The MoMA Archives: Toeing the Fuzzy Line

For my event review assignment, I chose to attend The Museum of Modern Art Archives, Library, and Research Collections Fall Orientation on October 1, 2018. I was initially intrigued by this event because of the experience I’ve had working as a GA at the Pratt Institute Library in Brooklyn. There, I spend a decent amount of time paging artist’s books — which I learned often aren’t even books at all. One document I’ve come across actually most closely resembles a bag of flour. The experience of spending time in this environment (which is closed off from patrons and requires the assistance of library staff to access) has been interesting to me in that relates to some of my Knowledge Organization readings. (I still don’t know for sure if an antelope is a document, but I do understand how and why a bag of flour-looking piece of artwork is, and why it must be stored on an oversize bookshelf.)

If I am being completely honest, another driving reason I attended this particular event was that it lined up with my schedule. While I have always enjoyed my time visiting the MoMA, I did not study art/art history in undergrad, nor am I particularly interested in working in the art world upon graduation. Because of my general lack of interest in the area of modern art, I was surprised to find that many aspects of the event did prove quite interesting to me and very relevant to my LIS studies so far.

Several different staff members from MoMA’s archives spoke throughout the course of the orientation, which was largely a walkthrough of MoMA’s online catalog (called the DadaBase) and finding aids. They peppered in ample encouragement to obtain a MoMA library card (which is super easy to do). One person who spoke was in charge of long-term preservation of materials; essentially ensuring files don’t corrupt in storage and are migrated to formats that can still be opened in, say, 20 years. This entails making sure “.doc” files are changed (en masse) to “.docx,” for example. It made me think of points raised by Nick Krabbenhoeft, digital preservation manager at the New York Public Library, when he visited our class, like the storage aspects of the Open Archival Information System. Before starting the LIS program I had never thought of archiving as a constant process. I was taking for granted all that must happen in between a document being processed and later retrieved.

I found the presentation from Jenny Tobias, Reader Services Librarian, to be the most engaging. She explained that MoMA has 6.5 million “pieces of paper” in its holdings that supplement its collection and discussed the increasingly “fuzzy line between informational and artifactural.” The documents she described included correspondence between MoMA librarians and artists, which revealed greater context surrounding the exhibits these artists were putting on at the time.

“It just gives you the nitty gritty sense of how these artists were working and talking with each other and what their thought process was,” she said.

She added that there is an increased interest in archival materials within the museum field, and that MoMA has plans to intermix documents from its archives into its exhibits and permanent collection. This made me think of part of the Whitney’s recent exhibit “An Incomplete History of Protest,” which I really enjoyed. I was particularly interested in the letters on display that comprised “Strike, Boycott, Advocate: The Whitney Archives,” which were classified as “collective, artist-led engagement with the Museum”: essentially, letters written to the museum about planned strikes and boycotts. Some were letters from artists requesting their work be taken off display as a protest measure.

Tobias explained that she and her colleagues are currently in the process of going through the collections to “select things to digitize that represent works of art when there’s no object available, such as documentation of performances, or event scores, diagrams for how to assemble an installation, mail art, [or] visual correspondence.” She said that “these types of materials could themselves be considered artwork or represent[ative of] art.” This caused me to reflect on the 1991 article from Michel Buckland “Information as Thing,” which I read for my Foundations of Information class. Specifically, it made me think about the notion as information as process and information as thing. While information as process typically refers to the intangible, I feel that the evidence or documentation of process apparent in these types of documents is still pertinent. I somehow hadn’t made the connection between information as process and process art before attending this event, but this is now helping me conceptualize the actual value of process art in a new way. I suppose, however, that “information as thing” is a better comparison here. This connection caused me to think critically about what actually contains more information — a piece of artwork or the accompanying documents (e.g. visual correspondence surrounding the exhibit that the artwork was shown at it).

Posted on November 10, 2018November 19, 2018 by Allee Manning 0

Event Attendance: NYC Media Lab 2018

I attended quite a few information events in new york, some of them were very informative lectures and some of them were experimental workshops. However, the 2018 NYC Media Lab Conference was the one that made me feel blessed to be in New York. 2018 NYCML Conference was an annual two-day event organized by New York media lab. It was consisted of talk panels and debates on hottest topics from information field, and hundreds of demos across the country-wide industry and different university programs.

One of the most memorable talks for me was given by Thomas Reardon, a member of the W3C and the founder of CTRL Lab. This talk was regarding their latest neural interface technology. Just as people were still impressed by the glamorous technology from sci-fi movies, neural interface technology took the limit to the next level. In user interface technologies from movies, motion is necessary to perform an action through an interface projected by a pair of glasses, but neural interface technology (currently in the form of a wristband) is able to capture the users’ “intentions” with teeny tiny neurons. No visible movements is required. This is a demonstrated video from the presentation.

NYCML’18: Thomas Reardon Keynote

(Demo: 14:29 – 15:43)

This presentation is revolutionary to me because it completely reformed my ideas about information design. Being specialized in user experience design, I focused my eye so much on the the actual products and graphic designs that sometimes I was limited. This innovative technology greatly broke the walls between neurology, biology, engineering and computer sciences. It not only demonstrated to me that information field is an interdisciplinary field, as we discussed in class, this innovation showed me the necessity of having the multi-disciplinary lens as a information professional. The definition of interface design can really be expanded when we start with a fresh mind.

The second best part of the conference is the great debate about synthetic media between Eli Pariser, Ken Perlin and Matthew Hartman, Karen Kornbluh. Synthetic media refers to computer generated or modified media. The extreme version of this is deepfakes (Borthwick). Eli pointed out ethical issues related to fake news with filtered and incomplete information. On the other hand, the other party based their stands on creative arts. They made an example of the instagram famous virtual character Lil Miquela who had over 1.5 million followers. This debate stood out to me because of how much I could relate to it. I am one of the millions of the generation grew up with technology and social media. I was so used to the fact that the digital experience took a great percentage of my life, sometimes I ignored it. I experienced the Lil Miquela fade where people argued for her existence/authenticity. Then after truth revealed by her managing team, Lil’s followers accepted her being synthetic, and argued for Lil’s authentic personality behind the synthetic character. In Lil’s confession post, she wrote, “I’m not sure I can comfortably identify as a woman of color. ‘Brown’ was a choice made by a corporation. ‘Woman’ was an option on a computer screen…I’m different. I want to use what makes me different to create a better world. I want to do things that huan maybe can’t…” What once seemed so obviously “fake” and was considered a “lie” now feels more sincere and authentic than a real person in existence. This conversation highlighted the blurry border between digital culture and real life culture today and made me rethink the “fakeness” and “realness” in information. As we discussed in class, there are many invisible but influential information worker. I think constructing an information channel and building up a information platform should also be considered as part of the information process with an amount of creativity. As a ux designer, I used to conceive my job as to purely present the information to users, but this debate helped me realize the process and act of constructing a easy and unbiased channel or platform for information itself is already a “creation” in a sense. Nevertheless, it is also possible for the authenticity of the original information to be enhanced in the delivering process. Thus, as information professionals we have to make sure we adhere to the ethics.

