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.

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