Category: Emerging Conservation Professionals

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

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is soliciting applications for the Communications Coordinator position.  The Communications Coordinator will serve a one-year term beginning just after the 2012 AIC Annual Meeting, with the option of renewal for a second year.

ECPN works to address the needs of conservation professionals with fewer than 7 years of experience, including pre-program students, graduate students, and recent graduates. The committee seeks to enhance the dialogue among emerging conservators and experienced conservators and between AIC and the conservation training programs and to increase emerging conservator participation in AIC.

The Communications Coordinator acts as the secretary for ECPN; works to raise awareness of the group and to attract new, active members; encourages involvement of emerging conservators in AIC communications and publications, including JAIC and Wikis; keeps the broader AIC membership apprised of ECPN activities by writing or soliciting columns, blog posts, and articles as appropriate; and works with the Outreach coordinators to investigate and encourage the use of social media, including recruitment of authors and solicitation of content for the blog.

The time commitment is roughly 6-9 hours per month, consisting of approximately 2-3 hours for monthly meetings and minutes, 1-2 hours writing for the blog and communicating with other AIC committee members, and 3-4 hours for other research, writing, and occasional graphic design.

The ECPN committee communicates primarily via email correspondence and monthly conference calls.  The committee meets in-person annually at AIC’s Annual Meeting.

To apply, please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume by April 6 to Molly Gleeson, Chair, AIC-ECPN:  mcgleeson [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Questions about committee activities can be directed to Molly, or ECPN’s current Communications Coordinator, Amy Brost: amybrost [at] yahoo [dot] com. The full position description can be requested from either Molly or Amy.

 

 

 

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

Monday, January 30, 2012

Conference Call Attendees:

Molly Gleeson (Chair)

Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)

Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)

Megan Salazar-Walsh (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Amy Brost (Communications Officer)

Stephanie Lussier (Board Liaison)

Ryan Winfield (AIC Staff)

Ruth Seyler (AIC Staff)

Gwen Manthey

Robin O’Hern (CSCP)

Rebecca Rushfield (ETC)

Stephanie Porto (CAC-ECC)

Amber Harwood (CAC-ECC liaison)

Abigail Charnov (Architectural Conservators)

Genevieve Bieniosek (E&T Committee)

Lee Ann Barnes Gordon (OSG liaison)

 

1. Roll Call – Eliza Spaulding took roll.

 

2. Minutes Approval (Molly) – December meeting minutes were approved.

 

3. Welcome Abby Aldrich, our new Co-Chair of Professional Education and Training (Molly) – Replacing Amber Kerr-Allison, will serve until the 2013 AIC annual meeting.

 

4. AIC 2012 Meeting

a. ECPN Informational Meeting (Molly) – Informational meeting, open to all attendees, Tue. May 8 from 5-6 pm.  Same day as workshops and tours.  Eliza and Molly will organize it and print the agenda.  Hoping committee members, board and staff liaisons will all be there.  Can begin discussing how to promote these events.  Tue. May 8 following the meeting, 6 pm, the Happy Hour will begin.

 

b. ECPN Happy Hour (Megan) – Bar in the Hyatt, hoping for about 30-35 people.  They can accommodate up to 50 people.  There is a rooftop bar/nightclub in a neighboring hotel, with a Tue. night movie event, so it was not a good fit.  Not as conducive to conversations.  Other nearby venues were also nightclubs.  Bar in the Hyatt was the best choice.  May also get more people being located in the conference hotel.  Ruth will help, and liaise with the hotel so they are aware that this event is part of the AIC Annual Meeting.  As point person, Ruth can also help to determine the best location, because she will be visiting the venue before the meeting.  Happy Hour and time can be promoted in advance, even if venue is not final.

