The Monash University Museum of Computing History: Ten Years On - History of Computing: Learning from the Past - page 218

is a small museum with limited resources and this makes it necessary to have a clear
set of objectives. The role of the Museum has been defined with a mission statement
to collect and preserve original computing items associated with Monash University
and research their provenance, to undertake research on the development of the Fac-
ulty and collect biographical material relating to people involved with the Faculty.
The Museum also collects supportive material for reference on the history of comput-
ing in Australia. It is a primary function of the Museum to make the collection and
research material accessible for educational and research purposes. This material is
made available to the academic community, students and the general public through
exhibitions and lectures. Researchers can also access original material not on display.
The museum provides access to research material through publications and the web-
site. The Museum policies are available on the Museum website [3].
The definition of the Museum's role provides a framework for understanding the
different areas of activity in the Museum and our current view of the future direction
of the Museum. The Museum's primary function is to collect original material and
information and present this material in an accessible form to the academic and gen-
eral community. The different areas of the Museum's work are seen as interactive,
using original material and research to provide resources and material to be pre-
sented in virtual or physical environments. Currently information is presented
through exhibition text, handouts or educational sheets, as well as published material
and the website research. The Museum has been developing different aspects of this
model.

Collection
Management &
Documentation

Research &
Publications

Exhibition Program

Physic al
Museum

Virtual
Museum

Public Program

Outreach program
(Computing Tours
& seminars)

Educational
Progra m

Visitor
Program

Fig. 1. The Museum Model