The ArtCenter Library, Interaction Design Department, and Designmatters invite you to a symposium exploring how designers can work with people with disabilities to improve the user experience and accessibility of digital archives.

Schedule

Opening remarks (1:00pm-1:20pm Pacific Time)

Where are we now? Understanding today's landscape for access to archives: tools & challenges. (1:20pm - 1:50pm PT). Moderator: Robert Dirig, Director, Archives and Special Collections, ArtCenter

Design logics and paradigms. Speaker: Joshua Halstead (Assistant Professor, ArtCenter)

Archives guidelines: featuring members of the Society of American Archivists Accessibility and Disability Section. Speakers: Michelle Ganz (Archivist at History Factory), Dr. Lydia Tang (Archivist of the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections at Michigan State University), Sara White (Disability Rights Activist and Archivist)

The Human Experience: perspectives from archivists, users and designers with a range of disabilities (1:50pm - 2:20pm PT). Moderator: Robert Dirig, Director, Archives and Special Collections, ArtCenter

Speakers: Michelle Ganz (Archivist at History Factory), Dr. Jeffrey Swada (Director of the Undergraduate Food Science Program and the liaison to the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University), Sara White (Disability Rights Activist and Archivist)

Q&A (2:20pm - 2:45pm PT)

BREAK (2:45pm - 3:15pm PT)

Emerging Directions: Spotlighting innovative projects using accessible technology (3:15pm-4:45pm PT). Moderator: Maggie Hendrie, Chair, Interaction Design and Graduate Media Design Practices, ArtCenter

Speakers: Jasmine Clark (Digital Scholarship Librarian, Temple University), Elizabeth Guffey (Professor of Art and Design History and Head of the MA Program in Art History at the State University of New York, Purchase College), Sara Hendren (artist, design researcher, writer and Professor at Olin College of Engineering), Crystal Lee (PhD candidate at MIT)

Wrap-up (4:45-5:00pm PT)

The symposium is part of a grant-funded project from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and is held in conjunction with a spring studio class.

For more information on ArtCenter’s Reimagining Access, project addressing the technology needs of persons with disabilities, visit this page in the College’s newsroom.