Working in the digital public humanities requires creativity, research, innovation, prototyping and testing. I was reminded that it is necessary to be creative and conduct research in the field of digital humanities in order to discover solutions to a particular problem. For example, a particular problem my organization, Folklife magazine was having was finding a way to assist Folklife’s mission to become more of an educational resource. Consequently, I needed to brainstorm a solution for this problem. I knew that culture is an essential part of Folklife magazine but a formal definition and introduction of the concept was missing on its site. So, what better way to introduce students to Folklife than with lesson modules focused on defining culture and the other concepts that relate to it? 

Once I figured out a potential solution, I needed to research culture and pre-existing national standards applicable to the educational resources I would create. I relied on scholarly articles to help define culture and subtopics associated with it. I also relied on the C3 Framework to determine how assessment standards could be met through my designed lessons. My creativity led me to using Canva as my storyboarding tool. This storyboarding tool ultimately led me to taking screenshots of Folklife as a means of drafting out how learning modules could fit on the site. Plus, it helped me determine how pre-existing content on the site could work in an educational context. 

Prototyping and testing are essential parts of the digital public humanities. From what I have gathered, prototyping and testing can be great learning experiences for developers. For one, prototyping allows for product innovation. The Smithsonian Institute Speaker series allowed me to hear about how the Holocaust museum utilizes prototyping to transform and modify experiences for their patrons. They experimented with digital devices and even paper to see how patrons interact with the prototypes. It truly makes me understand how individuals in the digital public humanities should not be afraid to experiment and see how the public reacts to a potential idea. That said, from my conversations with individuals from the National Museum of the American Indians, it is clear that there is a lot of testing and vetting that goes into creating educational content. Creating educational content can take years of work due to the constant feedback that is needed to approve it. Plus, it’s important to make sure that content is not incorrect and treats its subject factually and respectfully. As a result of this experience, I am interested in how organizations outside of the Smithsonian conduct their research and projects to compare the speed of their vetting and approval processes to the Smithsonian.