Shift Design Inc

SHIFT DESIGN INC. SUPPORTS AND DESIGNS COMMUNITY-DRIVEN INITIATIVES TO BOOST SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND RESOURCE EQUITY.

DOCUMENTING THE NOW IS ONE OF OUR CORE PROGRAMS. FUNDED PRIMARILY BY THE MELLON FOUNDATION AND NOW IN ITS FOURTH YEAR, DOCNOW DEVELOPS TOOLS AND BUILDS COMMUNITY PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT THE ETHICAL COLLECTION, USE, AND PRESERVATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT. THIS PROJECT IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AND OTHERS.

IN 2023, SHIFT COLLECTIVE WILL BEGIN A THREE YEAR COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SUPPORTED BY A 2M AWARD FROM THE FILECOIN FOUNDATION FOR THE DISTRIBUTED WEB. MODELING SUSTAINABLE FUTURES: EXPLORING DECENTRALIZED DIGITAL STORAGE FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ARCHIVES WILL SPEND THE FIRST YEAR CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON THE ETHICAL, CULTURAL, AND TECHNICAL NEEDS OF SMALL CULTURAL MEMORY ORGANIZATIONS WHO STEWARD THE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS FOR DIVERSE COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD. THE PROJECT WILL FOCUS ON EXPLORING AFFORDABLE AND SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL STORAGE AND HOW A DECENTRALIZED STORAGE NETWORK MIGHT OFFER A VIABLE SOLUTION FOR THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS. BEGINNING IN 2023 SHIFT COLLECTIVE WILL SUPPORT THE ARCHIVING THE BLACK WEB (ATBW) PROJECT ON A THREE AND HALF YEAR 2.5 MILLION INVESTMENT FROM THE MELLON FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP WARC SCHOOL, A WEB ARCHIVING TRAINING PROGRAM FOR ARCHIVISTS AND MEMORY WORKERS AT BLACK COLLECTING ORGANIZATIONS, A RESEARCH PROJECT THAT WILL ATTEMPT TO MAP AND DEFINE THE BLACK WEB, AND CREATE SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE WEB ARCHIVING COLLECTIONS DOCUMENTING THE BLACK EXPERIENCE. THIS PHASE OF ATBW IS DRIVEN BY AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION TO ESTABLISH A MORE EQUITABLE AND ACCESSIBLE WEB ARCHIVING PRACTICE TO EFFECTIVELY DOCUMENT THE BLACK EXPERIENCE ONLINE. THE PARTNERS ON THE PROJECT ARE THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER (LEAD), SHIFT COLLECTIVE, SPELMAN COLLEGE ARCHIVES, THE AUBURN AVENUE RESEARCH LIBRARY ON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY, THE CENTER FOR COMMUNICATION, MEDIA INNOVATION, AND SOCIAL CHANGE AT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, AND THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LIBRARY. IN NOVEMBER OF 2023, WE'LL RECONVENE ARCHITECTING SUSTAINABLE FUTURES AT FIVE (ASF@5), A CELEBRATION, ASSESSMENT, AND AGENDA SETTING CONVENING FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ARCHIVES, THANKS TO GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM THE MELLON FOUNDATION. FIVE YEARS AGO, WE CONVENED 40 COMMUNITY-BASED ARCHIVES PROFESSIONALS AND FUNDERS TO LOOK AT HOW THESE ORGANIZATIONS COULD WORK TOGETHER FOR LONG-TERM FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY. THE FINDINGS HELPED SET THE STAGE FOR INCREASED COLLABORATION AND PEER NETWORKS, IMPORTANT CHANGES IN FUNDING TRANSPARENCY, AND NEW AND STREAMLINED FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES DIRECT TO SMALLER CULTURAL MEMORY ORGANIZATIONS DOING CRITICAL WORK IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. THIS YEAR, WE'LL TAKE THE TIME TO LOOK AT WHAT'S BEEN ACHIEVED AND LOOK AT HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER TO FURTHER THIS WORK IN THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS. REIMAGINE DESCRIPTIVE WORKFLOWS. WE WORKED WITH OCLC IN 2021 TO BRING TOGETHER A (VIRTUAL) INTERNATIONAL CONVENING TO, AS WE SAID, "PREPARE THE GROUND FOR AN INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT TO RADICALLY REIMAGINE DESCRIPTIVE WORKFLOWS THAT PROMOTE EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE PRACTICES AND REPRESENTATION IN CENTRAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS." OUR REPORT WAS MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE IN APRIL 2022, ALONG WITH OCLC'S CONTEXTUALIZATION AND FINDINGS FOR THE LIBRARY AND INFORMATION FIELD. NATIONAL FINDING AID NETWORK. WE JOINED THE CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY, CHAIN BRIDGE GROUP, OCLC, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY (UVA) ON THIS NATIONAL IMLS-FUNDED PROJECT TO INCREASE SHARING AND DISCOVERY OF ARCHIVAL MATERIALS. OUR WORK FOCUSED ON HOW THIS WORK CAN MEET THE NEEDS OF COMMUNITY-BASED ARCHIVES, AND OUR FINAL REPORT IS AVAILABLE HERE.

HISTORYPIN IS A FREE-TO-USE DIGITAL PLATFORM AND ENGAGEMENT METHODOLOGY NOW SERVING THE PUBLIC FOR OVER A DECADE. DESIGNED TO SHARE STORIES AROUND LOCAL HISTORY IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY, THE PLATFORM HAS BEEN UTILIZED BY OVER 4,000 CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. WITH SUPPORT FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, MAJOR WORK IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY TO REDESIGN THE USER INTERFACE AND RELAUNCH WITH A NEW TECHNICAL BACKEND IN 2022.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS FOR THE SMITHSONIAN ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN CENTER (APAC). OVER THE COURSE OF A YEAR, WE WORKED WITH APAC TO APPLY A GROUND-BREAKING AND DIVERSIFIED RESEARCH APPROACH THAT LEVERAGED THE ANALYSIS OF LARGE-SCALE MEDIA CONSUMPTION, ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH, AND COMMUNITY-CENTERED DESIGN TO INFORM PERMANENT EXHIBIT SPACE. OUR TEAM WAS AUGMENTED BY THE EXPERTISE OF MICHELLE MAGALONG OF ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICANS IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION, HARMONY LABS, AND GRETCHEN BARTON OF WORTHY STRATEGY.