Through a combination of circumstances, the last meeting of the Digital Resource Devolpment Team executive group (or Politburo) was somewhat less than quorate. In fact the only member attending was me. I wasn’t alone - Kye and Angus were there, and so were Dylan and Beverley from SMC (since the meeting was at SMC, this is not really a great achievement, though!). This meant that it was impossible to take any decisions about the applications to the Challenge Fund.

Still, the wonders of technology mean that we can have the discussion via email, and make our decisions soon, instead of waiting till the next meeting in three months’ time. However, as some have pointed out, it’s not the same as a face to face discussion - it’s not as quick, nor as effective. But it’s the best we can do. I wonder if we could try having meetings via MSN? My children use it extensively, but I’m not sure how well the other members would take to it. Might be fun to try though…

As ever, I am still thinking about titles. What should this blog be called? Is there a cunning, punning phrase that will sum up the point and purpose of it? And why do we feel that when we have named something we somehow have a better understanding of it?

More importantly, what sort of blog do we want this to be? It won’t be purely personal, as there are several authors; and it won’t be corporate, as we all work for different institutions. Yet that personal voice is one of the things that differentiates a worthwhile blog from the meaningless gung-ho blandness of the typical corporate blog. Yet, of course, we do all work for someone, and we will be writing about our jobs. We certainly don’t want to descend into the anguished ranting that sometimes distinguishes personal blogs, tempting though that may be on occasion. We are professionals after all.

My original idea was that it would be a way of communicating with and between our partners in the East of Scotland Museums Partnership, and also more widely with the museum audience, whether that be the public or those who vote the funding. It seems to me to be important that people should be able to get an idea of what it is we exactly do with the money - to explain why it is that there’s more to a museum than the public generally sees; to make a case for the crucial value of collections to individuals and communities; and to build support and understanding. To see that ‘culture’ is much more than just ‘the Arts’ and that museum collections root our cultural heritage in real things. Everything else is just hearsay - that’s why museums matter.