On Jan 27, 1996 10:00:21, [log in to unmask] wrote:


>I couldn't agree more with Robert Baron about the importance and
>effectiveness of user groups, both for mutual help and for acting as
>pressure groups to get improvements from a vendor. But these are
>phenomena that also exist (bigtime) in the world of standard
>database products, most of which have electronic bulletin boards,
>websites, elaborate training programs held in various locations
>across the country, and at least an annual convention where users
>with all kinds of applications problems come together. It is true
>that the museum community has some specific computing requirements
>and problems; but it is also true that most of these problems are
>generic to some degree, and there is much to be learned from
>exposure to the methods used by (for example) warehouse managers,
>who may already (mirabile dictu!) have even solved problems a museum
>curator thought were peculiar to her application.
>
>Pat Galloway
>MS Dept. of Archives and History

Pat brings up a point that I entirely forgot to mention: The world of
museum computing consists of a great variety of individual roles that
extend from highly technical developers (who may or may not have a special
interest in computing applications in the humanities), to individuals who
are users, who, themselves, may have diverse backgrounds, interests and
responsibilities.  Support communities are often crucial to the developer,
to the user and (let it be said), to the application itself.

Just as the user may need to consult with other users of an application for
suggestions on how to articulate certain complex situations, execute
unusual queries or work around a variety of limitations, the
programmer/developer must (as Pat notes) be aware of issues surrounding the
application environment.

But there is a difference.  This thread began (I think) as a comparison
between home-grown applications administered and developed by in-house
staff and vertical market applications such as those sold by Vernon
Systems, by Willoughby or by Questor, among others.  Clearly, the
opportunity to benefit from a community of users differs in the variety of
situations listed here.  While developers of both kinds of applications
must needs be aware of the development environment, users of home-grown
systems are often forced to depend for support entirely on their developer.
 We all know what pressures are brought to bear on in-house developers that
often drive them to a de-facto inability to meet the demands of their
clients.  And it is often not their own fault, but, rather, a frequent
consequence of underfunding and understaffing.  So, I maintain that the
user group phenomena and the competition between vendors have served to
offer clients architectures and features that would be singularly difficult
to create in the small to medium museum environment that the commercial
vendors serve.  (Some vendors deny that competition has been good for
them.)

Of course, there are always exceptions.  No doubt Pat is going to respond
to the above note by asserting that in the situation she administers, my
assumptions and generalizations just don't apply.  And I'll believe it.
--

Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont N.Y. 10538
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