05 - 030ADV26R0021 - Li - Concept Paper - redacted.pdf

Activities and stories from the digital collections of the Library of Congress

Vivian Li Library of Congress Innovator in Residence x

March 4, 2024

Anywhere Adventures Education | Art | Discovery

No limitations on any intellectual property, no proprietary software or data restrictions

I will:

- Search across digital collections for materials in each subject, targeting geographical areas where people might not typically think of the Library of Congress as having benefits for them (such as rural or distant places). The goal will be to distill from dense collections the fun stories that can be found within them and share those stories with people where they are.

– Create activities that entice users by teaching them interesting things or encouraging their creativity.

– Explore innovative ways to incorporate phone hardware to create activities that canʼt be done with pencil + paper, such as stitching photos with elements from library materials, using hardware sensors like accelerometers or microphone, or creating videos mixed with library audio.

Examples of Library collection items and activities they could inspire

User experience lifecycle – from activity development to user discovery

Approach

Research is done to find stories and potential adventures in the Libraryʼs digital holdings.

Self-guided adventures that can be experienced at home or in person are posted to the website.

Videos are created to explain the cool stories and how people can experience it themselves.

Inspired by the adventure guide, viewers go on an outing with friends and experience the Library contents in an accessible and fun way.

With an introduction to some available materials, users can explore more items on the LoC website themselves.

AA AA

Creation and curation Exploration by users

Activity Visit the Fuller Dome Home in Carbondale, Illinois or the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability in Edwardsville, Illinois.

At-home option Find a dome near you! They can be found in botanic gardens, as playground equipment, or at science centers, for example.

Richard Buckminster Fuller & Anne Hewlett Fuller Dome Home, 407 South Forest Avenue, Carbondale, Jackson County, IL

Owen W. Siler, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard v.

Nicholas A. Ernser, Appellant

Visit Sit along Carquinez Strait and log the boats that you see passing over the course of 30 minutes.Story R. Buckminster Fuller patented the geodesic dome whose use can be found throughout the US from playground equipment to the Epcot dome.

Story The SS GULFKNIGHT destroyed and set ablaze a pier along the Carquinez Strait (which is connected to the San Francisco Bay) when trying to avoid two boats.

At-home option Find the strait on vesselfinder.com and see what boats have passed, where theyʼve come from, and what types they are.

OR

Find a working area of water near you and observe the kinds of boats you see.

Concept

Anywhere Adventures is a website providing guided activities and fun missions for people to learn stories of the areas near them. Activities will be collected around subjects focused on a geographical area, such as rural Illinois, Michiganʼs Upper Peninsula, or the Puget Sound.

Alternative at-home activities will be created for every guided adventure and allow people to learn about other parts of the country.

Short form videos will be created to share the stories and introduce the website for users to experience on their own. Social media algorithms encourage local content and educational videos, making this an effective way to inform, entertain, and attract site visitors.

Why is it transformational?

The Library of Congress digital collections are a treasure trove of interesting anecdotes but are extremely dense and intimidating to navigate. By bringing people funny and awesome stories about places they can experience firsthand, we can introduce users to what is available in the libraryʼs collections in an engaging way.

By building trust with users first and inspiring an internal motivation, we will encourage them to invest time into learning how to navigate the libraryʼs collections and make discoveries that they want to share as well.

Intended audience

This project is intended to reach young people who are not necessarily researchers, but have curiosity for the world around them.

– Research and initial content drafting 3 months: Identify 6 - 8 subject areas to create adventures for with the goal of having as wide a breadth as possible. Find collection pieces and brainstorm creative activities.

– Platform development (version 0) 2 months: Initial design and features of the website.

– Upload one story + testing .5 months: Have one complete adventure uploaded and polished and test the user experience and basic functionality of the website.

– Platform development (version 1) 2 months: From testing and content development, refine the website and explore more complex hardware integrations.

– Finalize content 2 months:Write final copy, illustrations, and bug fixes to work well on the website.

– Create videos + public engagement 1 month: Record, edit, and release at least one video for every adventure. Each video will tell the story behind the library item that inspired each activity and invite viewers to try exploring for themselves.

*with 1 month of buffer where needed.

Designing for accessibility and sustainability

– The project will be a mobile-first website for highest accessibility. Mobile traffic accounts for at least 50% of the total web traffic[1], and smartphones are more accessible to lower income households[2]. Building on the web instead of an app means a download is not required and is more resistant to the deprecation of hardware.

– The website will be built on a stack of React, NextJS, and deployed on Vercel, which is stable and offers a free tier for web hosting.

– Storage will all be done locally on the usersʼ web browser so that no accounts are needed and security is less of a concern (since no user data will be stored on a server).

– Iʼve worked with designers and accessibility professionals in the past, and I can build a website that goes beyond the minimum requirements in using accessible color, sizing, navigation, touch targets, and more to create a better user experience for everybody.

Dependencies + risks:

-- Connecting with audience is dependent on social media algorithms.

– Selecting subject matters that would serve people in geographic areas where there arenʼt many exisiting organizations that provide cultural or historic information may be challenging.

[1] Mobile vs Desktop Usage Statistics for 2024

[2]Digital divide persists even as Americans with lower incomes make gains in tech adoption

I am a software developer, comics artist, and educator. I graduated with a bachelorʼs degree in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and my art has been displayed with the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Shunpikeʼs Storefronts program in Seattle, and published in various anthologies.

Capability and experience

Schedule and estimated budget

This proposed schedule estimates the amount of time needed for each milestone but are not necessarily done serially.

With this schedule allowing for 1400 hours of work at a rate of $60/hour, I estimate the budget to be $85,000, which includes travel, lodging, and development costs.

The Explore AANHPI Heritages website is a map-based storytelling platform to share the stories of AANHPI people living in the Pacific Northwest. It was created in partnership with the Wing Luke Museum, National Parks Service, National Forest Service, and a task force of community members.

– I worked as the only developer and designer with artists to build a platform that could properly display their works. The first set of Khmer American stories were released at the end of 2023.

MakeCode Software Engineer

– As a web engineer, created a very complex site with an approachable interface.

– Ran a daily livestream for students to learn how to code.

Teaching Artist with Seattle Arts and Lectures

– I work with students from 2nd grade through 11th grade in Seattle area public schools to teach storytelling techniques and creative expression through comics.

Seattle Department of Transportation Fremont Bridge Artist in Residence

– Sitting in the tower of the iconic Fremont Bridge, I created an interactive website highlighting how many things interact with the Fremont Bridge and drew stories from vast data sets.

– I started off with learning the history of the Fremont Bridge by visiting the Seattle Municipal Archives. The things I discovered there were so cool, so I recorded a set of Instagram reels that shared its history and operation. It’s virality and success in Seattle showed me that there is a desire to learn about local history but a lack of time and resources to sift through huge amounts of files.

– I exhibited the project at King Street Station with interactive elements, asking visitors to create their own data visualization and contribute in making the art.

Firmware Engineer with Microsoft Surface

– I worked as the primary developer for the Surface Pro X Typecover and wrote low level code to interact with sensors and hardware components.

https://research.com/software/mobile-vs-desktop-usage https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ https://www.exploreaanhpiheritages.org/ https://arcade.makecode.com/ https://lectures.org/youth-programs/wits/ https://vivianlikesfruit.com/bridge https://vivianlikesfruit.com/bridge https://www.instagram.com/p/C2QkCBTPY6w/ https://www.instagram.com/p/C2QkCBTPY6w/