We are delighted to introduce two individuals who are joining the AAI / Open Context team to lead our Data Literacy Program, a new undertaking supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Data Literacy Program aims to widen and diversify uses of cultural heritage data by crafting open access “data stories” backed by deeper layers of open and reproducible analytic and visualization code, as well as primary research data. The postdoctoral researchers bring their individual expertise and diverse backgrounds to this new, multi-year collaboration building data stories and scaffolding to guide professionals, students, and lifelong learners in thoughtful engagement with research data.
Meghan Dennis (PhD, University of York) is collaborating to develop the Data Literacy Program as Postdoctoral Researcher for Data Interpretation and Public Engagement. Meghan brings a background in digital archaeological ethics and the impacts of ethical representations of archaeology in interactive media, 20+ years in archaeological and heritage field practice, teaching at the secondary and collegiate level, and experience within the video-game industry. Currently, Meghan is an ethics officer with the Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) organization, where she was involved in designing and implementing the organization’s first code of ethics, and is a member of the organization’s Code of Conduct working group. Combining her interests in public education, ethical practice, and games media, Meghan aims to develop further research in how the use of interactive media can influence youth participation in ethical interactions with heritage and archaeology.
Paulina F. Przystupa joins us as Postdoctoral Researcher in Data Visualization and Reproducibility. Paulina is of Filipine and Polish descent and a settler in North America. She studied at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA) where she earned a B.A. (2012) majoring in History and Anthropology. She earned her M.A. (2014) at the University of New Mexico, which is where she is completing her PhD in Anthropology (2021). She is working on her dissertation examining the relationship between the built environment and the cultural education of children. Beyond her academic work, Paulina has worked in cultural resource management in both Australia and the United States as a field technician, assistant cartographer, and lab technician. She is also a research associate of the Indigenous Digital Archive. She also writes about and reviews comics, movies, and shows at WWAC and moderates panels at popular culture conventions bringing an anthropological and academic perspective to popular media.