 

c. Portfolio Session (Carrie) – Invitation to program leaders went out last Friday.  One student already responded.  Carrie is informing interested students of the times for the session, and after all responses gathered, will discuss how to follow up.  Thursday break, 10 a.m., and lunch in Exhibit Hall from noon to 1 p.m., and then a break at 4 p.m.  The portfolio sessions will be during the Thursday breaks.  This also overlaps with the poster session at 4 p.m. and pulls traffic out of the Exhibit Hall, which is Ruth’s concern.  In the future, overlapping with just one break would be better.  At least, do not have the portfolio session over the lunch.

 

d. ECPN Poster (Carrie) – Over the past month, the poster working group has been brainstorming and gathering volunteer contributions.  There have been posts to the blog, Facebook, and CIPP, to solicit input for case studies.  Mid-February date to get back to people.  Working group will discuss follow-up in the coming week or two.  Want to have a broad range of outreach examples for the poster.

 

e. Promotion of AIC Events (Molly and Ruth) – Promote after early rate closes for registration.  The website is still in transition, so will place this content into the new website.  ECPN could start promoting events on Facebook and the blog.  Content could be written and sent to Ruth and Ryan for promotional purposes.  Amy, Anisha, and Megan can assist.

 

5. Mentorship Program Update (Ryan and Eliza) – Eliza, Ryan, Stephanie, and Molly discussed the timeline on a conference call.  Ryan has reached out to current applicants, and many still interested in being matched.  Ryan sent a follow-up survey to identify the specific projects the mentors and mentees are interested in.  That will create more targeted goals and improved matches.  Responses still coming in.  Will review that information early next week, and make matches.  Will continue to revise the program and roll out the revised program at this year’s AIC meeting.

 

6. Regional Liaisons Update (Megan and Anisha) – Have contacted potential liaisons and many have responded with interest. About a dozen (list is on the writeboard in Basecamp).  Anisha is working on a blog post to announce new ones, and put out a call for more volunteers.  Kick-off call sometime in February.  Will do a Doodle poll to find a time that works for everyone.  Give them a platform to share ideas, think about events and how to promote them, and have more experienced liaisons share tips and experiences.  Calls will be quarterly.  Will keep encouraging them to be involved.  Would love to have people post photos, announcements, etc. on the Facebook page, to let the network know.  Promote professional development opportunities across the country, and activities of allied groups.  Molly asked that Megan and Anisha copy Ruth, Ryan, Stephanie, Molly, and others on the ECPN committee to see if they want to be involved in the Regional Liaison calls as well.

 

7. ANAGPIC 2012 (Eliza) – Eliza reached out to NYU.  It will be April 12-14.  Eliza asked Michele Marincola for a 10-minute presentation by ECPN.  Professor Marincola indicated that the program was very full already, but she would look for other windows for a presentation.  Eliza responded that a 5-minute talk would work, or an alternative could be a handout or flier to be included with the conference material.  Amy indicated that she did a flier for last year’s ANAGPIC.  Can be updated for this year.  This can be discussed on our next call.  Molly indicated that adding the events scheduled for the annual meeting would be great.  Genevieve mentioned that hearing Ryan talk about ECPN at last year’s ANAGPIC was valuable, and so was the flier. The idea of a poster was discussed but then dismissed, thinking that it wasn’t a good fit with the rest of the posters at ANAGPIC, which often focus on student research.

 

8. Student research database (Carrie) – Questionnaire was developed to get feedback on the concept, and gauge interest in and commitment to the project.  Questionnaire to seven programs.  Have gotten some critical feedback from three of the programs so far.  Need to see if remaining programs intend to answer the questionnaire, or intend to support the project.  Waiting for NYU, Buffalo, Penn, and University of Texas.  Busy time during applications, but important to gauge their interest.  Carrie asked if anyone could inquire with their program leader.  Megan will speak to Buffalo.  Rebecca can speak to Michele at NYU.  Molly will contact UPenn and UT. Carrie will provide all with a few summary questions to ask the programs.  Working group will schedule a call to discuss all feedback, after giving it a week to see if the summary questions can be answered.

