Bernice Murphy
PO Box 1269, Potts Point [Sydney]
NSW  2011  Australia
Fax: [61-(0)2] 9357 2159
e-mail:<[log in to unmask]>

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