SFU Galleries Digital Strategic Plan, 2024

The strategic priorities for SFU Galleries from 2020 to 2025 are focused on enhancing the role of art and galleries within the university and beyond. Here's a summary of the main strategic directions:

• Integrating Complex Art and Ideas:
  SFU Galleries aims to center complex art and ideas while maintaining an aesthetic focus. They plan to support the galleries as public spheres for discourse and expand the role of visual art in public spaces at SFU.
• Distinct Character of Each Gallery:
  The strategy involves defining the unique character of each SFU Gallery and its contributions to the overall mission. This includes understanding the offerings and audiences of each site and balancing resource needs.
• Advocacy for Art and Galleries:
  There's an emphasis on advocating for art and SFU Galleries at the university level and beyond, building champions within academic and external relationships, and connecting art to pedagogical learning experiences.
• Role as Host/Guest/Settler:
  SFU Galleries seeks to explore its role in the context of host, guest, and settler, specifically focusing on Indigenous relations and expanding the impacts of their actions over mere words.
• Foundation for New Art Museum:
  They aim to use the strengths of SFU Galleries to prepare for a new art museum, including determining governance and collaborating with partners.

In the broader context, SFU Galleries engages in various programs, including exhibitions, publications, and events. The three distinct galleries — SFU Gallery, Audain Gallery, and Teck Gallery — collectively steward a significant collection of over 5,500 artworks.

SFU Galleries operate under the values of innovation, legacy, diversity, criticality, and excellence. They focus on engagement and education through visual art, caring for the SFU Art Collection, and promoting the public presentation of visual art. Their goals revolve around increasing coherency and visibility for SFU Galleries, making them dynamic centers for art practices and ideas.

The following chapter reviews the overall strategic priorities through a Digital and Digital accessibility lens. It seeks to show how a digital strategy can help achieve these priorities or how the digital implementation may require specific actions or attention.

Accessibility must be a key digital priority for 2024; it's crucial to recognize this objective's expansive and multifaceted nature. To this end, the author has revisited the 2020-2025 priority statements through a focused lens on accessibility. This thorough review demonstrates how SFU Galleries can effectively implement accessibility as a distinct and cohesive priority. Furthermore, it highlights the various subtle yet impactful approaches to achieving accessibility while encouraging engagement and click-through rates for all visitors. This strategy underscores SFU and SFU Galleries' commitment to inclusivity and the diverse ways it can be realized within their digital initiatives.

1.3.1. Integrating Complex Art and Ideas: Accessibly

SFU Galleries aims to center complex art and ideas while maintaining an aesthetic focus. They plan to support the galleries as public spheres for discourse and expand the role of visual art in public spaces at SFU.

SFU Galleries will prioritize academic language and aesthetics internally and prioritize simple and accessible language externally. Developing resources and language that first welcomes public participation gives agency to audiences to further engage with complex art and ideas at their own pace.

Putting Accessibility Into Practice:

Share complex ideas, then break them down.

Provide a reading, grade level key, or summarize reading time.

Create plain language summaries.

Provide guiding questions.

Link to support materials or central location for resources or facility information

Share call to action to ask questions (contact information).

Example in Context:

Exhibition Summary (website)

Recommendations

credit: Guadalupe Martinez: Sensorial Visualities: Embodying Together and Alone. Installation documentation, SFU Gallery, 2023. Photos: Rachel Topham Photography. (alt tags: none/unnecessary - they are decorative)

Seven carousel images, credit: Guadalupe Martinez: Sensorial Visualities: Embodying Together and Alone. Installation documentation, SFU Gallery, 2023. Photos: Rachel Topham Photography. Image description summary: Photos of the artist and group of dancers in the gallery space, some in motion, some positioned in a circle. The vibe is calm.
Provides screen-reader/low vision participation and allows for low-bandwidth/lack of high-speed participation.

