Month: April 2012

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

Monday, March 19, 2012

Conference Call Attendees:

Molly Gleeson (Chair)

Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)

Amy Brost (Communications Coordinator)

Anisha Gupta (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)

Megan Salazar-Walsh (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Sarah Barack (Co-Chair, K-12 Outreach Group and ETC)

Rebecca Rushfield (ETC)

Emily Williams (Chair, Education and Training)

Stephanie Lussier (Board Liaison)

Amber Harwood (CAC-ECC Liaison)

Genevieve Bieniosek (Student Liaison, ETC)

Eryl Wentworth (Executive Director, AIC)

Morgan Gilpatrick (Communications Director, AIC)

LeeAnn Barnes Gordon (OSG liaison)

Avigail Charnov (ASG)

Ryan Winfield (AIC Staff Liaison)

 

 

1. Roll call — Molly took roll.
2. Minutes Approval (Molly) — February meeting minutes were approved.
3. CoOL Discussion (Eryl) – Steady work on CoOL since taking over in 2009.  Worked with stakeholders to reimagine what CoOL could become.  Discussions with web developers resulted in three solid proposals.  One was selected, Happy Cog, that are leaders in web design and development, also in education.  Used to working with large-content sites.  Now looking at how to fund CoOL over the long term – from planning and implementation to sustainability over time.  Do not want to repeat the Stanford situation.  Initial planning grant will come with assurances that there are funds to carry through implementation to sustainability.  Mellon Foundation, and NEH Challenge Grant, a 3:1 match, and go out to additional funders.  This is part of a series of phone calls to talk to stakeholders, like ECPN members (students, emerging conservators), about their use of CoOL.  What is useful to us about it?  How could it be used in the future – how could it be enhanced?  Think in terms of CoOL and the DistList.

A. Q & A – Do we use it?

• Molly uses the DistList regularly, but not CoOL, because she already knows the resources she’s looking for.  Has bookmarks for key sites already.
• Sarah uses it a lot, both resources, in her private practice.
• Amber, a recent graduate from Queens program in Canada, often used CoOL as a resource and she looks at the DistList quite regularly.
• Eliza has a similar experience to Molly.  She uses CoOL to help fill in the gaps after a visit perhaps to AATA first.
• Morgan asked if we look for specific information on materials or treatment problems.  Carrie, an objects conservator, often goes to the objects distribution list.  She often turns to Google but then ultimately lands on a CoOL page.  So, indirectly, some research routes lead to CoOL.
• Eryl mentioned that CoOL internationally might be used more than in the U.S., where conservation literature might be more difficult to access.  There is a large international audience for this site

B. What would make CoOL more useful, and make you use it more often?

• Concern that the site is outdated and hard to navigate.  It could be more useful if less complicated.
• Carrie mentioned that enhancing searchability would be helpful (like AATA).  Google makes it easier to search, and often, CoOL pages come up in results.
• Eryl mentioned that one key goal is making the site more navigable, and searchable.  Keep it viable and up-to-date by having an international core group of editors or  “curators” who commit for a term of time to manage a specific area.  They will make sure that the area is up-to-date, with the key links, working links, etc. to make it a “go-to” resource.  There is a digital public library that’s being planned.  It’s at the task force stage right now, but it’s the type of thing that CoOL could be on, but may not be able to wait.  CoOL needs to be reinvigorated now.  The DistList is very active and vital now.

C. Do you know of similar resources anywhere that provide information that CoOL provides?  What resources could CoOL provide that would be useful?

• Question about whether or not the Wiki dovetails with CoOL.  LeeAnn has been doing a lot of work on the Objects page of the Wiki.  Collaboratively created content, in a structure.  General as well as specific information.  That’s one example.  It also is not very searchable.  Eryl responded that there is not a clear line between AIC and FAIC.
• Stephanie mentioned that CoOL is described as a platform, not a website.  The student research repository platform proposal could be weaved into CoOL on an international scale.  This does not exist anywhere right now.  Would make it a go-to research for students.  There may be other ways that CoOL could fill the need to unify, and connect, information and professionals in ways not available elsewhere.  Not possible to do that kind of thing with the Wiki.  AATA is not for student work.
• Stephanie went on to say that, while everyone utilizes the DistList regularly, what can be done that’s new to draw people to CoOL?
• Molly uses collections online, searchable, ID databases, like fiber ID.  Perhaps add that to CoOL.  Could be more of an information hub.
• Carrie mentioned that CoOL occupies a unique place to redirect people to other locations.  Maybe not so much of a repository, but a pathway, for many different endpoints.  That would be very relevant and useful.  The resources may exist online, but CoOL could connect them.
• If sites are not all collected in your bookmarks, you can’t access them easily when away from your own computer.
• Grant programs end, and sites disappear.  Eryl imagines that CoOL could be a place for grant program website “orphans.”
• Conservation newsletters that don’t have a home online could be added to CoOL.
• Sarah mentioned that CoOL could be a repository for curriculum resources.
• Perhaps include the bibliographies and learning tools from the FAIC workshops.
• ECPN could forward links and content that they’re thinking of, to Eryl for reference.

