Reimagining access: Improving access to digital archives through participatory design

Elise Co, Robert Dirig, Joshua Halstead, Maggie Hendrie and Todd Masilko
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Elise Co: ArtCenter College of Design, USA
Robert Dirig: ArtCenter College of Design, USA
Joshua Halstead: ArtCenter College of Design, USA
Maggie Hendrie: ArtCenter College of Design, USA
Todd Masilko: ArtCenter College of Design, USA

Journal of Digital Media Management, 2023, vol. 11, issue 4, 324-333

Abstract: From 2020 to 2023, ArtCenter College of Design developed research, prototypes and protocols on digital accessibility related to archives and special collections. This paper discusses how design faculty, students, archivists and disability advocates worked together through a human-centred, participatory design methodology to facilitate a symposium and two studio courses. Student-conducted interviews with communities of people with self-identified disabilities were crucial to project development that led to multiple outcomes. Additionally, research insights generated creative prompts for archivists, educators and designers to use as a tool to help make digital archives more accessible. Taken together, this paper presents a multi-year case study in institutional access that highlights potential opportunities and unforeseen barriers that, if unconsidered, pose issues of ethical and technical import.

Keywords: archives; disability; interaction; human-centred design; participatory design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M11 M15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jdmm00:y:2023:v:11:i:4:p:324-333

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