>     Help! I am looking for suggestions from people who work in/with
>historical societies on how an Internet connection would be helpful to them.
 
 
One aspect of being wired that shouldn't be overlooked is the ability
for staff to telecommute and be connected, hold meetings, send memos,
ask questions etc. You might tell them to investigate setting up
a BBS with a user-friendly GUI (NovaTerm, FirstClass and many others)
that would also have internet access for contact outside the
museum network. Dial-up access to the BBS could also be part of the
membership package. You do, however, have to make a commitment
to maintaining whatever you do. There's alot of dead ends out there,
particularly on the WWW.
 
ArtNet is being constructed mainly online. We hold meetings, send
files to each other easily (both ascii and binary), build libraries
of multimedia presentations and conduct forums from various locations
around the city. When we open up to the public we will have organized
material that we will then send out to the world via the Web.
 
PS: I wouldn't count on the Internet being around forever.
 
Robbin Murphy
Managing Editor, ArtNet
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