Provincial Museum Association Meetings - Day 2

view from our meeting room

So the first "real" day is over. 
We started off by talking about digital preservation issues.  Museums have been creating lots of digital content over the past few years but have often missed planning for the preservation of this content.  It was pointed out that digital preservation requires active intervention beginning at the time the digital asset was created.  While it is imperative for someone at the museum to be responsible for this, based on the goals of the organization, this question of "how do we do it?" is being asked at the national level and there is much debate about the potential for preservation services and how these should be provided.

National Arts Centre

The issue of digital preservation is much more pronounced with "born" digital data - content that can't be re-scanned or digitized if the files go corrupt or are lost.  While much of our digitized materials have some physical representation, digital images, audio, and video files are just that, files.  For this reason, we should be checking these every few months to make sure the files are still readable.  We also talked about physical security, such as keeping copies off-site and making sure doors are locked and files are secure on-site.

Rideau Canal

I presented on our recent qr code project, and realized that the OMA's video production how-to guide will work beautifully in conjunction with our how-to guide.  Both should be posted on the CHIN Professional Exchange website by the end of the month.

memorial to First Nations veterans

CHIN gave us a membership update, which included announcements about the VMC Investment Programs.  The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia will be creating a virtual exhibit, and Community Memories Projects were awarded to the Charles Macdonald Concrete House and  Wedgeport Sport Tuna Fishing Museum.

Highlights of the day include:
1. Passing notes in "class" in order to figure out dinner plans
2. Lunch time walk with Julie & Pierre in the beautiful summer weather
3. Bilingualism...there's just something so Canadian about meetings where people use English and French interchangeably
4. Quote of the day: "for it to be a conspiracy someone has to be in charge"
5. The LOCKSS Principle - lots of copies keeps stuff safe!