Feb 10, 2023 Eliana Massey, Fall 2022 DM Undergraduate Intern

Briefly describe your project and the challenges, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome in the execution of it. What were the professional, academic, and personal motivations underlying your project?

I created an environmental volunteer engagement platform called Climate Hope. On this Airtable platform, environmental organizations in Utah can post volunteer opportunities and prospective volunteers can filter opportunities based on skills (such as social media or public speaking) and specific climate interests (such as clean air or renewable energy). This project was in partnership with the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) which is preparing a new permanent exhibit called A Climate of Hope.  

One of the main challenges of this project was working within the confines of Airtable which was designed for data management and/or employment management. I explored other options, but none of them offered the same backend usability. Airtable made it simple to create a form that organizations could fill out to automatically populate a public platform with volunteer opportunities. 

Implementation within A Climate of Hope will likely include some or all of the following: integration in the NHMU’s website and social media, signage at the end of the exhibit, integration into a digital interactive, demonstrations by gallery interpreters, and community engagement programming including inviting local environmental organizations to table within the exhibit. It was challenging to design this platform without knowing exactly how it would be implemented, but I’m grateful for the willingness of the NHMU to find the best ways to sustainably implement my model. 

This project developed at the intersection of my professional and academic interests. I’m highly interested in working in an informal learning setting like a museum in the future to engage communities around important topics like climate science. In pursuit of this goal, I created an interdisciplinary Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Museum Studies through the Bachelor of Undergraduate Studies (BUS) program. I’m also majoring in Philosophy of Science with an emphasis in Anthropology as well as pursuing certificates in Digital Culture and Community Engagement. 

How did the Digital Matters Undergraduate Student Internship dovetail with your academic pursuits? What interested you in applying for this fellowship?

I started pursuing the Digital Culture certificate during Fall 2022. I felt like the Digital Matters reading group beautifully complimented my Introduction to Digital Culture coursework. The combination made me feel more confident to learn new skills and explore new tools. 

In Summer 2022, I participated in the University of Utah’s Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). I worked with a team of graduate students under Dr. Matthew Basso, the principal investigator on a multi-year World War II home front history project for the National Park Service (NPS). During the summer, I expressed interest in Digital Matters to Dr. Basso because I knew he was a 2021 faculty grantee for a project related to the NPS World War II home front research. I also spoke with one of the graduate students on my research team, John Flynn, a former Digital Matters graduate fellow. I learned a lot about the supportive culture of Digital Matters through speaking with him. Digital Matters ended up being a perfect fit for me and my interests. 

What insights have you gained in regard to your specific field as a result of your project and fellowship experience?

I worked closely with the NHMU exhibition team on this project. This gave me a unique opportunity to understand the exhibition design process better. It made me more interested in exhibition design in general. This project also encouraged me to think more about how digital tools can be used in informal learning settings like museums not just to educate but also to build community and organize action around a specific cause.  

What would you tell potential undergraduate internship applicants to help them shape their own digital scholarship project?

The Digital Matters internship is an incredibly unique undergraduate internship. It is structured similarly to a graduate fellowship in the sense that it involves a lot of independent work and enables you to plan and pursue your own research. One of the things that I’ve enjoyed the most about this internship is the opportunity to collaborate with people that I might not work with otherwise due to a lack of funding. 

I would advise potential undergraduate internship applicants to think about potential partnerships when structuring a digital scholarship project. I organized the partnership with the NHMU exhibition team before I specified the details of my project. After undertaking a comprehensive literature review of climate change education in informal learning environments and consulting with the exhibition team, I developed nearly 10 project ideas. I relied on feedback from the exhibition team and Digital Matters community to select my final project idea. Beginning with a partnership helped me to set criteria and constraints on my project in collaboration with community members. This gave me more confidence that my research was relevant. The partnership also helped me have support and accountability during the process. 

What do you see as the upcoming important issues surrounding digital scholarship in your field? What areas/issues could students and scholars investigate to extend the knowledge in this area?

I think that nonprofits and/or institutions like museums, libraries, and archives should consider how to use social digital tools for more than just marketing. How can new digital tools and platforms be designed for community engagement that is centered on knowledge and collaboration rather than profit? Likewise, how can existing digital tools be adapted or reimagined for different purposes?