 

D. Other websites, outside of conservation, to use as models?  Any that have the kind of tools and searchability that you think is a great way to manage a lot of content?  Just an example, or aspect of a site, that would be a good model.  (Such as medical sites, etc.)  Eryl will send some links of the things they’ve been looking at. ECPN will think about this and forward ideas.

 

E. Eryl felt the discussion was helpful.  She is pulling together materials to show potential funders, and show how CoOL is different from other sites and resources, and how it will fill a unique need.  Will require an endowment of at least $3,000,000.  As a well-funded, sustainable resource, CoOL will be a major initiative, but won’t take the focus off of other FAIC initiatives.

 

 

F. Carrie mentioned that the conversation about the student research repository will be ongoing, in light of the work planned for CoOL, and the survey results from the programs.  A proposal will be forthcoming.

 

G. Follow-up: Molly will post a document to Basecamp, and she will compile any responses received via email, to deliver to Eryl.

 

4. Annual Meeting

• Flyer – Amy will post the revised flyer to Basecamp by the end of this week.  Ryan indicated that he can add the new liaisons to the officers page at www.conservation-us.org/ecpn.
• Poster – Carrie has gotten 10 responses to the questionnaire.  Content so far is very diverse, and she has posted the content received to date on Basecamp and also has the JPEG images they provided.  Have responses on treatments in public galleries, another on outreach tools, lots of different outreach tools represented.  May be best to summarize the activities we received, and put the majority of the content on the blog.  There will be a future working group call.  Amy volunteered to design the poster, as she did last year, but is open to other volunteers if anyone else would like to have the experience.  Anyone wanting to help with the design phase can email Amy.  Carrie will try to put the images on Dropbox to share them with us.  Stephanie suggested a paper handout with the links that people can carry.  Amy can send the poster and handout for production and whoever is setting up the poster can bring both items.
• Portfolio Session – Nine people so far, representation from all programs except Columbia and Penn.  Will have some (perhaps 4) more experienced conservators there to talk about what employers are looking for in portfolios.  BPG and ASG were contacted to present portfolios, but ASG has many conflicts this year, with many students giving papers.  Still will look for ways to bring in ASG.  Emily Alliz is giving a paper in the ASG session, and Carrie would like to see if she would participate in the portfolio session.  However, the presentation for ASG is different, because they produce a thesis and presentation instead of a portfolio.  Perhaps evolve the Portfolio Session into another format next year, because we want to engage as many students from as many programs as possible.  The Portfolio Session will be in a room, but Molly will email Ruth to ensure that the room can accommodate the 14 speakers, and Ryan mentioned an alternative could be the corner of the exhibit hall.
• Happy Hour – Anisha said that the conference hotel bar requested confirmation of the event.  Anisha to connect with Molly and Ruth, to ensure that the space will work, upon Ruth’s return from Albuquerque.
• Outreach for ECPN – At Columbia and Penn, Avigail will pass out the flyer, which will be ready for ANAGPIC.  Since many ASG students cannot attend AIC this year, maybe the information can help them prepare for next year.
• Angels Project – Sites have been selected, and the dates will be Tuesday, the workshop day.  Usually the Angels Project is the Saturday after the meeting, so this was done to accommodate the sites.  An email went out from AIC about the Angels Project.

5. ANAGPIC – Eliza heard back from Michele Marincola, and ECPN and CAC-ECC will be able to do a 5-minute presentation and distribute a double-sided flyer.  She will let us know the due date for the flyer.  Megan will represent the group.

 

6. Communications officer vacancy – No applications received yet for that position.  Amy received an email inquiry.  The deadline is a few weeks away, so people may be waiting to apply.  If you can think of anyone, refer them to Amy or Molly for more information and the position description.  Molly will post a brief announcement on the DistList as a reminder.

