103. How Computers Transformed Museums and Created A New Type of Professional Museum Archipelago

Computing work keeps museums running, but it’s largely invisible. That is, unless something goes wrong. For Dr. Paul Marty, Professor in the School of Information at Florida State University and his colleague Kathy Jones, Program Director of the Museum Studies Program at the Harvard Extension School, shining a light on the behind-the-scenes activities of museum technology workers was one of the main reasons to start the Oral Histories of Museum Computing project.


The first museum technology conference was hosted in 1968 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This prescient event, titled “Conference on Computers and their Potential Application in Museums” was mostly focused on the cutting edge: better inventory management systems using computers instead of paper methods. However, it also foresaw the transformative impact of computers on museums—from digital artifacts to creating interactive exhibits to expanding audience reach beyond physical boundaries. Most of all, speakers understood that museum technologists would need to “join forces” with each other to learn and experiment better ways to use computers in museum settings.


The Oral Histories of Museum Computing project collects the stories of what happened since that first museum technology conference, identifying the key historical themes, trends, and people behind the machines behind the museums. In this episode, Paul Marty and Kathy Jones describe their experience as museum technology professionals, the importance of conferences like the Museum Computer Network, and the benefits of compiling and sharing these oral histories.


Topics and Notes


00:00 Intro
00:15 A Conference on Computers and their Potential Application in Museums
00:43 Thomas P. F. Hoving Closing Statements
01:41 Paul Marty, Professor in the School of Information at Florida State University
02:11 Kathy Jones, Program Director of the Museum Studies Program at the Harvard Extension School
02:18 Museum Computing from There to Here
04:08 The First Steps of Museum Computing
04:52 Early Challenges in Museum Databases Like GRIPHOS
07:00 Changing Field, Changing Profession
08:48 The Oral Histories of Museum Computing Project
11:32 Reflecting on the Journey of Museum Technology
14:12 Outro | Join Club Archipelago 🏖


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Transcript

Below is a transcript of Museum Archipelago episode 103. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, refer to the links above.





View Transcript




On April 17th, 1968, less than two weeks after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, the first computer museum conference was coming to a close at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.


This conference was hosted by the recently-formed Museum Computer Network, and had a hopeful, descriptive title: A Conference on Computers and their Potential Application in Museums.


At the closing dinner, Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Thomas P. F. Hoving acknowledged that “for some these three days have an unsettling effect” and that “these machines are going to put us on our toes as never