Lil Miquela Confession Post

Image of Lil Miquela

I also saw many students work during the demo exhibit. It varied from extremely technical ones tackling the internet speed problems to very artistic creations using emotional intelligence. I felt excited to be part of the community and could not wait to make a contribution to the information field. Honestly, before the conference I was held back by the fact that I didn’t have any kind of experience in the information field, but this conference helped me restore my confidence and I believe that my communication and business backgrounds would bring me unique perspectives in ux design.

Student Demo: Screen/Picture is consisted of thousands of emojis

Work Cited:

Borthwick, John. “Synthetic Media – Render – from – Betaworks.” Render – from Betaworks, Render – from Betaworks, 29 July 2018, render.betaworks.com/synthetic-media-d0adcc53800a

Posted on November 9, 2018December 12, 2018 by Xueping Wu 0

The Unflinching Archivist: Integrating Museum and Archival Practices using the Work of David Wojnarowicz

On October 4, 2018, NYU Fales Special Collections archivist Nicholas Martin hosted a tour and talk for library, art, and museum professionals and other information specialists about the ongoing exhibition at the NYU Mamdouha S. Bobst Gallery. The exhibition highlighted the papers and work of artist, writer, AIDS activist, and photographer David Wojnarowicz (pronounced Voe-nah-ROE-vich). Wojnarowicz’s work incorporated multiple media that explored life in New York in the 1970s and 1980s from an outsider’s perspective, as well as confronted politics, morality, and his own diagnosis.

The Exhibition in Question

The exhibition at NYU, officially known as The Unflinching Eye: The Symbols of David Wojnarowicz, ran at the Bobst Gallery from July 12^th to October 21^st, 2018. It was staged in conjunction History Keeps Me Awake At Night, another show of the artist’s work that ran at the Whitney Museum of American Art from July 13^th to September 30^th. The NYU show featured photos, journals, and other objects separated into three major sections that showcased the creative breadth and symbolic depth of Wojnarowicz’s work as well as the way his personal relationships are reflected in his photography and his journals. The exhibition was coordinated by Nicholas Martin, with curatorial assistance provided by Hugh Ryan, Marvin Taylor, and Marcelo Yáñez.

Making Curatorial Decisions

During his tour, Martin spoke about the challenges of curating an artist’s work, both from the standpoint of honoring the artist’s legacy and from a logistical perspective. He explained that when staging a show, one of the most important questions an archivist asks is always, “What was the artist’s intent?” When the artist is no longer living (Wojnarowicz passed away in 1992), the archivist must make informed decisions about what to include and how to include it. Unfinished work can pose a problem – was this work even important to the artist? How do we know? One example of this is Wojnarowicz’s “Magic Box,” in which he collected a myriad of items, ranging from a Buddha sculpture to tweezers and nail clippers. It was never clear what the artist meant to do with these objects or how much he cared about them at all. Martin and his colleagues chose to disassemble the box for the exhibition, displaying it with its contents without making any assumptions about its purpose.

Logistical Obstacles

The “Magic Box” also contributed to the logistical concerns of the show, Wojnarowicz wasn’t thinking about long-term storage of his “Magic Box” items, but many of the objects within were made of materials that are harmful to each other and that present a challenge for archivists: should they store and show them altogether to preserve how they were found or separate them to preserve their physical integrity? Martin’s solution for the exhibition was to unpack the box and display everything together. In the archives, everything is also kept together and patrons are warned about handling procedures if they request to see the box.

Other conservation risks for Wojnarowicz’s work that Martin described included humidity and light levels, which can prove particularly dangerous for the artist’s printed photographs. The constraints of the NYU Gallery meant that Martin had to work with facilities management, installers, and contract curators to try to correct for the structural issues (ex. high light levels from large windows) as best he could. Overall, the exhibition took about 100 hours of preparatory conservation work.

Reflection

I found Martin’s talk engaging and educational. Not only did I learn about David Wojnarowicz’s work, but I was finally able to understand all the moving parts of putting on an exhibition that lies at the intersection of art, archives, and museum practices. To be sure, there were challenges unique to this show, like the fact that it was a companion to the Whitney show and sometimes had to use facsimiles of items that were leant to the museum instead of the real thing. In general, however, Martin’s talk focused on issues universal to archival exhibitions and provided helpful insight into how to solve them. His discussion touched upon concerns that can be found in many foundational exhibition texts, like Organizing Exhibitions: A Handbook for Museums, Libraries and Archives by Freda Matassa.

In the future, I plan to explore archival practices from both sides of the equation, patron and curator. I hope to attend more exhibitions of this kind and, when talks aren’t available, I will try to analyze them myself to figure out what problems the curator may have faced in staging it. As a student, I hope to take classes in archival management and possibly even museum practices as well as apply for internships in this field to explore my interest in it and see if it’s something I want to pursue for my career.

References:

Communications, N. W. (n.d.). NYU Presents Exhibition of David Wojnarowicz Papers, Coinciding with Whitney Museum of American Art Retrospective. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/about/news-publications/news/2018/july/nyu-presents-exhibition-of-david-wojnarowicz-papers–coinciding-

David Wojnarowicz. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from https://www.visualaids.org/artists/detail/david-wojnarowicz

David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/DavidWojnarowicz

Exhibition | The Unflinching Eye: The Symbols of David Wojnarowicz – News and Events. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from https://wp.nyu.edu/library-news/exhibition-the-unflinching-eye-the-symbols-of-david-wojnarowicz/

Matassa, F. (2014). Organizing Exhibitions : A Handbook for Museums, Libraries and Archives. London: Facet Publishing. Retrieved from https://login.ezproxy.pratt.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=969818&site=eds-live

Wharton, G., Engel, D., and Taylor, M. C. (2016). The Artist Archives Project: David Wojnarowicz. Studies in Conversation, 61, 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2016.1181350

Posted on November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 by Gina Elbert 0

Event: National Design Award 2018 Winner’s Salon- Humen Experience/Built Environment

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is my all time favorite, not just because of the well-curated collections or exhibitions, but the great museum experience design impresses me as well. When I searched online for events, the Cooper Hewitt Museum popped up in my head and that’s how I found this salon event as part of the National Design Award Week 2018. The 2018 National Design Award aims to honor excellent and innovative American design, and also seeks to raise awareness of the impact of design in the education sector (“National Design Award”, 2018). National Design Awards 2018 included a bunch of activities, such as workshops led by Award-winning designers, exhibitions, panel talks, and salon events. Because of my landscape architecture design background and my interest in designing for human beings, I chose to attend the “Human Experience/Built Environment” salon.