Guadalupe Martinez: Sensorial Visualities: Embodying Together and Alone

Guadalupe Martinez: Sensorial Visualities: Embodying Together and Alone

June 13 - September 8, 2023

June 13 - September 8, 2023

SFU Gallery

SFU Gallery, Burnaby
(would link to SFU Galleries Information and Access Page)

Sensorial Visualities is less a formal exhibition than a proposition to learn together, differently. Drawing on her expansive multi-disciplinary, empathy-led, and haptics-focused artistic practice, Guadalupe Martinez creates an intervention on SFU's Burnaby Mountain campus that challenges inherited models of Western academia to explore ways of learning that encourage vulnerability over mastery, community over competition, and embodied presence over detached consumption. Her effective process, which will include movement workshops, listening experiments, shared readings, experimental writing, and collaborative performance—all informed by invited guests' knowledge of somatics, esoterica, dance, philosophy, and Indigeneity—will open to the public as a site for sustained dialogue and the material record of a collaborative research effort.

This project's germination began in a 2021 curatorial seminar led by SFU Galleries Director Kimberly Phillips, whose students developed the outline for its realization. Their semester of discussions culminated in the question, “What does it mean to be a body in relation to this time and place?” Sensorial Visualities is the first in a series of projects that challenge presumed pedagogical frameworks and open the edges of the university classroom.

Simple Summary: "Sensorial Visualities" is more about learning together in new ways than being a typical art show. Led by artist Guadalupe Martinez, it's a project at SFU's Burnaby Mountain campus that encourages learning through feelings and experiences rather than just focusing on being the best or winning. It includes activities like movement workshops and listening sessions, inviting experts in various fields to contribute. This idea started in 2021 during a course led by SFU Galleries Director Kimberly Phillips. The main question they explored was, “What does it mean to be a body in relation to this time and place?” This project is the start of a series aiming to rethink traditional ways of teaching and extend learning beyond the usual classroom setting.

Abstract: Sensorial Visualities is less a formal exhibition than a proposition to learn together differently. Drawing on her expansive multi-disciplinary, empathy-led, and haptics-focused artistic practice, Guadalupe Martinez creates an intervention on SFU's Burnaby Mountain campus that challenges inherited models of Western academia to explore ways of learning that encourage vulnerability over mastery, community over competition, and embodied presence over detached consumption. Her effective process, which will include movement workshops, listening experiments, shared readings, experimental writing, and collaborative performance—all informed by invited guests' knowledge of somatics, esoterica, dance, philosophy, and Indigeneity—will open to the public as a site for sustained dialogue and the material record of a collaborative research effort.

This project's germination began in a 2021 curatorial seminar led by SFU Galleries Director Kimberly Phillips, whose students developed the outline for its realization. Their semester of discussions culminated in the question, “What does it mean to be a body in relation to this time and place?” Sensorial Visualities is the first in a series of projects that challenge presumed pedagogical frameworks and open the edges of the university classroom.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Guadalupe Martinez is an artist and educator now working in Vancouver, conscious of her presence on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples. Martinez makes works that reflect on art, pedagogy, and place with the hope of creating spaces of connection, care, discovery, and future dreaming. Interested in the complex relationships between history and memory, Martinez places the body at the centre of her work. Through somatic practices and collaborative actions, she looks for hidden narratives that may be foundational to individual and collective healing.

Artist: Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Guadalupe Martinez* is an artist and educator now working in Vancouver, conscious of her presence on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm , Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh, pronounce tSLAY-wah-tooth) Peoples. Martinez makes works that reflect on art, pedagogy, and place with the hope of creating spaces of connection, care, discovery, and future dreaming. Interested in the complex relationships between history and memory, Martinez places the body at the centre of her work. Through somatic practices and collaborative actions, she looks for hidden narratives that may be foundational to individual and collective healing.
*Linked as a tag to all content tagged with Guadalupe Martinez (including collections content), audio icon provides pronunciation, and name would be entered with the language defined for screen readers <lang xml:lang="es-AR">Guadalupe Martinez</lang>
** Coded to hide these characters on Screen Readers and skip everything except for one pronunciation. Alternatively, the gallery could have each host nation pronounced by a knowledge keeper and have it link to audio clips throughout the website.

Curated by Kimberly Phillips, with assistance from Teresa Donck-Matlock

Curated by Kimberly Phillips, with assistance from Teresa Donck-Matlock
Kimberly would be linked to a tag where all of her curated shows would be listed.

Event Listings:

Visit the gallery:
Open to the public, free .
Hours & access information*.
*(would be coded as a heading (h2 or h3) to allow screen readers and keyboard navigators to jump down to this information easily.)
**(would link to SFU Galleries Information and Access Page)

Event Listings*:
*(would be coded as a heading (h2 or h3) to allow screen readers and keyboard-only navigators to jump down to this information easily.)

