We are in the process of install museum-wide wi-fi, both for staff and public. Funding is coming from a private grant that incorporated many other related items. Here is excerpt from our proposal that speaks specifically to public wi-fi
The museum, however, is underutilized by the culturally inclined population. Following the success of early program initiatives, it is the ideal time to build awareness of the MIA and its mission to enrich the community, engage audiences more deeply with the museum, and encourage greater connections between people through art. Wi-fi in all of the museum*s public spaces, allowing visitors to access, respond to, and dig beyond the traditional wall panel in real time Digital feedback loops in select exhibitions allowing MIA to test theories regarding visitor interactions John John R. Bedard | Director of Information Systems Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404 612-870-3268 | JBedard at artsmia.org | www.artsmia.org >>> On 4/30/2010 at 12:40 PM, in message <1792577DCB731446AA4D874F1342736E195E9DB7 at FASXCH02.fasmail.priv>, "Steward, Jeff" <jeff_steward at harvard.edu> wrote: Thanks to all for your thoughtful responses. It has all been extremely helpful. Jeff -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Morgan, Matt Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 12:41 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi Right, it's absolutely true that those of us who made it happen were motivated largely by the opportunity to address the museum's community-minded mission. But it was sometime after the success of the wifi that Brooklyn Museum accepted--on a truly institutional level--that technology could be part of that mission. Until then we always needed nuts-and-bolts reasons to do things, too. And I can say that as the IT Manager responsible for allocating scarce resources at that time, the "care of the collection" related benefits were always top-of-mind for me. The message for this list thread may be that one can put together lots of good reasons to do wifi, and that if you succeed in getting public access done as part of that, it could result in really positive impact on the perceived value and positioning of the technology department(s) within the institution. Find ways to attach the big ideas to basic needs and your institution will understand and support you. By the way, I'm speaking as an individual, not as a representative of any institution with which I've been associated. Matt -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Deborah Wythe Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 9:29 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi Hi all, I passed the thread to Shelley Bernstein, our Technology Chief, so she could comment directly on the Brooklyn Museum's wi-fi. Here's her response. Deb Wythe Hi Jeff, I just wanted to quickly weigh in on the wifi install at Brooklyn. The project was first conceived of as a community project - we had a new public plaza completed in 2004 and wanted to make it a welcoming place for the community. The original phase of the project was small in scope -- setup the initial network and get the Plaza, the Sculpture Garden and other public spaces online. It made sense given our mission and the new building project. I'm not sure that my recollection differs that much from Matt's - he is correct that later expansion inside the building meant showing different business cases, but the original project was thought of much differently - at least that's the way I conceived of the project. Interestingly, I think it makes a nice use case - if it fits within mission, that can help you get started and then grow from there as needed to fulfill other objectives. I'm actually not on this list, so am asking Deb to post for me (thanks, Deb!). If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them via email, first.last at brooklynmuseum.org. Many thanks, Shelley Bernstein Chief of Technology Brooklyn Museum deborahwythe at hotmail.com > From: nschulz at ctsciencecenter.org > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:15:34 -0400 > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi > > Here at the Connecticut Science Center, our wireless access points are setup with 3 SSID's. Two are hidden and one is public. We have allocated a certain about of bandwidth just for the public wireless VLAN. > > ****************************************** > Check out our EVENTS Calendar here! > > Follow us on > ****************************************** > > Nicole Schulz > IT Manager > Connecticut Science Center > 250 Columbus Blvd. > Hartford, CT 06103 > 860.520-2114 > 860.727.0850 (fax) > nschulz at ctsciencecenter.org > > www.CTScienceCenter.org | (860) SCIENCE > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Christina DePaolo > Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 1:09 PM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi > > Hi, > For those of you who offer public wi-fi, do mind sharing how you made it happen? What were the barriers you had to address? Visitors are asking for free wi-fi at SAM but our IT department is holding back because of resource issues, I think it has to do with bandwidth. > > Christina > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Morgan, Matt > Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 9:41 AM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi > > At Brooklyn Museum our philosophical rationale was largely community-based, but our funding rationale was mostly about collections database access for staff in storerooms and galleries--there was sort of a three-pronged approach of > > * VPN access to network from anywhere in the building > * gallery technology like kiosks and handhelds and ... > * general public access. > > Matt > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Steward, Jeff > Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:25 PM > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Subject: [MCN-L] Reasons for providing public wi-fi > > Hello all, > > For those of you that offer public Wi-Fi at your institution what were your reasons for doing so? Was it just as a perk to your visitors or was there something more to it? > > Thanks, > Jeff > > > -- > Jeff Steward > Architect for Applications Development > 617-495-0785 > jeff_steward at harvard.edu<mailto:jeff_steward at harvard.edu> > > Harvard Art Museum > 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 > www.harvardartmuseum.org<http://www.harvardartmuseum.org> > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
