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Category: Communication

Description: How are we archiving and providing access to non-traditional art and design theses work? Through the National Digital Stewardship Residency Art program, the Maryland Institute College of Art is looking to develop and share a new model for the acquisition, preservation, and access to art and design theses by collaborating with students and faculty. Preservation of art and design theses presents particular issues as flattened images and video stills embedded in PDFs are not an accurate representation of works of art. As new and complex media is integrated into art and design work, we will need to provide better access to media to showcase student work in a way that’s authentic, accessible and discoverable. As per the current workflow, digital media such as high resolution images, moving images, and interactive and 3D media are submitted to the institutional repository as supplemental materials. But are “supplemental materials” really supplemental? Or are we really putting away the essence of student artwork on USBs and CDs while displaying textual explanations of visual art? This session hopes to illustrate how art is the essence of theses work and expound on the importance of supporting the integration of technology into artwork and the development of a process that allows for true engagement with this material. The session will focus on the themes of collaboration and responsibility, awareness of post-production digital archival work, and the possible impact of implementing new digital preservation strategies of theses work as students and faculty start to see the potential ways in which their work may become openly accessible online.