conference announcement

2006 Museum Computer Network Conference
ACCESS TO ASSETS: Return on Investment
WHEN: November 8-11, 2006
WHERE: Westin Pasadena, California

Complete conference information and registration online: http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/

Join us in Pasadena this November, for an outstanding conference you won’t want to miss. Featuring panels of experts reporting on issues you work with everyday, and issues you will be working with before long; the conference also offers many opportunities for networking with colleagues and visiting Pasadena’s cultural institutions.

Keynote Presentation by Ken Hamma, Digital Policy Initiatives, J. Paul Getty Trust, "Investing for the Public."

Of note to cni-copyright readers:

Session sponsored by MCN's Intellectual Property Special Interest Group:

Searching for Fair Use: How Google's Copyright Battles will Affect Access to Assets

Participants:
Tyler Ochoa, Santa Clara University
Jonathan Band, policybandwidth.com
Guy Pessach, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Moderator: Amalyah Keshet, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

The cultural heritage constituency has been ­ or should be ­ following with interest Google's current copyright battles. The outcome of these controversies and court cases will clearly have an impact on how we will provide and access digital assets in cultural heritage institutions in the future. Google Print, Google Library, Google Search, the Perfect 10 v. Google Inc. thumbnail images case, as well as other similar cases and the issues behind them will all be explored by a panel of user-friendly legal experts. Roundtable discussion will be encouraged.

Session sponsored by MCN's Information Policy Special Interest Group:

What Museums Need in a Digital Rights Management System: An Exploratory Forum

Participants : Dianne Nilsen, Center for Creative Photography Alicia Cutler, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution Steffen Wedepohl, The Bridgeman Art Library, London, UK Moderator : Diane M. Zorich, Cultural Heritage Consultant

Museums have been dissatisfied with the commercial digital rights management (DRM) systems that are available. None of them address museum needs, and most focus exclusively on the restrictive aspects of DRM. The goal of this exploratory forum is to solicit input from two guest speakers and the audience about what museums want and need in a DRM system. The goal of the forum is to draft a basic list of functional requirements for a museum DRM system that can be used by museums as a starting point in the development of their own DRM system, or in collaboration with a vendor.

Log onto our website now, at http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/ to register and join us for a valuable networking experience!