Friday 18 October 2019, British Library

Apologies for absence

Ina Pruegel, Adriana Rouanet, Brian Moss, Sarah Middle, Michael Guthrie, Tijana Tasich

Minutes of the last AGM

Minutes of the last AGM: the National Gallery, Friday 19 October 2018

No objections were raised or amends suggested. Liz McCarthy proposed they be accepted, seconded by Sarah Cole.

Committee Reports:

Committee reports were presented to the attendees.

Chair’s Report – Dafydd James

It’s been an interesting year for me as Chair of the MCG. Participating in a number of initiatives across the sector have highlighted to me the importance and dedication of our small community. Our members are key to the research, innovation and practice of digital technology in the cultural sector in the UK and beyond. For example, the MCG has been cited in the University of Leicester’s OneByOne Digital Skills project and the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Digital Campaign.  

As mentioned last year, it’s not easy to find a time for Committee meetings that fit around everyone’s family and work commitments. However, I feel it is important that we accommodate the Committee members’ busy periods so that we can benefit from their excellent work and commitment to the sector. 

The approach of having team leads to take responsibility for different areas of committee activities is working well. Our team areas consist of 

  • Website – who are constantly updating and maintaining the MCG website with our tech partners, Thirty8 Digital
  • Communications – who are responsible for the communications across our different social and email channels
  • MuseTech Logistics – who delivered an extremely successful conference last year
  • MuseTech Programme – who are responsible for coordinating our brilliant programme committee and distilling our so much content into one day
  • Jiscmail Moderation

I’d like to thank those that are leaving the committee this year. They have been committed to the UK Museums sector and have worked hard for us and our community of practice:

  • Tijana, who put in a lot of hard work to help deliver the MCG’s web redevelopment 
  • Ina, who as been responsible for organising and planning many of our excellent Museums Computer Group conferences 
  • And Kath, who has done her time on the committee both as a member and Treasurer, ensuring that our delegates get the best possible price for the hottest ticket in town… as well as keeping your Chair in check. 

However, I am pleased to say that we continue to have a strong team that is dedicated to developing the cultural sector and ensuring that our museums and tech community is connected, supported and inspired.

Accounts – Katherine Biggs

The accounts of the Museums Computer Group as at 31 December 2018 are submitted for the Meeting’s approval. The final accounts are currently being produced by Michael Bushell of Lee, Dicketts & Co, Chartered Certified Accountants, Business & Tax Advisers, Kent. Any amends to the final accounts will be posted here in due course.

The Income and Expenditure account shows that in 2018 the Museums Computer Group had an income of £23,380.03, an expenditure of £19,362.25, resulting in a profit of £4017.78. However an outstanding payment for the 2018 conference (paid summer 2019) brought this profit down to £2994.38. It was agreed by the committee to invest part of this money into a new submission and review system for conference papers, with the rest being kept for administrative expenses.

The main income and expenditure was for Museums + Tech 2018 at the National Gallery.

Museums + Tech 2018 expenditure = £19,890.45 (including accrued final payment and all ticket fees) 

Museums + Tech 2018 income = £23,380.03

The remaining expenditure over the year (of £495.20) was used for administration, committee expenses and accountancy costs.

Membership (Dafydd James – on behalf of Sarah Middle)

107 new individual members have registered since the 2018 AGM. The total number of MCG members is 612.

For 2019 MCG has 11 corporate members: University of Cambridge Museums, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, System Simulation, Haley Sharpe Design,Culture24, Weissman, Imperial War Museums, Science Museum Group, V&A, Wellcome Collection, and Luton Cultural Services Trust.

Operational Reports

Events – Ina Pruegel

The MCG’s annual conference took place at the National Gallery in  London on Friday 19 October 2018. It was themed: Museums+Tech: The collaborative museum. The opening keynote was by Matt Locke. There were 4 sessions, 15 presentations, and a closing panel.

We sold 250 out of 300 tickets.  A summary of the 2018 conference can be found online.

Communications – Alec Ward

Twitter remains our most popular social media platform, with 4,970 followers. That’s an increase of 320 followers on last year. The platform continues to grow steadily, with an average of 25-30 new followers each month. We’ve also been trying to use Facebook a little more, this is predominantly to promote events. Our Facebook page currently sits at a healthy 936 followers – but this is an audience that we continue to build on each year. 

We’ve been using LinkedIn a bit more in the past year, mostly to promote our events and share the list discussion topics. This is too is an audience we hope to expand on in the coming year. We continue to use the Discussion List to share events, news and opportunities. We also continue to share the topics from the discussion list on Twitter, where appropriate, to expand the circulation and build more conversation. Finally, we continue to use Mailchimp to publicise our events and, occasionally, news

Website – Liz McCarthy

The MCG website (www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk) continues to operate as a home for events, reports and membership for the group.

In the period 1 October 2018 – 30 September 2019, the website had:

  • 11,530 sessions
  • 8,365 users
  • 19,556 views

Email List – Dafydd James

The discussion list is still thriving with access to a 1833 subscribers who work with and within the sector. We promote the voices, discussions and ideas from the list through our website and social media. 

In terms of moderation, there has not been a need for flagging up many things, only a few emails that were targeted marketing.

Questions from the floor

There were no questions.

Committee elections

Three members of the committee are standing down: Tijana Tasich, Ina Prugel and Katherine Biggs. The Chair thanked them for all their work.

Georgina Brooke nominated herself as a candidate for Treasurer to replace Kath. Claudia Strange proposed they be accepted, seconded by Alec Ward. Georgina Brooke was elected as the new MCG Treasurer.

Close of meeting

MCG Committee 2019

Chair
Dafydd James (2017 – 2020)
Ordinary and Seconded Members
Michael Guthrie: to 2021
Brian Moss: to 2021
Rebecca Atkinson: to 2020
Alec Ward: to 2022
Sarah Cole: to 2022
Claudia Strange: to 2020
Scott Billings: to 2020
Elizabeth McCarthy: to 2020
Adriana Rouanet: to 2020


Treasurer
Georgina Brooke (2019 – 2022)
Secretary
Sarah Middle (2018 – 2021)