PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOME 3

Design and innovate to create equitable, just, and engaging information artifacts, including services, systems, spaces, resources, and technologies.

Program Learning Outcome 3— is at the heart of my professional identity. My work lives at the intersection of technology and archival information, and this PLO directly speaks to the skills and values I aim to carry forward in my career. To me, this outcome is not just about building functional tools; it is about designing systems that empower users, reduce barriers, and expose inequities in the information landscape. Whether creating metadata standards for diverse object types, developing MuseCloud as a shared digital repository for museums, or designing user-focused databases and XML schema, I have prioritized accessibility, transparency, and user collaboration. This PLO has taught me to view design not as a neutral process, but as a powerful opportunity to center marginalized voices, challenge legacy systems, and build inclusive infrastructure. The projects highlighted in the following reflections demonstrate how my approach to artifact and system design is always grounded in justice, adaptability, and long-term user engagement.

3.1 Apply a repertoire of design principles and practices to plan, develop, and create information artifacts.

This objective is likely the most relevant to the work I have done and will continue to do in my career, as I am interested in the intersection of technology and archival information. During IST 659: Database Management, I was tasked with creating a viable database, creating the SQL code for it, and creating an application design. The database I created was for a hypothetical museum that included many types of materials not usually seen in single museums, as to challenge the metadata standards I was creating to work for scientific materials, historical materials, and art materials, all of which require vastly different cataloging terms. Additionally, for IST 615: Cloud Management, I was able to create, along with my group, a cloud-based database for any art museum to use, to make it so there was one repository for art information organized in one place, this was called MuseCloud. This project included financial analysis, technical analysis, and user experience components that would make it possible to create in the real world. Ultimately, these courses and the projects I created in them allowed me to work towards a major tenant that I have in my career which is increasing information accessibility.

3.2 Design artifacts that give users voice in decision-making regarding critical programs, services, and resources for diverse communities.

In my work it is vital for me to give users a voice in decision-making. As described in PLO 1 and 2 I am constantly asking for feedback via surveys related to new technology, user experience, and efficiency of standards and workflows in my department. This also relates to the frequent use of beta-testing groups for the aforementioned trials of workflows and technology in my area of expertise. An example of this work can also be seen in my IST 681: Metadata final project on Application Domain. In this project I worked to create a metadata space through XML schemas and standards in making a digital repository of study samples held in my department at the Met from conservation work done in the past on art objects in the museums collections. Through speaking to my staff, who represent an academic group of patrons, as well as recognizing that the public may want to access this information, I made sure that the metadata standards were user friendly in their terminology, making words easier to understand and less technical, or when they had to be technical, providing simplifying definitions. Ultimately, it is important for me to make sure that users are given a voice when it comes to making decisions related to standards, and accessibility of resources in my current work, and beyond.

3.3 Critique existing designs to expose instances of inequity and injustice and move toward mitigation and repair.

It is important to make sure we are always evaluating the work we do, and the intricacies that can be intertwined in colonial and unjust systemic standards. An example of this work can be seen in my final project for IST 613, where I propose a recommendation to the Met’s archives to create a digitization project for an IMLS intern to make provenance documents related to restituted objects available on the museum’s website. This proposal addresses a major area of inequity in museums, looted art usually from underrepresented source countries. The project that I proposed allows the museum to be transparent with the general public, allowing for trust to be gained from many stakeholders including people who identify in the groups represented by the source countries of the looted art. Work like this is something I strive to do, and continue to do in my museum and library career.

Discussion of Learning Transfer:

These experiences have allowed me to learn how to design, and innovate to create equitable, just and engaging information artifacts. Specifically for the work that I do in databases and museum archives, I will focus on systems, resources, and technologies. In order for my work to be effective, the users need to be able to follow the standards I create in order to photograph objects as they are being treated. If there are new technologies in camera capture or editing software or new physical camera equipment, it is my responsibility to my staff to create a proposal for purchase. Equitable design in my work relates to advocating for my users (art conservators) to be able to do the most technologically advanced work they can, especially because other institutions look to us as an industry standard. This also means that I have a responsibility to the industry to keep up with changing technologies.