BRIEF INTRO OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE/BUILT ENVIRONMENT SALON

This event invited four National Design Award winners to share their creative /collaborative process for designing human experiences, challenges while designing, and the relationships between the built environment and designers (“2018 National Design Awards | Winners’ Salon & Master Classes”, 2018). Four award-winning teams/individuals are from different backgrounds. It’s a combination of a creative author, a furniture designer, an architect and an interior designer.

CREATIVE PROCESS

The salon started with inviting winners to share the creative process of their design works. Anne Whiston Spirn shared her process from an author perspective as the starting point. She is a person who would always start with an observation through her own eyes or the frame in the camera. She believes observation could reveal many things that you might ignore in your day-to-day life, for example, a buried river in the city or any other invisible forces that support human’s life. By doing so, observation can actually uncover the truth and yell us more about how life is lived. She will also talk to locals while observing in order to get the overall picture as a whole context. Michael Manfredi, the architect who represents WEISS/MANFREDI, added that his way of doing environmental design by talking to the local communities before even starts to sketch anything. When starting a new project, he would always keep “humanity” in mind, and reminds himself to be a person that knows nothing but eager to learn from and interact with communities. Chad Oppenheim from Oppenheim Architecture + Design tends to initiate the process from a childlike perspective. He goes to the site, wanders around and explores the environment like a boy back in the time when there was no Xbox and Gameboy. This approach helps him to discover the relationship between nature and humans, so he can really design for human experiences. Lastly, unlike other designers in this talk, as a furniture designer, John Christakos, the product designer of Blu Dot, oftentimes discusses with his partners about what piece of furniture they should design in the very beginning. Then they will sketch as a team to iterate the design work until the design goes to prototyping. That’s the reason why they never mark any of the design pieces as an individual work.

CHALLENGES AND COLLABORATION PROCESS

Manfredi mentioned how climate change impacts his consideration of spatial design as an architect. In the past, architects or urban planners didn’t really have to consider how to deal with the life-threatening storms, except in a waterfront neighborhood. But now, it has become a baseline requirement when designing spaces. He also shared how he collaborated with local dog owner communities in order to design a great dog park. His team facilitated a conversation of the local dog community, so each dog owner group could voice their opinion, and exchange their thoughts at the same time. After the conversation, the team sketched the park based on the discussion, then presented to the groups in order to receive valuable feedback. When the park was built and finally open to the public, the dog community was really satisfied with the outcome.

REFLECTION

1. Collaborating with communities is the key to designing good human experiences.

In my opinion, the spatial design discipline might be the pioneer of “user experience design.” For instance, when I studied landscape architecture design in college, to go on a field trip for observation already became a “must-have” process when designing a space. The purpose of going on a field trip is to understand the relationship between space/environment and the people. During the trip, designers are required to get to know about the local community as much as possible. Designers can either talk to local people directly, live with them for a few days, or just participate in local events. These methods will enable designers to discover the problems affecting an area, then explore the opportunity for solutions. Thus, it’s pretty common for architects/landscape architects to interact with communities and this “interaction” has even become part of the key process of spatial design.

Outside of the spatial design field, I feel designers tend not to have many interactions with communities (no matter if it’s a geographical community like a neighborhood, or a group of people that share something in common like small dog lovers). For example, when I worked as a UX designer, I did interact with “users” or “target audiences”, but the scale was smaller and it was more l goal-driven (wanted to know their devices usage patterns ), or task-driven (tested usability before releasing a new feature) approach.

So when Sasha Costanza-Chock wants designers to rethink the design processes in her article” Design Justice: Towards an Intersectional Feminist Framework for Design Theory and Practice”, that recalled my memory as a landscape architecture design student instantly. In her article, she encourages designers to address the challenges of communities by applying collaborative, creative methods as part of the design process, and to be a “people first” designer (Costanza-Chock 2).

When one of the winners, Whiston Spirn, works on her projects in West Philadelphia, she collaborates with locals by treating locals as experts based on their lived experiences. Her team focuses on building a sustainable, community-led living environment by inviting locals to share their knowledge and teaching them about landscape literacy. In her design process, designers are more like facilitators than experts. The other winner Manfredi, invites people who will be impacted directly in the future to join the design discussion. He wants to create an environment in which designed is based on the prioritized impacts for the community. These methods actually match the framework mentioned by Costanza-Chock in the Design Justice article. No wonder the final design outcomes were engaging and resident friendly, and even won the prizes.

2.Lack of diversity in design industry

When I first saw the winners in front of the audience, I was a bit disappointed. Three of the four winners are male, and there were no people of color except white people, nor people with disabilities. I thought the topic is about designing human experiences in America, a place that is full of diverse cultures, languages, and people, which should lead the topic to accommodate various needs and situations that are more inclusive. This fact reminds me of Jennifer Vinopal’s article about diversity in library staffing (“The Quest for Diversity in Library Staffing” 2016). She brought up the issue about “lacking in diversity based on race and ethnicity, age, disability, educational background, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other demographic differences” (“The Quest for Diversity in Library Staffing” 2016). Vinopal’s finding could actually apply to almost all work fields, including design disciplines. Her intention to raise the awareness of lack of diversity in the workplace aims to combat “the oppression that is caused by privilege, bias, and the attendant power differentials at no matter individual or systematic levels” (“The Quest for Diversity in Library Staffing” 2016).

Incorporating every possible role to every work field seems a bit impossible for now, and I am not sure if this is a good approach to solve the problem. When we discussed difficult heritage a few weeks ago, I defended Maya Lin’s design of Vietnam Veterans Memorial by stating “designers don’t necessarily have to be part of the group they design for”, because she was being accused as an unqualified designer due to her role as an “outsider” (meaning that there is no Vietnam veterans in her family). In this case, because the objective is controversial, the interpretation of the memorial is always different for each individual, and it’s hard to find a Vietnam veteran who has the skillset, and also who is not suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder to design this monument. Therefore I don’t think this approach works here. However, there should be a better way to address the lack of diversity issue in every work field. Costanza-Chock already initiated the solution by applying a doable design framework to improve not only the design process but also the final outcome of the design. Whiston Spirn does co-work with the communities for over decades and the result is amazingly impactful in a good way. There would definitely be more good solutions to accommodate this issue.