 

7. PR Toolkit project – Wiki training session with Rachael Arenstein last week.  AIC Wiki page under Work Practices, and the Toolkit page is started, with the outline up.  It is called the “Public Relations and Outreach Toolkit.”  Will work on the Discussion area, to start.  Must have author privileges to contribute, which Rachael sets up.  Working on the outline and some of the content before Annual Meeting, and a flyer for the AIC Annual Meeting conference bag.  Would be nice to have something in each area by the Annual Meeting, so it looks like it’s really starting to be populated.  Perhaps post to the blog some of the contributions we’re looking for.  It’s evolving, and will be happening over time, but have enough in there to show people how valuable this resource will be.  Anyone interested in the project should reach out to Molly to learn more and participate.

 

 

Next call: April 16, 2012 at 1pm EST

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Amy Brost

 

What has the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) been up to? Between working on several ongoing projects, such as the mentoring program and the development of a student research platform, to starting new initiatives, including our regional liaison program and a forum call series, 2012 has been a busy year for us so far! On top of that, we’ve been working hard to prepare for our events at AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting in May.

For those of you who are not as familiar with our network, we just wanted to provide a summary of some of our projects. Read on to find out more! You can also find out more about our network’s mission on our webpage.

Network officers:

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to Gwen Manthey, who recently joined ECPN as our new Professional Education & Training co-officer. She succeeded Abby Aldrich, who was working with us in this role previously. Thank you Abby for your service to ECPN! You can find a current list of all of our network officers on our webpage.

Mentoring Program:

ECPN has been working with AIC staff to make some refinements to the AIC mentoring program. Some of the recent work has involved expanding the application form to include a survey that gauges applicants’ specific interests and goals, establishing a well-rounded review committee, and developing a mentoring program toolkit that offers suggestions to guide matches in their relationships. ECPN is in the process of assisting AIC staff to match pairs of mentees and mentors, and is continuing to promote the program and encourage mentor applicants. To learn more about the program, or to apply to be a mentor or to find a mentor, follow this link.

Student Research Platform:

Over a year ago, ECPN initiated the idea of an online student research platform, with a goal of sharing student work and research projects, which would otherwise be largely inaccessible to the conservation community. Last year ECPN created and distributed a questionnaire to directors of the North American conservation graduate training programs to poll them on their preferences and interest in an online student research platform. Based on this feedback, ECPN is now working to develop a revised proposal with a description of the platform, the audience, possible content, desirable features, and maintenance needs in order to ensure the platform’s sustainability.  There is international interest in this project, and the form that it will ultimately take is an ongoing discussion that we’re excited to be involved in.  

ECPN Liaisons:

ECPN has identified liaisons for several AIC specialty groups and committees and also for various regions across the United States. These liaisons are serving to promote events and opportunities for emerging conservators and to expand the reach of ECPN from the national to the local level.  A complete list of our current liaisons can be found on our webpage.

Forum calls:

Each month, ECPN officers meet via conference call to discuss ongoing activities. These calls are open to everyone, but are often focused on network business. Based on this, ECPN created the idea of a forum call series that would bring emerging conservators together to discuss topics of interest.  An online survey was recently distributed to gauge enthusiasm for the idea and gather feedback on possible topics. After very positive responses, network officers are moving forward to plan for the first forum call and to propose a schedule and topics for future forum calls. ECPN is working to identify the best platform for the “calls”, which will likely be web-based. Stay tuned for more information.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting in 2012:

A lot of our work lately has focused on preparing for our AIC Annual Meeting activities. If you attended any of our events last year, these may sound familiar to you!

On Tuesday May 8 we are holding an informational meeting at 5:00pm and a happy hour/mixer immediately afterward from 6:00-10:00pm. We are nailing down the final details about the location for the happy hour, but it will be within walking distance from the Hyatt Regency (the conference hotel)-look out for an announcement about this as it gets closer to the annual meeting.

On Thursday May 10, ECPN is holding two portfolio sessions, which will take place during the morning and afternoon breaks, from 10:00-10:30am and 4:00-4:30pm. We have invited a group of emerging conservators to bring their portfolios-including one digital portfolio-as well as several more established conservators, who will be on hand to offer advice about portfolios and presentation of work.

You will also see ECPN represented in the poster session. We are presenting a poster entitled “Creative Endeavors and Expressive Ideas:  Emerging Conservators Engaging through Outreach and Public Scholarship.” The poster will feature emerging conservators who are participating in a variety of outreach activities. We received so much great content for this poster that we are also featuring additional related content in a companion blog post. Our poster will be on view all week and on Thursday from 4:00-4:30pm one of our network officers will be standing next to the poster to share additional information and answer questions.

