Quarter classics (was: Big Iron Was:RE: Backwate

Geez, this thread has become very gloomy very quickly. I'm leaving for London tomorrow (so I won't get any replies to this message -- but flame me at Bletchley Park on Sunday!) so I'm remaining hopeful that British museums are more informative than their American counterparts. I've seen the process of decay at the Boston Computer Museum. I will give them generous credit for setting up their California center, though I don't know how that will turn out. I've seen the same change in miniature at the Science Museum in London. The Pacfic Science Center here in Seattle has resisted, but they're slipping too. Personally, I'd place my bets on the small individually-operated computer museums that are beginning to appear. But they probably don't have the special qualities we need: - Attract a connoisseur audience; provide it with meaty information. - Attract a curious (or un-curious!) neophyte audience; spark its interest in hopes of its becoming a connoisseur audience. Expect that the change will not happen to many people. - Don't waste money. Don't sneer at opportunities. Don't accept opportunities and then sneer at them afterward. - Do all this on a large scale. A couple of these points stem from a recent conversation I had with Jim Willing. He knows it can happen on a very small scale -- it's dealing with masses of people that is the formidable aspect of this sort of management. -- Derek