Arash Khakpour and Emmalena Fredriksson: Falling into our senses

Arash Khakpour and Emmalena Fredriksson: Falling into our senses

Saturday, June 3 / 11am - 2pm

Saturday, June 3, *
11 AM - 2 PM PST
Free drop-in (no RSVP required)
*do not use slashes to separate content - consider how this is read on a screen reader.

SFU Gallery

SFU Gallery, Burnaby
(would link to SFU Galleries Information and Access Page)

The following list presents existing and ongoing advantages.

• Backed by the prestige and stability of Simon Fraser University,
• Access and management of SFU Arts Collection for use in programs and exhibitions,
• Collaboration with School of Contemporary Arts and Audain Visual Artists in Residency program,
• History of excellence in fostering and showcasing contemporary art that engages with social and political themes,
• Access to both physical locations and stable online environments,
• Access to national and provincial Arts grants with the designation of an arts institution,
• Established and documented operations (1970).

The following list presents existing and ongoing disadvantages that must be addressed.

• Potential complexity in implementing widespread digital changes,
• Limited or non-existing process documentation across departments,
• Conflicting primary targeted audiences,
• Confusion between SFU Galleries digital presence with the SFU Website portal (challenge to navigate and separate),
• Isolation of collections and collections manager within an inaccessible vault with limited wifi,
• Limited or seasonal support to address accessibility, primarily handled by communications, rather than a staff-wide priority,
• Casual approach to technology and personal device use without use policy, data collection, or compensation,
• Challenges in aligning digital strategy with existing traditional practices.

The following list presents forward-looking possibilities, emphasizing opportunities for growth and enhancement.

• Leveraging digital platforms to expand outreach and engagement,
• Utilizing digital tools to enhance the accessibility of art collections and exhibitions,
• Present its rich legacy of content cohesively alongside new programs presented with the new museum to new and excited audiences,
• Streamline operations and improve staff performance (and onboarding) through documentation,
• Engaging in co-learning projects with students for simple language translations in collaboration with archivists and communication professionals,
• Broaden audience engagement and inclusivity,
• Empower cultural ambassadors and funders with inclusive language to advocate for institutions and programs,
• Opportunity to lead in digital innovation within the art gallery sector.

The following list focuses on the institution's current and potential future challenges or risks.

• Rapidly evolving digital landscape requiring continuous adaptation,
• Risk damaging credibility and trust with audiences through broad accessibility or cultural safety statements without action, consistent effort, acknowledgement of learning process, or intention statements,
• Potential for increased competition in the digital space from other galleries and institutions,
• Potential for increased competition in the digital space from everything moving online - time starved audiences and overcapacity students,
• Risks associated with data security and privacy in digital systems, especially as it relates to personal device use.

The unified goal of the 2024 SFU Galleries' digital strategy, encompassing the four-phase approach, can be encapsulated in the following sentence:

As phase four concludes, SFU Galleries will ask whether or not they have met this goal.

• Is the SFU Galleries staff digitally fluent? If not, where are we struggling? What barriers do we face, and what knowledge do we need to feel more confident using digital technology and engaging online?
• Is the SFU Galleries content accessible to our core audiences? Is content professional but accessible generally at a grade 10 reading level as a point of entry to academic abstracts, publications, and resources? Does a non-visual audience understand visual media? Is sound media understood by a deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing, or non-auditory audience? Are key pieces of information placed in consistent locations, or are they stored in an easily found location? What barriers prevent SFU Galleries' audiences, ambassadors, and staff from making contact or providing feedback?
• Has SFU Galleries been innovative within their digital platforms or processes over the past year? Have they innovated within the arts sector? Are they innovative within the academic sector? What new tools or methods are being employed? What problems have been creatively solved or critiqued?
• Have online platforms changed externally for the better?
• Have digital processes changed internally for the better?

In phase one, SFU Galleries staff and partners will work to identify assets and materials and centralize their storage. Materials will be named, tagged, and organized so that content, materials, and documented processes can be catalogued and assessed, and missing content and documentation can be created. During this phase, online incomplete and placeholder archive materials are unpublished so that only the newest or recent materials are available for public interaction. The focus should be on the upcoming Museum and ongoing programs. This will help streamline the messaging and reduce the clutter as the new creative strategy is implemented. The additional benefit of this phase is that materials can be prioritized as the most important or timely to update and redesign through the new creative strategy, rather than overwhelming content and curatorial teams to update everything to the new look and design simultaneously. The timing is optimal with the move to a new website, where new site maps and content indexing will be required. Broken links can be managed through 404 pages, encouraging visitors to explore the new website and providing clear contact information for one-on-one communication during this transition.

