2022:Submissions/Reimagining Curation through Open Knowledge


  • Language: English
  • Status: Live

Speaker(s)

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Amanda Figueroa
Sadik Shahadu

Abstract

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The open knowledge and open access movements enable curatorial work to happen in new ways. This workshop is designed to introduce participants to the new opportunities for curating open access collections through the Curationist platform as well as other online tools.
Beginning with an interrogation of our project name, Curationist, this panel will first explore the latent power dynamics involved in “curation” as a field that historically has been used to emphasize the power of colonial empires since the establishment of the British Museum in 1753. Using our own platform as an example, we will lay out our internal thinking about how the word “curation” in Curationist is understood, critiqued, and ideally rebalanced or reclaimed by the co-created metadata tools of our platform and by the open knowledge movement at large.
From there, we will engage participants in a series of activities using the Curationist platform to explore how the open knowledge field can bring in principles of indigenous data sovereignty, community engagement, and decolonization practice. Participants will be coached through the curatorial process to develop their own collections of open access images that speak to their interests and expertise.
By the end of this workshop, participants will learn how to create their own collections as a way of advancing these goals in open knowledge. Breakout rooms for the activities session will give participants the option to work in English or Spanish language settings.

Learning Outcomes

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Gain familiarity with open access art collections and digital tools for online curatorial work
Understand how the open knowledge movement is pushing curatorial work forward in new ways
Explore how metadata in general, and OpenGLAM metadata in particular, can be a site for decolonial and critical engagement
Empower Wikimedians to contribute to discourse around cultural artifacts
Learn more about Curationist and how they can be involved

Biography

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Amanda Figueora is Curationist’s Community Director. She is based in Boston and was raised at the US-Mexico border. Amanda’s finishing her PhD in American Studies at Harvard and has fifteen years of experience in public programs, content management, and web design. At Curationist, Amanda leads in building awareness, engagement, and encouraging connections between large arts-based institutions and underserved and grassroots cultural heritage communities. The goal is to bring together these different types of stakeholders to inform the future of Curationist.

Sadik is the social media manager for Curationist. He is a West African language coordinator at Art+Feminism and Co-Founder and executive director of the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group.