Paulina Budzioch – Digital Engagement in NY Museums

Technology initiatives have become increasingly pervasive in museums today and their presence has been as much daring and innovative as perplexing and even unsettling. In part, my project research has focused on case studies of cultural institutions that have implemented a variety of digital platforms within their galleries and how the application of these technologies can potentially encourage cross departmental collaboration.

The enrichment fund grant allowed me to travel to New York and experience a number of these digital platforms in person at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. The interviews I conducted at these institutions laid the foundation for my subsequent thesis work with my partner, Caitlin Deutsch, about how interdisciplinary teams collaborate on digital projects using a variety of planning methodologies.