Bringing User-Centered Design to the Field of Language Archives

Bringing User-Centered Design to the Field of Language Archives

Curation

Within this academic journal, Wasson et al provides the reader with both research and findings from their self-conducted workshop that sparks conversation between “fields of user-centered design (UCD) and language archives” (Wasson et al). Within the article itself, there is emphasis on the challenges of digital archiving in regard to language archiving, navigating cultural practices, and then using the understanding of these concepts to make informed archive design decisions. These concepts all arise within their workshop, “User-Centered Design of Language Archives.” Specifically, a very important discovery that is made within the workshop is how, “most language archives are not meeting the needs of most users” (Wasson et al).
I found the information within this article and, further, within their study, to be extremely informative of and pertinent to the study of digital archiving and the challenges that arise from the format of language. The focus on the user and user-based design is a step towards personalizing and adapting existing archives while also setting a new standard for language archives. As mentioned prior, this study not only analyzed existing archives, but it also uncovered flaws within the archiving practice. This showcases the relevancy and need for this study and I believe it also warrants the inclusion of such an item within the showcase.

Wasson, Christina
Holton, Gary
Roth, Heather S.

University of Hawaii Press

2016-11-16

Meagan Roge

Online Journal

ISSN: 1934-5275

Wasson, Christina, Gary Holton, and Heather S. Roth. “Bringing User-Centered Design to the Field of Language Archives.” University of Hawaii Press, (2016): 0-41. Accessed April 8, 2020.
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