Author: Mary Van Someren Cok and Edward Dickey

Publication Year: 1983

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This article discusses the need for developing a national standard for the gathering of information by art agencies. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when public support of the arts at federal, state and regional levels was a somewhat new phenomenon, and funding commitments were relatively small, public arts agencies as a group were reluctant to use computers or to institute information management systems compatible with computer technology.

Abstract:

This article discusses the need for developing a national standard for the gathering of information by art agencies. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when public support of the arts at federal, state and regional levels was a somewhat new phenomenon, and funding commitments were relatively small, public arts agencies as a group were reluctant to use computers or to institute information management systems compatible with computer technology. In part this hesitancy resulted from two assumptions:

1. that such systems would introduce an unwelcome, impersonal element into the operation of these agencies and
2. that information management was not, in any event, a high priority for agencies with limited resources.

However, with the growth of budgets, mailing lists, applications, grants, services and reporting requirements, agencies found it increasingly difficult to handle the mounting paperwork. Attitudes began to change. By late 1977 several state art agencies and some regional organizations, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, had begun to develop automated information systems, and a proliferation of independently developed systems appeared a likely possibility.

CONTENTS
Development and implementation of a National Standard.
Related Activities.
NISP after NISP.
Beyond NISP.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Technology and Innovation