These are just some of the activities that ECPN is engaged in. We hope you see something that you like, and we encourage you to join us-either at one (or all) of our annual meeting activities, or on one of our conference calls, and hopefully on one of our new forum calls later on this year! Questions, ideas? Please leave a comment here or contact Molly Gleeson, ECPN Chair, at mcgleeson [at] yahoo [dot] com.

 

 

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Conference Call Attendees:

Molly Gleeson (Chair)

Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)

Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)

Abby Aldrich (co-Professional Education and Training)

Anisha Gupta (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Megan Salazar-Walsh (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Stephanie Lussier (Board Liaison)

Ryan Winfield (AIC Staff)

Ruth Seyler (AIC Staff)

Robin O’Hern (CSCP)

LeeAnn Barnes Gordon (OSG liaison)

Lauren Bradley (PSG liaison)

Emily Williams (Chair, Education and Training)

 

1. Roll call — Eliza Spaulding took roll.
2. Minutes Approval (Molly) — January meeting minutes were approved.
3. Specialty Group and Committee Liaisons Reports (Molly) – Hoping to institute an update from the specialty group and committee liaisons on every other call. Anisha will take over Molly’s role of reaching out to the liaisons before every other call and soliciting updates. Liaisons also can submit updates to Anisha to report.
   1. LeeAnn Barnes Gordon (OSG) – Would like to host a wiki meeting Tuesday evening of the annual meeting, hopefully after the ECPN meeting. Results of the wiki edit-a-thon last month: objects group reached all of their goals. They increased participation to over 50 people, updated entries, and more work is underway. 16 emerging conservators were involved in various aspects of the objects wiki edit-a-thon. If anyone else is interested, getting in touch with Rachael Perkins Arenstein continues to be the best way to become involved. Reaching out to your specialty group or a training program are other options. Perhaps ECPN could help facilitate these other modes of communication? Continue to think about incorporating the wiki into the mentoring program? June and July are possibilities for another edit-a-thon. Lee Ann needs to confirm this with Rachael. Stephanie asked LeeAnn if she would write up a blog post highlighting the contributions of emerging conservators in the edit-a-thon and encouraging other emerging conservators to become involved. LeeAnn will do this and agreed that the positive contributions of emerging conservators need to be highlighted.
   2. Robin O’Hern (CSCP) – CSCP working on three projects: wiki, organizing a lunch during the annual meeting on sustainable conservation practices, and sent a survey gauging how conservators use sustainable conservation practices in their work environments. Molly added that CSCP should feel free to use the ECPN Facebook page and blog to promote their events.
   3. Lauren Bradley (PSG) — PSG Reception Sponsor a Student Campaign: the goal is to have all students and emerging conservators attend the reception for free this year–those interested in attending should contact the AIC office directly. This is a new, unprecedented movement! Call for PSG Nominations is out: the call ends Friday (February 24). Anyone interested in pursuing a leadership role within the PSG, should contact Nicholas Dorman: nicholasd@seattleartmuseum.org. PSG is looking for contributions to the tips session: tips would include any interesting/new/innovative uses of materials/treatment techniques/etc. AIC PSG Business Meeting: Thursday, May 10 @ 7:30AM — complimentary breakfast, sponsored by Gamblin Paints. Would be a great way to learn more about the activities of the PSG group and about ways to become involved.
   4. Amanda Holden (TSG) (through Molly) – The TSG is going to start publishing their Postprints on the AIC website only (and no longer distribute CDs to the membership).  Next year they’ll also be looking for anyone who is interested in joining the Postprints editing team.  If anyone is interested they can contact Amanda and she can go into more detail about what they do and ideas that they have for the Postprints (AHolden@imamuseum.org)
   5. Lisa Nelson (Health and Safety) (through Molly) – remember Health and Safety is here as a resource. Please contact the committee with any questions. Respirator fit test during the annual meeting; those interested can sign up through registration.
   6. Molly – Still looking for liaisons for EMG, CIPP, ADG (archaeological discussion group), PMG, CCN (collections care network), and RATS.  Please email Molly if you have any suggestions for liaisons for these groups.
   7. Regional Liaisons Update (Megan and Anisha) – Have been working to recruit liaisons from different specialties from around the country. Writeboard on Basecamp of all of the liaisons. First conference call is: February 28, 2012 at 12:30pm EST. Goal of call is to discuss the purpose of gathering the regional liaisons and how they can host gatherings and reach out in general. Many are already affiliated with their regional groups, which should help with this. Molly suggested making this first call open to everyone so those who might be interested can learn a little more, too. Anisha agreed and will work to promote this. She also will confirm the conference call time and number with Ryan.