This event raises my awareness of two topics: design justice and work field diversity. Some of the practitioners in design disciplines already integrate similar methods into their work process to make the design more welcoming and accomondable in most situations. We should make this notion more wide spread through to different disciplines to make this change happen.

RELATED SOURCES:

“2018 National Design Award – About The Awards.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 31 Oct. 2018, https://www.cooperhewitt.org/national-design-awards/
“2018 National Design Award Winners.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 31 Oct. 2018, https://www.cooperhewitt.org/national-design-awards/2018-national-design-awards-winners/
COSTANZA-CHOCK, Sasha.“Design Justice: Towards an Intersectional Feminist Framework for Design Theory and Practice.” Design Research Society 2018 Catalyst, 25th-28th, June, 2018
Vinopal, Jennifer.”The Quest for Diversity in Library Staffing.” In The Library With The Lead Pipe, 2016, http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2016/quest-for-diversity/

Posted on November 1, 2018November 2, 2018 by pouyang 0

ARMA @Noon /October 18th

An ARMA Metro NYC conference names ARMA @Noon was held in NYC on October 18^th.

Introduction:

ARMA invited Richard R. Gomes, a Corporate Culture and Engagement Strategist who works for Citi Group to present some concept of corporate archives as a business setting. The conference room located in Kelley Drye and Warren, 101 Park Avenue. There are around 20 people join the event – almost half male and half female. The rough estimate of the age range is from 25 to 80. Food and beverage provided in the side of the room, eating is allowed during the meeting. Also, they said the day is the first day they try to broadcast the conference to the members with a webcam at the front of the conference room. The conference started with a relaxing atmosphere, Ricard and the chair of ARMA briefly introduced themselves then asked everyone to do so.

Most of the participants are professional archivers, while Richard himself isn’t. He called himself a businessman instead of an archiver. He also mentioned he had no archive profession. I introduced myself as a graduate student who interested in the event and encouraged by my professor. One good thing is, ARMA kindly welcomes students and washed away my worry of attending a professional conference as an inexperienced novice.

Record:

The whole content of the conference focus on how to make longevity a competitive advantage. While “trust” is the most important element of banking, the value of archives could be significant. Historical archives of a business group are literally the proof of its stability and security. Better than propaganda, fact telling is all true. Richard illustrated the concept with an experience of expanding Citi’s business to Asian countries – mainly Japan. At the time, Citi group was actively expanding branches and franchises of overseas markets.

Deposit money at one place and withdraw money at the other side of the world was still an innovative concept decades before. They had encountered regulation and document problems when trying to get permission to found their business. Citi Group got through the obstacles by showing the government that they had a lot of experience dealing with various problems. The proves are convincing. He also mentioned that not only “good history” could be beneficial.

“Do you know we are blamed for Great Depression?” He asked. The uses of archives are not limited to keep tracks of the activities. Archives could show how the group went through and recover after difficult situations. Failure taught lessons, and Citi has learned from it. Sometimes the events themselves are not the ones weighing the most, it’s the flow of it, just like the core of programming codes is usually the logic but methods. These archives could also help analysts model the data and anticipate with the models. That is, another facet of difficult heritage: Teaching groups relevant to the history there is meaning over miserable memories.

The technique of storytelling is indeed important while turning heritage into business. We were passing a beautiful book and a box of well-designed paper cards with photo and text around the conference room. All of the products we saw were charming and informative. In addition to publishing brochures and the other paper products, Citi Group created some activate spaces for clients and other business uses. Richard said that is a good way to show the history of the group by sitting inside the history and talk about the future.

Instead of trust from the clients and governments, the archives are also benefitting the recruiting. There are thousands of talented freshmen every year. Just as the clients, they are also eager to know “Why Citi?” when there are over hundreds of different choices for their career. Sometimes understanding creates value. By telling the story, the group is able to attract talented new employees sharing the same memory (of the organization) and probably the same belief. Another benefit of building and preserving these archives is, some employees might want to be remembered. (“I don’t. “Richard joked.) With recognition and sense of belonging, they might work harder in the purpose to become a name carves on the group history.

As M. Schwartz and Terry Cook claimed:” Archives – as records – wield power over the shape and direction of historical scholarship, collective memory, and national identity, over how we know ourselves as individuals, groups, and societies.”[1] These modern memories have strong power within our identity. Except for common “interface” like museums, art galleries, libraries, historical monuments, the places Citi Group build for their clients and employees are somehow ignored in most of the academic articles.

Related experience:

The history of Citi Group reminded me in my college time our class was able to interview a manager from Mitsubishi Group, a Japanese business group which has experienced the history of “Black Ship” (The history that America use military power to “negotiate” a treaty allowing American trade with Japan.) They had kept a lot of precious and unique information. How they raised, how they traded. How people made money. I suppose with the enter of capitalist society, more and more historical footprints would be located in private cooperation but governmental record.

Conclusions:

At the end of the conference, Richard said that people should value data and archives just like valuing other resources. Longevity is resource, and it could create more resources. Knowing the importance of archives, he gave out three principles of business: Being investing, being effective and could be easily documented. Not like official files, specific collections usually don’t suffer cataloging problems like queer theories. The way people manage archives is more convenient than the official way. While they hold some control of their own event records and documents, more archives seem to be born in the way easier for archivers to deal with.

Even though Ricard doesn’t see himself as an archiver, he preserves the archives, makes use the archives and knowing the value of the archives. I would say Richard is more than an archiver but also a businessman. I was able to ask a question about one project of Citi Group – Citi Bike. There are similar things in my city. Our city government put them on the street to encourage people moving around. Richard kindly answered my question. I was so agreed with the things he said. It is important to let people know about the possibility of different choices. Whether it is shopping choice, a wider range of living area or knowledge access. The archive is the base of these possibilities.

[1] Schwartz & Cook, (2002), “Archives, records, and power: the making of modern memory”

Posted on October 31, 2018November 13, 2018 by WenLin Pan 0

Data Science Central Webinar: ‘Dashboard Design With the User in Mind’

Introduction

Data Science Central (DSC), a web-based Wiki-like hub for data professionals, hosted a webinar on data dashboard design. The webinar was sponsored by Tableau, hosted by Bill Vorhies, editorial director of DSC, and featured a talk by Alyshia Olsen, a UX designer at Tableau. Following the talk was a Q and A session where the host relayed questions posted digitally by the attendants of the webinar.

