At my internship, I have relied on storyboarding and prototyping. Storyboarding and paper prototyping go hand in hand. As a DPH student, I have used storyboarding as a means of paper-prototyping the layout and design of my prototype omeka sites and collections. This was invaluable because this type of planning process allowed me to consider the visual interactives I would use on my site for the purpose of engaging and entertaining site visitors. Storyboarding has carried onto my internship because I was brought on to develop educational resources for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 

I storyboarded potential learning modules to assist CFCH’s mission to become more of an educational tool. I used Canva as the platform to make storyboards. I drafted dynamic web pages to serve as the basis for my learning modules. How did I do this? I used Canva’s website template to draft out how users will find and access the learning modules. I took many screenshots of the current Folklife website and edited in text that would fit within existing Folklife content. All of the dynamic web pages I simulated serve as the prototype for my CFCH Educational Resource project.

My learning modules are displayed as web pages that include instructions and  downloadable interactives such as Canva slideshows and worksheets. To go along with making CFCH more of an educational resource, I took existing CFCH articles  and modified them with guided reading questions for students to answer. I even developed an idea to reuse the audience activities featured in Folklife Festival programs and adapt them into my learning modules. 

From my studies and intern experience, I learned it’s valuable to receive feedback on prototypes to make necessary improvements. I conducted eligibility testing for the National Museum of the American Indians Native Knowledge 360. There I could see how prototype eligibility testing is conducted and what kind of feedback can be received. I also attended an SI staff learning series event with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. There I learned how much the museum conducts almost immediate paper prototyping to improve their exhibits. I was taken by how much qualitative and quantitative data collection is done at museums to improve their own initiatives. Next week, I will receive feedback on my prototype from CFCH staff members who were involved in creating the Smithsonian Folkways Music Pathways.I do not think my learning modules will manifest into something Folklife Magazine will actually utilize because no one has pushed for it to be used. Nevertheless, it’s still valuable to receive feedback for it and build my digital portfolio. Ultimately, I have not noticed much difference between theory and practice at my internship. My experiences with prototyping, eligibility testing and hearing from museum curators have proven that prototyping is a necessary and important part of museum curation.