   8. PR Toolkit Project (Molly) – The AIC Board asked ECPN to create a toolkit for how conservators can promote themselves through a variety of media. Liz Schulte (Paper Conservator and former BPG Chair and AIC Board member), Abby, Megan, Amy, Ruth, Ryan, Stephanie, and Molly are working on this. They will start to develop content on the wiki, then migrate it to the AIC website. AIC would like some content by the annual meeting, but understand this will be an ongoing project. Rachael will lead a wiki training session on either March 9 or 16. An example of something they might create is a template for how to write a press release. Other issues they’re tackling are determining clear terminology for communication, and social media and internet protocols and ethics.
   9. ANAGPIC 2012 (Eliza) – Reached out to Michele Marincola at NYU in January about ECPN giving a brief presentation at the conference or submitting a flier. Michele replied saying the conference was packed, but would check with the other program directors to see if they could squeeze in a presentation by ECPN. Followed up with Michele three weeks later to check in and express that CAC-ECC would like to collaborate on either a presentation or flier. Have not heard back yet. Stephanie has been working with Debbie Hess Norris behind the scenes to see if this can be moved forward. We could start to draft a flier in anticipation that will be a possibility.
   10. AIC 2012 Meeting
       1. ECPN Poster Update (Carrie) – Working group had a call last week. Reviewed the list of potential contributors. Created a list of questions for them to answer the content of which will be included on the poster and companion blog posts. These questions have been sent out. Hoping to have a draft of the poster by mid-March. Amy will be helping with the design of the poster. Will send the draft of the poster to the contributors for their input before printing.
       2. Portfolio Sessions (Carrie) – Currently have 6 participants. Still need contributors from Buffalo, Queens, Columbia, and Penn. There will be two portfolio sessions during the annual meeting. One of the sessions will overlap with the Poster Q&A during the last break on Thursday. This happened last year and seemed to work okay. Please let Carrie know any thoughts on how to organize the sessions in terms of specialties and programs. Molly suggested using the specialty group liaisons to solicit for additional contributors. Names of the liaisons can be found on a Writeboard on Basecamp. Stephanie and Carrie discussed in the past inviting advanced conservators to speak about portfolio presentation from an employer’s perspective. One way to include them would be to have them stationed in the portfolio session rooms and let emerging conservators know they can bring their portfolios to them for feedback.
       3. Forum Call Survey (Ryan and Molly) – Survey asked about how people felt about having forum calls on a quarterly basis and what topics they’d like to see presented. A brief summary: there was overwhelming interest in the idea; equal interest in all topics; especially interested in certain topics such as next steps after graduate school and setting up a private practice. Wednesdays for 30 minutes to 1 hour was the preferred day and time limit. Many people wrote in comments: would like ECPN to assist recent graduates more, more resources about going into private practice, would like to see forum calls featured online so those in different time zones can access later. Would like to hold our first forum call before the annual meeting. Starting a private practice/contract work is one idea for the first call. Could invite a small group of private and contract conservators to share why they started working independently and what challenges and opportunities are available to them. Other ideas for forum calls: new resources in conservation publications venues; self-advocacy (Stephanie and Debbie have been discussing); over saturation of conservation job market and the future of the profession. Molly will organize a working call soon to discuss the first forum call. Stephanie added that discussing starting a business is a complicated topic and that the discussion should be kept general and made clear that this call will not be about how to actually start a private practice, which could be tackled on a later call when there is more time for development of this idea. The timing of this call is nice—right before the annual meeting when colleagues reconnect and as students are graduating and thinking about job options. If anyone is interested working on the forum calls, email Molly.
       4. Mentoring Program (Eliza) – Recently received the results of the letters and surveys we sent out. Ryan, Stephanie, Molly, and Eliza spoke on February 14^th about the results. Were able to make some immediate matches, and would like to work with the rest of the working group/review committee to make the remaining matches. Need more mentor applicants. Gwen is working on writing up a call for mentor applicants, which we’ll reach out to the specialty group liaisons to see if they can post. Are hoping to have matches completed by mid-March. Continue to work on revising the mentoring program in general as well in time for the annual meeting.
       5. Student Research Platform (Carrie) – Have heard back from almost all of the program directors about their interest in supporting this project. Waiting for a few more responses. So far, the responses have been mixed. Those who responded in support of the project said they would be willing to review submissions internally and in terms of the actual structure of the platform would like to see access to links as opposed to full text. Will schedule a call this week for early March. A special thank you to Rebecca Rushfield, Megan, and Molly for helping to solicit responses from the program directors.

 

Next call: March 19, 2012 at 1pm EST

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Eliza Spaulding