While positioned as a dashboard design webinar, the crux of the talk was mostly focused on user-centered design strategies, though it was filtered through the process of designing data dashboards. Right from the start, Olsen brought up a concept that is central to the work of user-based designers, and somewhat codified into the space by Don Norman in his book, The Design of Everyday Things (2013): Frustration with a product is not the user’s fault, it is the designer’s. This idea and the idea that user experience design is all about the psychology of the user are the backbone of the talk reviewed here. Olsen went on to spend the bulk of the hour discussing a design-thinking process for dashboard design, in four sequential phases:

Discover Phase
Distill Phase
Ideate Phase
Validate Phase

These four phases are now discussed in depth.

User-centered Design

Discover Phase

In user-centered design, the Discover Phase is not about discovering what the system needs to do, as in system-centered design, but is instead about discovering who the system is for (Talja and Hartel, 2007). For Olsen, the Discover Phase is just that, a phase for discovery about the intended users. She uses the example of building a dashboard to support her father at his business as a way to frame what the Discovery Phase should yield to the designer.

Olsen states that the Discovery Phase for dashboard design is the opportunity for the designer to discover what the target users really need, not what they think they want built. The mantra for this phase is “question the obvious,” and it is manifested in the concept of the Five Whys, or, ask ‘why’ five times. The Five Whys method is a form of root cause analysis widely in use today to understand the deeper drivers of needs, actions, and results (Norman, 2013). It implies that even after you as a designer have found a reason for the wants and needs of the users, you should keep asking why until the root need is reached. There are many methods for employing this technique in user-centered design, but the outcome is the same: the designer understands the underlying issues and needs that contribute to why a user needs something designed.

An example of asking Why 5 times to understand the underlying need

Distill Phase

The Distill Phase is the process of taking all of the notes, learnings, ideas, and anything else gleaned during the discovery phase and distilling it all down to answer three questions:

Who are your users?
What is the primary goal of the dashboard?
What does the dashboard absolutely have to do (to satisfy the first two questions)?

During her review of the Distill Phase, Olsen gave insight on a number of strategies a designer could employ to distill their notes and answer the three main questions. These included Affinity Mapping, Pattern Identification, among others. The main goal of all of these strategies gets at the main crux of this sort of design: What do your users need? Designing for the user instead of for the system is a fundamentally different form of design, and Olsen’s entire process starts with the users, understand their needs before she even begins to design a product.

Ideate Phase

The third phase is the process of idea generation, rejection, and acceptance (with the caveat that ideas get iterated on). This is where a designer will come up with ideas to address the last question from the distill phase, while not violating any of the tenets established by the answers to the first two questions. Again Olsen presented a few different strategies for ideation, but I only want to mention one of them here, Blue Sky Thinking.

Blue Sky Thinking is an ideation strategy where a designer comes up with a basic idea for the design of something. This idea is known as a ground idea. Next, the designer comes with a very ‘out there’ idea, potentially something impossible to implement and is more of a dream. The results from this strategy come from combining elements of the ground idea with the blue sky idea to reach a middle ground. This sort of ideation strategy can push the designer into more creative solutions.

Validate Phase

The Validate Phase comes after something has been designed. This phase is centered around feedback and usability testing. It’s in this phase that a designer will be able to understand where they’ve succeeded and where they’ve failed, allowing for a return to the Ideate Phase to improve upon the product. This phase once again directly involves users, since watching and listening while a user uses the product can result in valuable feedback and improvements to the design.

Conclusion

As a Data Analytics and Visualization student, the dashboard design element of this talk was the bulk of my interest, and I was not expecting something as process oriented as the talk ended up being. However, having an expert walk through the process of designing dashboards from a user-centered perspective was enlightening. According to Norman in his book ‘The Invisible Computer’, one of the biggest problems in HCI is the fact that computers are rigid, precise, and thus require rigid and precise inputs. Humans are inherently imprecise, flexible, and ambiguous (Norman, 1999). Seeing the process of user-centered design outlined in such way has made obvious to me how attempting to design from the human up, considering all of the flexibilities and ambiguities inherent in us can lead to better, more flexible systems that work the way we need them to instead of us working the way machines want us to.

References

Norman, D. A. (1999). The invisible computer: Why good products can fail, the personal computer is so complex, and information appliances are the solution. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things. New York: Basic Books.

Talja, S., & Hartel, J. (2007). “Revisiting the user-centered turn in information science research: an intellectual history perspective” Information Research, 12(4) paper colis02. [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/12-4/colis02.html]

Posted on October 30, 2018March 25, 2019 by Zachary Walker 0

Meetup: Designing Technology for Older Adults

In September, I attended my first Meetup – ‘Designing Technology for Older Adults.’ The speaker was Yasmin Felberbaum, a Ph.D. student at the University of Haifa. The focus of the talk was threefold: (1) the challenges of designing for older adults; (2) the design decisions that could improve products for these users; and (3) examples of well and poorly-designed products aimed at older adults. For this article, I will use Felberbaum’s research to show how these design considerations tie into our readings about user-centered design, design justice and the political economy of information. First, I will highlight the design challenges associated with older adults, and how these are undergoing a transformation. Next, I will discuss what inclusive design means in the context of Chock’s ‘Design Justice.’ Finally, I will use Felberbaum’s research to show how we can best design for an elderly population, reflecting principles championed by the Design Justice movement.

Design challenges for older adults

The event began by defining an ‘older adult’ as anyone over the age of 65 and highlighting the challenges associated with designing for this segment of the population. These fall into three main categories:

Physical – motor changes, e.g., inability to hold a device for an extended time;
Mental – cognitive and emotional changes, e.g., loss of loved ones may cause depression or decreased motivation;
Educational – low levels of technology training and skills are still prevalent.

Due to population increases and improved life expectancy, estimates currently put the number of adults aged 65+ at roughly 2 billion by 2050, according to Felberbaum. However, the older adults of today are vastly different from those of the future, a point which Norman references in his ‘Being Analog’ article. As our everyday lives are becoming increasingly complex, ‘the slow evolutionary pace of life is no longer up to the scale and pace of technological change’; meaning that humans must now try to keep up with ever-increasing and oppressive amounts of knowledge. As a result, the current generation of young, digital native adults, are being shaped by different experiences with technology. They have higher expectations for technology to help them cope with so much information. The way that young adults today interact with technology is also fundamentally different. According to Benkler’s ‘The Wealth of Networks,’ our interaction with technology today is much more pervasive than it was 50 years ago. The conclusion we can draw from this is that to disregard older adults as an insignificant portion of technology consumers is seriously misguided. Not only will they become increasingly significant in size and purchasing power, but they will also be more demanding in the quality of that technology and how it serves their lives. They will be healthier and better technically educated and will fully expect to be included and designed for, much as they would have been when younger.