 

9. Forum call survey (Amy and Ryan) – The idea is to hold quarterly Forum Calls where the wider ECPN network is invited to call in and participate in a discussion on a specific topic of interest.  The monthly calls, by contrast, are mostly focused on committee business, and despite the open call-in policy, it is rare to have new people calling in. A survey was developed to gauge interest in the idea, as well as ask the network to rate possible topics and scheduling options.  It will be sent out soon, perhaps this week, pending Ryan checking with Ruth on the e-blast schedule.  It will go to the ECPN interest list.  The email can be forwarded on to other emerging conservators.  Encourage people in the wider network to fill this out.  Would like to get feedback from membership before organizing topics.

 

10. Canadian Association for Conservation’s Emerging Conservators Committee (CAC-ECC): introductions and discussion of future collaboration (Stephanie Porto, Amber Harwood (Queens liaison and regional representative for CAC), Meaghan Monaghan (Co-Chair)) – Communicated with the program students at ANAGPIC last year with a poster and are contributing to the ECPN blog.  Want to let program students know that this group is active in Canada.  Will continue posting to the blog, and also looking for more ways to collaborate.  Perhaps have emerging conservators interview established conservators, and include the interview in the CAC Bulletin.  However, it’s only available to members.  Perhaps post them online also, as ECPN blog posts.  Amber is hoping to talk about the group at ANAGPIC, and will reach out to Eliza and NYU.  There will be a student poster session, but focused on research, so perhaps a flier or short talk, as ECPN was hoping to do.  Eliza will coordinate with Stephanie and Amber about promoting ECPN and CAC-ECC at ANAGPIC.

 

11. Committee positions turning over and extending – Communications Coordinator, Amy’s position, is turning over at the annual meeting.  She has served in the role since September of 2010.  This vacancy will be announced in the March AIC News, and March 1 on the blog and Facebook page.  Application deadline will be first week of April.  New officer would be announced at annual meeting, and the new officer’s term would begin just after that.  Eliza, Anisha, and Megan will extend to 2013.  Eliza will be Chair for a year after 2013.  This was done to bring ECPN officer terms in line with what is done on other AIC committees, which have positions that turn over at the AIC meeting.

 

12. Schedule date/time for next call – Tuesday, February 21, 1 p.m.  The call will be pushed from the usual Monday due to Presidents’ Day.  Amy cannot attend.  Eliza will take minutes.

 

13. Wiki Edit-a-Thon – Ending tomorrow.  Will discuss ECPN involvement on next call.

 

Next call: Tuesday, February 21, at 1 pm ET.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Amy Brost

 

 

Looking for a chance to get more involved with ECPN? Consider becoming a regional liaison!

ECPN is appointing individuals who are interested in organizing and promoting events to encourage and involve emerging conservators in their regions. These regional liaisons will keep ECPN up-to-date on events through email, our Facebook page and on the AIC blog. In return, they will benefit from access to the dedicated network of emerging and established conservation professionals that ECPN has developed. Some activities the regional liaison may consider hosting or reporting on are:

• Regional conservation events/meetings
• Local conservation lab tours
• Lectures delivered by local conservators
• Visiting a private conservator’s studio
• Meet and Mingles (Happy Hour, dinner, etc)
• Portfolio workshops
• Local conservation projects

We expect this to be a flexible position that is not a major time commitment. While hosting events is most welcome, we are also interested in liaisons announcing and reporting on regional events, and updating ECPN regularly.

We have already identified several liaisons, but we are looking for more, particularly in these areas:

• Gulf Coast (Texas area)
• Midwest
• South

If you’re interested in being a regional liaison, please send Anisha Gupta (gupta16@illinois.edu) or Megan Salazar-Walsh (salazar.walsh@gmail.com) an email!  Also, expect to start seeing updates and announcements from our new liaisons on the ECPN Facebook page.

