Ever meet someone at a professional gathering and just instantaneously have that feeling like, “We are going to work together on something. I do not know what that will be, or when that will happen, but it will be AMAZING”? Yeah, me too. It’s one of the things I like most about going to conferences: meeting new people, getting that feeling, and making those projects happen. Whether it’s a panel proposal for the next year’s conference, or an article you write together, or a grass-roots film preservation effort that goes on to win a major award for archival advocacy, putting your head together with people who are really simpatico and seeing what you can cook up is kind of magical.
The latest of those brain-fruits is ripening for me this July, in Portland, when I finally get to collaborate with my cherished friend and colleague Amelia Abreu on an exciting new UX Night School workshop for archivists and their ilk. I first met Amelia at the inaugural Archival Education & Research Institute in Los Angeles yonks ago and I’ve ardently followed her on every possible channel since then. She’s a writer whose work never fails to provoke my thoughts, a woman in tech who works with major-label clients, and a human of genuine grace and dignity (and humor, let’s not forget humor). Although the work we each do day-to-day is pretty different, professionally we’re both under the star sign of Janus the Archivist. So we’re cooking up a learning experience to tap some of this Velma Kelly-Roxie Hart-type chemistry.
If you happen to be coming to Portland for SAA’s annual meeting, the timing of our GLAM Weekend Intensive makes it a perfect lead-in for the conference — as does the focus of the workshop, which will be all about user-centered design as a set of principles that cultural heritage organizations like galleries, libraries, archives, and museums can really use. (If you’re not clear on why GLAM professionals desperately need UX skills, I’ve listed a few very good reasons here in a guest post on the UXNS blog.)
Enrollment is limited, tuition is very reasonable, and I seriously doubt you’ll find a friendlier introduction to UX…let alone one led by two people so excited to finally be teaching together. Register here.
Snowden Becker 