In a message dated 00-10-06 15:41:34 EDT, Ellen Cutler wrote:

<< I was, myself, startled to read something on a museum educators' list that
 was to me, an art historian/educator/writer almost unintelligible....

 Perhaps we have here an issue of etiquette (or possibly the dreaded
 "netiquette") alluded to by an earlier writer:  when list members pose
 highly technical questions or reach out to specialists in new and/or obscure
 bits of turf in the field, wouldn't it be polite/friendly/collegial/helpful
 to open with a statement like "I am interested in reaching..."? >>

The latter comment is well taken, and is in agreement with my previous post
on this issue.  As I said then, in my opinion the only thing really wrong
with the original message was that the fact that it was actually addressed
only to CIMI members was buried so deeply at the bottom.  It would have been
most helpful if something like "Announcement for CIMI Members" had been the
subject line.  I hope that would have eliminated all the objections to the
technical, allegedly obfuscatory terminology.

However, I am concerned about the assumption that this is a "museum
educators' list".  If that's true, I was never aware of it, except in the
most general sense.  I thought this list was for all who are concerned with
museum (and museum-like) issues, including the management and operation of
museums, collection care and conservation, etc., etc.  I suppose I am a
museum "educator" in a way, and I hope that the things I do are somehow
educational, but I seldom think of myself as an "educator" except in a the
broad sense--I tend to think of the people with more specific training in
"museum education" as the educators.  Nevertheless, the ultimate "education"
goal is realized in a variety of ways, not the least of which is making
information about our collections available, e.g.,through automated
cataloguing and the management of electronic databases.  This is a technical,
specialized field, and like many specialized fields, it has a lingo which
participants use to communicate with each other.  I'm not even a database
manager, just a collection manager/ archivist/curator who is also a part-time
cataloguing coordinator, but cataloguers really do toss around terms like
"interoperability" and "metadata," so I understood most of the message and
was familiar with most (not all) of the acronyms.  But I also understood that
it did not apply to me and was addressed to people with a higher level of
expertise in the field.

There are many messages on Museum-L which are over my head, including some
references to educational theory with which I am unfamiliar.  The museum
field and its related disciplines are large and include a wide variety of
specialties.  I have learned a great deal from this list and it has truly
broadened my horizons, but I see no reason to assume, as has already been
pointed out, that I should understand every message I read.  In fact, I
rather appreciate the fact that some of them go over my head--it keeps me
humble!  There are many audiences for this list, in my observation, not just
generalists.  I would suggest some tolerance.  Having said that, I also
strongly agree that "netiquette" on such a varied list demands relevant
explanatory or directed subject lines for new subjects.

David Haberstich

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