‘Design Justice’ as a way to overcome exclusive design processes

One of the main arguments presented by Felberbaum was that stereotypes about technology products for older adults, e.g., low adoption rates, are often a result of the exclusion of the user group from the design process. This omittance is just one example of designers overlooking users who do not conform to the stereotypical ‘imagined user […]. In the U.S., this means straight white middle-class, cisgender men, with educational privilege and high technological literacy, citizenship, native English speakers’ and, I would also add, young age. Constanza-Chock discusses recent attempts to overcome this in her Design Justice article. Design Justice champions a set of principles that, when included in the design process, should fairly and accurately represent marginalized users. It recognizes that the participation of these end users in the design process is crucial to creating products that are valuable for them. This is relevant to Felberbaum’s presentation, as she gathered her insights through the direct participation of older adults in her research process. She conducted in-depth interviews with her users, who were questioned and observed while using technology products with both inclusive and universal designs. The feedback gathered included which products users were more likely to adopt and why, what product issues they could not overlook and what they found attractive or helpful. Here is a clear example of Design Justice at work: the inclusion of the participants and recipients of the design as key contributors.

Constanza-Chock also presents the idea that designers with diverse backgrounds and experiences, especially those from marginalized communities, could help broaden perceptions of the ‘imagined user,’ resulting in fewer overlooked groups. While this is a worthy goal that should be encouraged, it may prove difficult when considering an elderly population. One of the very reasons that old adult marginalization occurs in design is because they are physically or mentally unable to participate in the process, or are retired from the workforce. Therefore, advocating that adults over 65 become designers to mitigate their exclusion may not be feasible. In these cases, applying concepts of user-centered and empathy-driven design become even more critical. These can help to supplement knowledge and experience gaps when designing for users that cannot fully participate in a process that was created precisely for their inclusion.

Best practice design for older adults

The final part of the event focused on the insights Felberbaum gathered from her research with older adults. These can be summed up as:

The social or gamification component of a product was vital to secure adoption and continued use;
Adoption only happens where there is a clear added value, e.g., what am I gaining by using this, that justifies introducing a new habit at a late stage of life;
The design should be universal and not inclusive – older adults did not want to use products aimed specifically at them due to stigma or emotions in acknowledging a perceived diminished place in society;
The lower the interaction and learnability requirement to use the product or device, the higher the adoption rate;
Where new information is necessary to use the product, this must build on existing or prior knowledge to secure adoption;

These insights provide good examples of best practice when designing for adults over 65, and they were all elicited by communicating with the target user group. These insights also touch on one of the action’s outlined in Gehner’s article, specifically: ‘understand that charity is not dignity; dignity is inclusion.’ I think this is particularly poignant and applicable to the outcomes of Felberbaum’s research as the products that had the most success were those that did not treat older adults as a separate segment of the population that needed unique designs. The older adults interviewed wanted to feel included, empowered and just like everyone else by being able to use the same products as their children and grandchildren – universal design was overwhelmingly the preferred choice.

Conclusion

The event made me think critically about my relationship with technology as a future older adult. It was also significant, as an aspiring UX designer, to see an example of design justice at work providing higher quality insights. Often, as Norman points out, what we attribute as issues with users, are a result of poorly designed products. Stereotypes, such as low adoption rates among older adults, are dangerous because they similarly focus the problem on the user and not the product, making designers less inclined to change their design process. The key takeaway for me was that it doesn’t matter what user segment you are designing for – if a user-centered approach is used, adoption will occur.

Works cited:

Costanza-Chock, S (2018). Design Justice: towards an intersectional feminist framework for design theory and practice, Design Research Society 2018.
Norman, D. A. (1998). The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer is So Complex, and Information Appliances are the Solution. MIT Press. Chapter 7: Being Analog.
Benkler, Y. (2006). “Introduction: a moment of opportunity and challenge” in The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press, 1–18.
Gehner, J. (2010). Libraries, Low-Income People, and Social Exclusion, Public Library Quarterly, 29:1, 39-47.

Posted on October 25, 2018 by afelberg 0

Event Reflection-WLA Immigration and Library Service in 2018

This event, held at the Westchester Library System Headquarters in Elmsford, NY, consisted of a panel discussion with Carola Bracco, executive director of an organization assisting immigrants in Westchester County called Neighbors Link; Karin Ponzer, the organization’s legal counsel; and Karen LaRocca-Fels, Director of the Ossining Public Library.

For an event of only 90 minutes, a lot of ground was covered. Much attention was given to challenges facing the library system in connection to the increase of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, in Westchester County. Aside from the language barrier, immigrants were reported to be hesitant to use the library services because they perceive the library as a government institution which might turn them in to ICE . Another source of worry is the few examples of hostility from the residents toward immigrants. As an example, prior to an event the WLA held in conjunction with the Ecuadorean Consulate, an anonymous phone call was made threatening to call ICE.

Before addressing more local issues, Karin Ponzer, the legal counsel for Neighbors Link, began with a overview of recent developments in national policy affecting immigrant communities. She noted that there is no constitutional right to stay in the United States unless one is a U.S citizen. This is as true with asylum seekers as it is with economic migrants. Supposedly in the interest of national security, benefits have become increasingly denied to immigrants. Ms. Pozner lamented that the Attorney General has been interfering with the judicial branch to rewrite law so as to extend the authority of the Federal Government. She concluded with remarking that current restrictions on immigrants are worse than they were after 9/11.

One of the primary issues discussed was the challenges surrounding immigrants obtaining library cards. Currently, one is required to provide a picture I.D, however many immigrants are not carrying photo IDs with them for fear of being stopped by ICE. One of the solutions offered was that immigrants could get Westchester County IDs for $18.00. This would necessitate going to the county clerk’s office, which some immigrants may be wary of doing. If was further suggested that libraries may be able to become qualified to give these IDs themselves. This would require a change in legislation at the local level, but it was indicated that this would not be exceedingly hard to do. The panelists emphasized how important it is for immigrants, irrespective of their status, to be able to use the library services. Libraries have been a reliable place for immigrants to gain information on the Immigration Protection Act and education in technology.

