Aug 29, 2023 Natalie Slater, Spring 2023 DM Graduate Fellow

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?

My Digital Matters project built on my research for the Environmental Humanities graduate program. As part of my work as a Mellon Community Engagement Fellow, I created the Embodied Ecologies working group program for artists in conjunction with Art Access, a local nonprofit focused on increasing creative opportunities for disabled artists. Made up of artists working in a wide variety of mediums, the Embodied Ecologies cohort met regularly to collaboratively build an installation of works related to disability, environmental health, and practices of resilience and community care. For my Digital Matters Residency project, I used accessible web design to create a digital exhibit and archive of these artworks on the Marriott Library’s OmekaS platform.

Prior to my Digital Matters project, the Embodied Ecologies artists displayed their work in two in-person installations. In the creation of the art and exhibit spaces, the Embodied Ecologies group aimed to foreground accessible communication across ability. For example, the installations included hanging heights appropriate for wheelchair users and links to visual descriptions of the work. Nonetheless, an in-person installation is not accessible to many people, particularly with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By creating a digital exhibit, my primary aim was to expand the reach and accessibility of the Embodied Ecologies project. My Digital Matters project also speaks to the importance of preserving environmental narratives that center disabled experiences and responds to the exclusion of disabled populations from historic records, in terms of what stories are deemed worthy of preservation, who is able to access archival information, and who is welcome to contribute to archival records.

How did the Digital Matters Fellowship dovetail with your academic pursuits? What interested you in applying for this grant?

The Digital Matters fellowship was an essential aspect of my final project for my graduate program in Environmental Humanities. The Spring ‘23 Digital Matters cohort, including Rebekah Cummings, Kaylee Alexander, Laurie Larson, and Eliana Massey, were an important sounding board as I worked on the project. Rachel Wittman and Anna Neatrour taught me how to use OmekaS, and how to troubleshoot the software when I ran into challenges. Amanda Crittenden and Leah Donaldson were essential to the accessibility aspects of the digital exhibit.

I applied to the Digital Matters residency with the understanding that I didn’t have the time or skills to do this project alone. The residency provided me with more than I could have imagined. I gained mentors, friends, and new knowledge through this process. I could not have completed this project without the Digital Matters residency.

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

Throughout my Digital Matter’s residency, I went from being somewhat technophobic to designing my own website using OmekaS and HTML. I learned a ton about web accessibility, and the ways in which web accessibility intersects with the move away from a compliance-based approach to accessibility and towards a critical accessibility model. In this aspect of the project, I was inspired by the creators of the “Alt Text as Poetry,” Bojana Coklyat and Shannon Finnegan, Aimee Hamraie’s writing on critical access theory, and Mia Mingus’ concept of access intimacy. In digital and disability work we too often think of access as cold and perfunctory, just a box to check off. This project pushed my understanding of what the digital realm and digital accessibility can and should be. Something as simple as more personal alt text can make someone feel welcomed and valued–essential aspects of disability justice.

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

The Digital Matters lab is an exciting, open-minded, and creative space. I would encourage potential Graduate Fellows to think about digital scholarship broadly and beyond disciplinary boundaries. The many tools available through Digital Matters could intersect with your work in ways that surprise you. My biggest piece of advice would be to lean into that surprise and remain open to where it leads you.

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 knowledge in this area?

There are many important and ongoing conversations surrounding digital scholarship related to both disability and climate change. Heather Houser’s 2020 book Infowhelm: Environmental Art & Literature in an Age of Data provides a great jumping off point into the relationship between digital information and environmental thought. Artists and scholars within disability studies, such as Aimi Hamraie and Esther Ignagni, are thinking about how to harness digital tools in ways that extend critical access without defaulting to a curative mindset. I’m excited about work that considers how digital tools can help us understand and communicate the connections between climate change and disability, particularly when this work is rooted in asset-based, rather than deficit-based, thinking.