The Museum Computer Network (MCN) is a US-based non-profit organization for professionals with an interest in the use of
computer technology
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...
for
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
s.
Overview
MCN was established in 1967 in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
area. The history of MCN spans a period during which information technology developed at an exponential pace. The organization began as an informal grouping of museums with the goal of automating registration records. With funding from the New York Council on the Arts, MCN developed a prototype mainframe network that was shared by participants from 1968 to 1971. When the funding ended in 1971, MCN was formally incorporated as a nonprofit organization that has since attracted members from around the world. As new technology superseded the original shared registration system, MCN evolved into a network of professionals wishing to improve their means of developing, managing, and conveying museum information through the use of automation.
MCN organizes an annual conference, the MCN-L
discussion forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
, special interest groups, an online directory of museum websites, etc. Members include individuals, institutions and companies. The organization is run by a Board of Directors. Officers include a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer.
Conference
MCN has held an annual conference since 1979.
Recent Conferences:
2015 in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, November 4–7, 2015, with the title of ''The Invisible Architectures of Connected Museums''.
2014 in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
with the title of ''Think Big, Start Small, Create''.
2013 in
Montreal, Canada
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
with the title of ''Re:making Museums''
2012 in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
with the title of ''Shifting Perspective, Evolving Spaces, Disruptive Technologies''
2011 in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
with the title of ''Hacking the Museum: Innovation, Agility and Collaboration''
2010 in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
MCN published ''Spectra'', established in 1974. For example, the
Computer Interchange of Museum Information The Consortium for Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI) was an initiative for museum IT standards under the auspices of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI).
The CIMI project was started in 1990 by the US-based Museum Compute ...
(CIMI) Standards Framework was published in ''Spectra''.
Museum informatics
Museum informatics is an interdisciplinary field of study that refers to the theory and application of informatics by museums. It represents a convergence of culture, digital technology, and information science.Everett Ellin