The panelists also suggested that a policy be introduced in the unlikely event ICE entered the library to apprehend anyone suspected of being undocumented. Ms. Ponzer reviewed some of the current ICE policies. At the moment, though it may change, ICE’s current policy is that it would not enter educational facilities (including libraries), funerals and weddings, and places of worship. Ms.Ponzer noted that the library is required to comply with the police because that is a matter of criminal law, however, because ICE operates under civil law, libraries have fewer obligations. ICE would need a judicial warrant before the library is legally bound to cooperate fully. In contrast, an administrative warrant, which is easily distinguishable by how it looks, is not legally binding.

This discussion reflects an issue of paramount importance for the information profession in general. David Bawden and Lyn Robinson, in their book Introduction to Information Science, state that the “main areas of concern within information ethics include…universal access, information poverty and the digital divide” (237). Ensuring that immigrants have access to the library is essential for addressing the issue of information poverty and providing universal access.

http://www.westchesterlibraryassociation.org/

Posted on October 23, 2018November 8, 2018 by Benjamin Ottenstein 0

Understanding media and technology | NYCML’18

What is NYC Media Lab’18

Every year, NYC Media Lab hosts a summit where investors, professionals and students come together to present projects and ideas. This year’s NYC Media Lab Annual Summit was held at The New School on September 20th. There were thought-provoking debates, hands-on workshops and 100 demos. Attendees appeared thrilled to explore the future of digital media innovation.

Keynote speakers

Keynote speakers were Thomas Reardon, CEO and CO-Founder of CTRL-Labs, and Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President for Social Justice and Co-director, Digital Equity Lab The New School.

Thomas Reardon in conversation with Satish Rao at NYCML’18

Reardon’s talk was the highlight of the event. It was very engaging and insightful. Reardon has received his PhD in Neuroscience from Columbia University. The core idea of his discussion was very similar to what Don Norman said in his book “The Invisible Computer”. Norman discusses what computers are good at and what humans are good at. He then suggests that technology is designed and people are being asked to conform to the needs of the computer. Although it is useful to take advantage of the strengths of the computer, this only works if the machine adapts itself to human requirements. Reardon presented a technological solution to issue Norman discussed in his book. He discussed the huge gap between human input and human output. How neural interfaces can solve the output delay problems. He explained that muscles are causing delays in the output, and if we manage to read the mind, we can eliminate muscles from the process. He argued that capturing intention, not just motion and making it work, is the future. He also mentioned that this technology will help people with motor neuron diseases. After hearing his ideas, I am very excited to learn more about neural control and robotics.

Maya Wiley in conversation with Kai Falkenberg at NYCML’18

Wiley is a nationally renowned expert on racial justice and equality. She discussed that technology is driving policies and urged entrepreneurs to model their business to help low-income households. She highlighted the difficulties that low income, coloured neighbourhoods face. Her talk was insightful and made me think about the effects of technology on underprivileged populations. As suggested by Jentery Sayers that blending together collaboration, experimental media, and social justice research can bring a new trajectory for American and cultural studies.

Project Showcase

Seven innovative startups presented their ideas and prototypes. Some notable projects that inspired me were:

Ovee

Ovee is a project by Jane Mitchell and Courtney Snavely. It is a platform that creates a community that supports women as they navigate reproductive health issues. Ovee is my favourite project because I can relate to the problems it is addressing.

Let’s Make History

Lead team members of the project are Ilana Bonder and Hadar Ben-Tzur. In the mobile application of Let’s Make History, a user can travel back in time to Washington Square Park through augmented reality. Users can also join Wallace and June- two young activists on a 1968 spring day, in a cinematic experience.

Some interesting projects from Demo Expo

Cited Work

Anderson and University’s – NUMBERS, FACTS AND TRENDS SHAPING THE WORLD.Pdf. https://lms.pratt.edu/pluginfile.php/831785/mod_resource/content/0/PIP_Report_Future_of_the_Internet_Predictions_031114.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec. 2018.

Anderson, Janna, and Elon University’s. NUMBERS, FACTS AND TRENDS SHAPING THE WORLD. p. 61.

Larry Diamond. “Liberation Technology.” Journal of Democracy, vol. 21, no. 3, 2010, pp. 69–83. Crossref, doi:10.1353/jod.0.0190.

Larry Diamond – 2010 – Liberation Technology.Pdf. https://lms.pratt.edu/pluginfile.php/831842/mod_resource/content/1/21.3.diamond.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec. 2018.

Press, The MIT. “The Invisible Computer.” The MIT Press, https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/invisible-computer. Accessed 10 Dec. 2018.

Sayers, Jentery. Technology | Keywords for American Cultural Studies. https://keywords.nyupress.org/american-cultural-studies/essay/technology/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2018.

Helpful Links

https://nycmedialab.org/
https://nycmedialab.org/prototyping-projects/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEV0ObzNb_nFzrGS841niIA

Posted on October 16, 2018December 9, 2018 by Aimen Awan 0

ASIS&T Webinar: “Information Practice in International, Collaborative, Publicly Funded, Data Driven, Digital Humanities Projects”

I attended the ASIS&T webinar, “Information Practice in International, Collaborative, Publicly Funded, Data Driven, Digital Humanities Projects” presented by, Alex H. Poole (PhD), and Deborah A. Garwood (MSLIS, PhD student) from the Drexel University Department of Information Science. Within the contents of this 50 minute long presentation observations and recommendations were issued about 5 key categories of analysis relating to the grant based program Digging Into Data Challenge.

Those areas include:

Collaborative and Interdisciplinary work
Pedagogy and Researcher Skills
Librarians and Archivists
Project Management
Data Management

Before we delve into specifics lets establish an understanding of what the Digging Into Data Challenge is.

According to their own website the goal of DID is

“–to address how “big data” changes the research landscape for the humanities and social sciences. Now that we have massive databases of materials available for research…what new, computationally-based research methods might we apply? Digging into Data challenges the research community to help create the new research infrastructure for 21st-century scholarship” (About).

Along with this mission are grants which are “sponsored by several leading research funders from around the world” (About).

The participants that are awarded these grants come from varied disciplines, and areas of research like languages, linguistics, biodiversity, law, history, political science, and media/imagery studies. Poole, and Garwood decided to analyze the third round of funded projects in practice from 2013-2016 which they call DID3. This round included 14 projects from 10 funding agencies, and 4 nations. A grand total of 5.1 million dollars were awarded to the DID3 participants.

