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Activating Networks, Gathering Knowledge

3 cr. course created by Avrie Allen
2026

Course description:

This course investigates how web-based archives can be used to gather inspiration and conduct research for creative practices. Using surveys and hand-coded websites (HTML and CSS) to gather publicly-sourced submissions, students will respond through an open-ended final project. We will critically examine how community archives can counter harmful narratives, combat erasure of / preserve identity and culture, engage collective memory, consider personal experience, or reveal unanticipated insights about a topic, whether new or old to your practice.

The course combines studio practice, lectures, readings, and discussions. Students will be introduced to key figures to provide examples of how web-based archives can inform and be a part of creative bodies of work beyond the course. Guest speakers Rebecca Fasman, curator at the Kinsey Institute, and Dr. Kennedi Johnson from the Visiting Room Project will provide insight to the real-world implications of archival practices, providing examples of slow, counter-, and large-scale institutional archiving. Experimentation and the cultivation of a collaborative studio culture are emphasized in the classroom as students explore how situated knowledge, lived experience, and varying perspectives can generate new insights for creative work.

Open to all disciplines and grade levels.

Taught:

• RISD Wintersession 2026
  Instructor of record in the graphic design department. Wintersession classes are primarily engaging students outside of the departments they are taught in.

Select Final Projects:


Select Survey Flyers / Posts: