Bringing museums back to the future with SCIP

MUSEUMS in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been getting help with their computer systems in a SCIP project set to run until March 08.

SCIP Associate Robert Taylor is a museums professional, and SCIP ICT Development Worker Marcus Pennell has been conducting ICT Health Checks in the voluntary and charity sector since 2005. It seemed a logical choice to ask them to carry out the current survey for the regional Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA South East), reporting directly to the Hampshire Museum Development Service.

With most of the health checks completed it is becoming clear that there is a large digital divide within the museums service in the county.

Many of Hampshire's museums are military and receive most, if not all, of their funding and support directly from the Ministry of Defence. In IT terms this translates as up-to-date equipment and first-class technical support, robust military-grade internet connections for some, and adequate training for all.

At the other end of the scale are small independent museums run entirely by volunteers with little or no formal training in IT at all. They may have one or two donated PCs or machines bought from a high street retailer which have been connected to the internet with no online protection beyond a time-limited trail of an anti-virus program.

In between we have been finding a wide range of skills - and lack of them. Most have had training in the specialist MODES software used by most museums to catalogue exhibits, but any skills beyond that are generally self taught.

An essential aspect of PC operation is backing up - something done without fail by the military museums but achieved successfully by only a couple of the independents. Many tried but failed due to lack of awareness of the techniques, or lack of the necessary hardware. This is an area which SCIP will concentrate on in the second and third stages of the project, which deal with training and hands-on technical support.

But there was one area where even the military failed - getting the PC screens set up for optimal and safe viewing. Many people have been sitting in front of poorly adjusted, flickering displays for years - wondering why they get irate at work and leave for home with a pounding headache. SCIP have been able to correct these problems which we have found on almost every PC we have sat in front of.