Another asset that will be developed during phase one is a comprehensive style guide, which allows SFU Gallery staff and content writers to understand better when simple language or academic tone should be employed. It will delineate the practices and will allow for curators and artists to engage in academic language for abstracts, publications, study guides, and engagement with the academic community while allowing communications, programs, and archive teams to write adjacent and alternative texts for public invitations, exhibition details and event listings, and calls for advocacy from non-academic and or non-arts organizations, using simple and accessible language. However, these style guides will also encourage curators and artists to create accessibility tools that prioritize objectivity and clarity after presenting complex ideas. Artists and curators are better suited to create visual descriptions from a place of knowledge and understanding of presented practices, including communities engaged in academic discourse and with barriers to access. Knowing how and when to employ language and tone will be critical as changes from the creative strategy project are implemented, and the chance of confusing audiences is high. The goal is to keep public excitement and understanding as many changes are going on behind the scenes, and keeping external messaging consistent and easy to understand will be key.

Phase one will conclude with a reduced number of publically facing assets, a clear list of processes that need to be documented or created through governance and administrator teams, and a list of assets that will need to be worked on and updated before they can be published and shared with the launch of the new website. Once complete, grants can be sought to work with content writers to help develop documentation that will ensure the sustainability of this work.

Phase two will begin with a commitment to documentation. Process documentation is crucial for any organization for several reasons:

• Facilitates Onboarding: It provides new employees, contractors, or SFU students with clear guidance on procedures and expectations, speeding up their acclimatization and training process.
• Ensures Consistency: Documentation helps maintain consistency in how tasks are performed, leading to uniform quality and efficiency. This lets people know where to look, what to do, and where to ask questions.
• Improves Efficiency: Well-documented processes allow employees to quickly reference steps and requirements, reducing errors and time spent on repetitive explanations. It also allows staff to direct other team members to documentation rather than re-explaining processes that are already documented in a similarly uniform way to other departments. With smaller teams, it can feel like it is easier to ask another person for answers, but capacity is also a challenge with smaller groups. It is worth encouraging documentation for repeated tasks (such as exhibition abstracts or event listings) and encouraging the practice with students who need to work self-directed and distanced from the departments they are supporting.
• Knowledge Preservation: It captures organizational knowledge, preventing loss of information due to staff turnover or memory lapses. It acknowledges risk and allows for compassion and understanding when staff cannot work due to illness, injury, or other life events. It also allows for sharing knowledge and skills across departments and can help identify gaps in knowledge and skills that can be addressed through training or hiring.
• Aids in Compliance and Accountability: Documentation helps in meeting regulatory requirements and provides a clear trail for accountability and audit purposes. SFU and SFU Galleries strive towards making accessibility and respecting Indigenous protocol priorities, being clear on how to conform to best practices, respecting shared knowledge, and complying with legal policies.
• Enhances Communication: Clear documentation improves internal communication, ensuring everyone is on the same page. It also allows for multiple points of entry for people with different skills and capacities to process information. Tools such as speech-to-text readers, text translation tools, or AI summarizers can be used by staff and students to help process longer manuals.
• Facilitates Continuous Improvement: It provides a basis for reviewing and improving processes over time. In this, SFU Galleries develops a tangible performance indicator for the team and individual departments, which creates content which can be used to seek funding and resource support and puts specific actions or phases within a project about the whole. When processes are stalled, abandoning or skipping steps can be tempting; however, this can ultimately leave problems unsolved for the next cycle. While the initial writing of documentation may feel like a slowing down of efficiency, this dedication represents an investment and is perfectly timed before a major public-facing change.