 

ECPN MEETING MINUTES

Monday, December 19, 2011

Conference Call Attendees:

Abby Aldrich

Amy Brost (Communications)

Molly Gleeson (Chair)

Amber Kerr-Allison (outgoing Professional Education and Training)

Gwen Manthey

Rachael Perkins-Arenstein

Carrie Roberts (co-Professional Education and Training)

Megan Salazar-Walsh (co-Outreach Coordinator)

Ruth Seyler (AIC Staff)

Eliza Spaulding (Vice Chair)

Emily Williams (ETC)

Ryan Winfield (Staff Liaison)

 

Liaisons:

Amy Baker, BPG and Publications

Genevieve Bieniosek, E&T Committee

Avigail Charnov, Architectural Conservators

Amanda Holden, Textile Specialty Group

 

 

1. Minutes Approval – November 21 minutes were approved.  Amy will distribute to the AIC-emerging list, and post on the AIC blog in the ECPN category.

 

2. Introductions (Molly) – Liaisons as well as ECPN committee members are participating in today’s call.  List of all liaisons is on Basecamp.  Molly introduced newcomers to the committee.

 

3. AIC 2012 ECPN Sessions (Ruth) – ECPN informational meeting will be held again next year, the Happy Hour at the end of the conference, and the second year of the Portfolio Session.  A lot of positive feedback on that from 2011.  Next deadline January 19 – need to decide on ECPN events so there can be placeholders in the program, and an idea of date and time.  For planning purposes, Ruth is allocating meeting space based on ECPN holding all three.  Discussion on 2011 Portfolio Session: representatives from all training programs were present; attendees ranged from pre-program to museum professionals; numbers were mostly pre-program but interest across experience levels was high.  Hope to have a larger, more visible space next year.  Over 60 people attended, according to Ryan and Amber. Amber had contacts at the graduate programs from the Student Research Repository project.  She reached out to the programs, which then identified representatives to present portfolios.  Lots of career stages were represented: successful portfolios for entry to conservation graduate programs, current students, graduating students entering the field.  Would be helpful to have an on-site storage space for the portfolios where presenters could keep portfolios before and after the session.  Carrie will be organizing the Portfolio Session for 2012, working with Molly.

 

4. AIC ECPN Poster (Carrie) – Carrie thanked Amber and others for help editing the proposal, which was accepted.  Theme involves outreach using social media, illustrated with case studies and a “how-to” section on how conservators can use new media tools.  Call for ideas both through personal contacts, Facebook and the blog resulted in a number of ideas.  Carrie is organizing a poster working group, and will schedule a call on gathering content from volunteer contributors, as well as soliciting case studies from private practices or other groups not well represented yet.  May be an ‘interview’ format.  Brainstorm content for ‘how-to’ session, to determine which media tools will be most useful.  Set content deadline so there is design time for Amy and Carrie.  Anyone is welcome to contact Carrie to join the working group.  Amber thought perhaps there could be a computer near the poster with live examples, but Ruth indicated that it would be cost-prohibitive.  Any device, such as a phone with hot-spot ability, could provide a working demo, but this is in violation of the contract with the conference hotel, which requires the use of their Internet connections for all official conference programming.  Ryan suggested a call-out on the poster itself or a flier that drives attendees to a blog post containing all the applicable links.  May also be able to create a remote demo that doesn’t require an internet connection.

 

5. AIC 2012 Angels Project (Ruth) – Sites are still under consideration.  Identified one site, but scope of the work would exceed one day, with more intensive treatments needed.  Two more sites being explored.  Will have a site selected in January.  In past years, have not had any issues recruiting volunteers.  This year, will see how many volunteers the site can handle, and what type of project it will be, before seeing how many ECPN volunteers will be needed.  Every Angels Project is different, based on the needs of the individual site.