Qualitatively they assessed 11 of these projects utilizing semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence, and scholarly output on the 5 key areas listed above. The outcome was a clearer picture of the extent of information practice, adherence to mandates, and cross-discipline challenges unique to the DID3 cohort. All 5 categories exhibited fluctuations in weaknesses and strengths among participants. For the sake of this article I will focus on 2 points I found most provoking from Poole and Garwood’s analysis and what it could suggest for evolving information practices in interdisciplinary research.

Point 1:

“Pedagogy has an important yet under exploited role in publicly funded research, particularly in digital humanities”

According to Poole, and Garwood’s study participants placed strong emphasis on domain knowledge as fundamental to their research outcomes but coincidentally experienced “steep learning curves” during the life span of their research. In fact, 21 new skills (most of them technology related) were learned by the members of the DID3 group.

This is compelling because it points toward larger possibilities for pedological advancement along interdisciplinary lines. It also affirms strengths in fields like digital humanities where collaboration between human centered questions and technology are championed and heavily experimented with. As evidenced by this study we are still negotiating ” the implications of the multilayered literacy associated with computers” (Selfe). A literacy that may be fettered by exclusionary domain practices and inflexibility within specializations.

Pedagogy must respond to the swelling need for variable research. The future is presenting, and often demanding more opportunities for blended knowledge between technological and traditional modes of study. Departments that seek “collaboration across disciplines and institutions, working with primary sources and archives, strategically selecting technologies under financial constraints, and working within networks and connecting with local communities…will ultimately rise to an ethical level of civic engagement”(Alexander and Frostdavis).

As Poole and Garwood suggest,

“We must imbricate domain types and computational expertise in data, as well as coordinate curricula among all stakeholders.”

If this cohort reveals anything it is that by expanding our pedagogy in open and “multilayered” methods, especially those with computational focuses, future research will be more representative and more prepared for our society and its digital iterations.

Point 2:

“Apparent non-involvement of information professionals (librarians and archivists) in these projects is quite deceptive as it was so foundational as to escape notice”

According to Poole and Garwood’s case study, only 5 of 53 participants in the DID3 are active librarians and archivists. What is glaringly obvious is their limited number of official contributions seem to be essential to the missions of DID3 funded research. Those contributions are:

Physical Hosting
Virtual Hosting
Visualizations
fair use and copyright
liaison work
User Testing
Translation Work
Curation

Unfortunately it seems the tenants of librarianship are being utilized regardless of their official inclusion in research. According to Poole and Garwood most researchers admitted using core competencies rooted in LIS, but never consulted a professional. Particularly worrisome is that the DID3 cohort rather inconsistently fulfilled their open data missions and opted for traditional publications which paywalled users from access, or developed websites which stopped being updated after research was finished.

One participant claimed he utilized information professionals as unofficial supporters and was simply unaware of their knowledge due to “miscommunication”. Another participant with an MLIS degree said that researchers don’t ask about her prowess due to the stereotypes that fall around “librarianship” and its competencies.

Largely these assumptions of what librarians/archivist can and can not do are a part of a cyclical historical trend where the “quest for professional status has been an area of insecurity since the beginnings of the modern profession, particularly for those relying on local authorities or remuneration”(Luthmann). Some reports suggest the “stereotype still exists within the public perception and may act as a powerful deterrent to library use“(Luthmann).

It is urgent that researchers not be admonished, but rather provided with accurate representations of the librarians at their institutions, services they provide, and comprehensive explanations of their expertise. After all, how does one gain status and respect if the credit is rarely given, or opportunities scarcely offered?

Attaining professionals versed in curation, fair use, and liaison work in a research capacity will only help with open access, and longevity. One researcher in the study admitted their librarian “could do things with data visualizations that we couldn’t” and functions like curation are “a really significant issue, otherwise your not going to be able to use this data yourself let alone make it available to anyone else.”

‘Miscommunication’ and negative tropes about librarianship will only be abolished by giving credit where it is due. Seeking librarians, and archivists early on to be included in decisions in data’s retrievability and life cycle will have long lasting effects for accessibility. Developing channels between information professionals and researchers will inevitably widen the currents of expertise, and result in a long overdue partnership of accountability and respect.

Conclusion:

Poole and Garwood’s study is crucial in how we develop effective strategies for the humanities and its scientific infrastructure.

As they point out,

“We must engage funders and researchers in a process that facilitates ongoing liaison, tracking outcomes and supporting researchers subsequent endeavors”

Presumably we must also reach across disciplinary, and professional boundaries. The byproduct of this action could be one of inclusivity and expansion on topics that could shape how we understand humanity and its residues going forward.

Works Cited

“About .” Digging Into Data, Trans-Atlantic Platform, diggingintodata.org/about.

Alexander, Bryan, and Rebecca Frostdavis. “Should Liberal Arts Campuses Do Digital Humanities? Process and Products in the Small College World.” Debates in the Digital Humanities, 2012, pp. 368–389., doi:10.5749/minnesota/9780816677948.003.0037.

Luthmann, Abigail. “Librarians, Professionalism and Image: Stereotype and Reality.” Library Review, vol. 56, no. 9, 2007, pp. 773–780., doi:10.1108/00242530710831211.

Selfe, Cynthia. “Computers in English Departments: The Rhetoric of Technopower.” ADE Bulletin, 1988, pp. 63–67., doi:10.1632/ade.90.63.

Posted on October 13, 2018October 13, 2018 by Seth Crider 0

Pratt School of Information

The Exhibition in Question

Making Curatorial Decisions

Logistical Obstacles

Reflection

References:

BRIEF INTRO OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE/BUILT ENVIRONMENT SALON

CREATIVE PROCESS

CHALLENGES AND COLLABORATION PROCESS

REFLECTION

2.Lack of diversity in design industry

RELATED SOURCES:

An ARMA Metro NYC conference names ARMA @Noon was held in NYC on October 18th.

Introduction:

Record:

Related experience:

Conclusions:

Introduction

User-centered Design

Discover Phase

Distill Phase

Ideate Phase

Validate Phase

Conclusion

References

Design challenges for older adults

‘Design Justice’ as a way to overcome exclusive design processes

Best practice design for older adults

Conclusion

Point 1:

“Pedagogy has an important yet under exploited role in publicly funded research, particularly in digital humanities”

Point 2:

“Apparent non-involvement of information professionals (librarians and archivists) in these projects is quite deceptive as it was so foundational as to escape notice”

An ARMA Metro NYC conference names ARMA @Noon was held in NYC on October 18^th.