 

6. Mentorship Program (Eliza) – Review of the program is in progress.  Refining how matches are done.  ECPN to shoulder more responsibility to support AIC staff.  Letters drafted to current mentee and mentor applicants who have been on hold.  Editing nearly complete.  Ruth indicated that they would be sent out the first week in January, with responses required by perhaps the 18th.  Letter drafts are all on Basecamp under Files tab.  Ryan will get back to Eliza today.  Ryan will send them out.  Survey being developed for current applicants to see what their needs are and what they want to get out of the mentor relationship.  List on Whiteboard on Basecamep of possible mentoring projects that pairs could do together.  Will survey applicants about those activities and ask them to rate their importance.  Survey can either go out with the letters, or later on.  Ryan felt the list could be helpful for the application process also, instead of ‘why would you like to have a mentor’ – an expansion of that question.  Ryan, Eliza, Gwen, and Emily to have a call about the survey.  Use it to survey both mentor and mentee applicants, and moving forward, collect this information from all applicants.  Will discuss an overall mentorship program timeline on their call.

 

7. Regional Liaisons (Megan) – Look for regional representatives to help expand ECPN, post about local events, post to the blog and Facebook to keep the group informed, may also organize events (lab tours, portfolio reviews, social events, etc).  Drafting a letter to solicit involvement, also calling on personal contacts.  Will send out the letters the first week of January, and give 2-3 weeks for a reply.  By next call, may have the regional liaisons identified.  Quarterly Forum Calls – one of those calls could be devoted to regional liaisons to talk about their activities and what the regional conservation associations are doing.  Regional liaison ideas are on Basecamp – contact Megan and Anisha with any additional ideas.

 

8. Forum Calls (Amy and Molly) – Amy and Molly drafted a survey about the Forum Calls that is on Basecamp.  It asks basic questions about whether or not people would be interested in quarterly Forum Calls for the full membership, and asks them to rate possible topics of interest.  Ryan will add one more question about what duration of the call would work best for people: 30, 60, 90 minutes for example.  Ryan will craft one more question, and then take the draft survey from Basecamp and develop it into a Surveymonkey survey.  If he is able to send it out early in January 2012, the results can be discussed on the next call.  The topic and time for the first “Forum Call” will be informed by the survey results.

 

9. ECPN Blog (Ryan) – The ECPN blog location has changed.  It will now be integrated into the AIC WordPress blog.  Posts should be categorized as ECPN in the drop-down list.  Tags are optional.  At a later date, Ryan and Rachel will export the contents of the former ECPN blog at Blogspot, and import those posts into WordPress.  Ryan will create a post on the ECPN Blogspot that notifies visitors that the blog has moved, with a link to the AIC WordPress blog.  He will also provide a link from the new blog to the old for those who want to reference older posts, until the archives are migrated.

 

10. About the January Wiki Edit-A-Thon (Rachael) – Wiki was first populated with the catalogs developed by the various specialty groups.  Several groups without printed catalogs then joined in.  Paintings, Textiles, BPG, and PMG were first, with printed catalogs, so their Wikis have more of a traditional editorial structure than the others.  Some groups have put up an outline showing the content they would like to see developed, and then look for people to populate it.  Training is not difficult, but people interested in adding content are not interested in learning the interface.  That is where ECPN can help – many members are comfortable with the interface, but may be less confident about creating entries.  In January Edit-A-Thon, volunteers can post content that has been written and needs to be transferred to the platform.  Rebecca Rushfield (FAIC Oral History Project) has material on past conservators that could be put up.  Rachel can put volunteers in touch with the Wiki coordinator for your specialty group of interest, or you can work on exhibition standards, preventive care, or other topics that need “extra fingers.”  Working on the Wiki can be a mini-mentoring opportunity, when experienced conservators have material and could be matched to an emerging conservator who would post it, and some interaction would be part of the process.  The transferring and editing would be collaborative.  Some common discussion threads could be posted for future reference (for example CIPP thread that recurs is one about what corporate structure conservators in private practice choose – LLC, S-corp, etc).  Rachel has some threads that could be developed into Wiki content.  An emerging conservator could be matched with a more experienced conservator to do this.  ECPN will develop a list of volunteers with their area of interest and provide to Rachel so she can create some assignments.  Molly indicated that this could tie in to the mentor-mentee projects list, so going forward, the Wiki could be something that mentor-mentee pairs could do together.

 

Next call: Monday, January 16, at 1 pm ET.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Amy Brost