As phase two continues, SFU Galleries will focus on enhancing accessibility and inclusivity through various content initiatives with particular attention to completeness and reducing redundancy. This includes translating existing materials into accessible language for the website, creating centralized landing pages where repeated content can live and be updated, and writing objective alt tags for images following WCAG best practices. SFU Galleries will develop creative visual descriptions that challenge traditional perspectives in fine arts, contributing to a broader cultural shift towards accessibility. Additional content projects will ensure that all video content has transcripts and captions, published media employs a minimum of A level WCAG 2.0 conformance, that detailed facility information is available for events and calls to participate, and that published artist names will have full character compatibility across both internal and external systems with pronunciation keys to acknowledge oral cultures, western bias, conflicts with accessibility tools and technology, and to respect and uplift creators within the international arts community. This effort will not only make SFU Galleries' content more accessible but also ensure consistency and clarity across all digital platforms.

During this phase, another maintenance event will occur within the ongoing File Maintenance Project. The focus here will be to review what data, between the initial consolidation and this event, is typically kept off central servers, see how SFU Galleries' internal data moves, and identify challenges and barriers to the upkeep of files and folder management. This offers an opportunity for staff to acknowledge that systems changes can be difficult and to encourage staff who continue to use personal devices or external hard drives to store data to consider the risks associated with this practice and set goals to move data to central servers. The next File Maintenance dates will be set in phase three and will be scheduled to take place after the launch of the new website and the new creative strategy has been fully implemented. It is expected that some chaos and confusion will occur during this transition, and staff will need time to adjust to new processes and systems. This is a normal part of change management and should be expected and planned for.

SFU Galleries will develop a password and app user name policy. A critical understanding of how tools (hardware and software) are being used both on and offsite using SFU Galleries assets and using personal devices by staff is critical. A centralized password program or monthly password change schedule must be considered. For any enterprise or corporate software use, staff should now use their SFU Galleries email address, rather than personal email addresses, to create accounts. This will help ensure that SFU Galleries can access and manage all accounts as staff change roles or leave the organization. It will also help protect staff should there be a data breach within the organization. This is a common practice in the corporate world and should be considered by SFU Galleries as they continue to grow and expand their digital presence and tools.

This phase will also include the introduction of accessible meeting processes when working online. An auto transcription tool, a consideration of accessible practices such as pronoun sharing, short visual descriptions, and the elimination of cross-talk will be practiced to both introduce the practice as a standard and to be more practiced when SFU Galleries welcomes new staff, artists, and audiences into digital meeting spaces.

This phase will conclude with each department reporting on the following:

• New Process Documentation, schedule for ongoing and new documentation,
• Tangible examples of integrating accessible language, simple language translation, and visual description into their work,
• Examples using new creative strategy templates, confirmation of style and format updates to email footers, letterhead, and database content,
• An up-to-date list of content or documentation that is next to update, translate, annotate, caption and transcribe, and publish,
• An honest report on how the file management project is going for their departments, any offsite or personal device use which both helps and hinders with keeping data centralized and available to all staff, capacity challenges, etc.

It is recommended that the new SFU Galleries website be launched before or concurrently with phase three starts.

Phase three will continue the momentum from phase two content updates and ultimately work towards and through the opening of the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum. It is assumed that the new SFU Galleries website will now be launched. Phase three will solidify practices that had begun in phases one and two and commit to following the processes outlined in the documentation created in phase two. Phase three will involve publishing archive and historical data, now updated and ready to be shared within the new SFU Website. They will facilitate communications initiatives announcing a more complete and integrated approach to the SFU Galleries websites and Collections database. It will welcome members of the public and students to activities, give feedback on these systems, and help reprioritize missing assets and materials based on need rather than staff pride or assumption. This phase welcomes new public feedback after two intense faces of background work to acknowledge the challenges and barriers previously identified in accessibility audits, community consultation, and the 2023 digital needs assessment.

Email footers, downloadable PDFs and plain documents, video content and audio recordings, and presentation decks should now all be using new templates. Governance teams will incorporate a check-in with staff during annual performance reviews to ensure this is now consistent across departments.

In this phase, any remaining assets that have not been translated or unpublished from public-facing digital platforms must be immediately removed or hidden to allow the new creative strategy and brand to take root and flourish effectively. These assets will be tagged for review - not deleted - and listed in priority sequence as new translation and content update projects with renewed funding become available to resource this work. While there will always be a hunger to provide the complete picture of work, in the launch year of the new Museum and Creative strategy, it is more important to provide a unified and singular direction to build relationships and trust with SFU Galleries' audiences.

Now, relationships and processes between departments should be clear, and we should be working with new design and content templates. Any old processes that continue to be used for efficiency due to resistance to change or comfort with the status quo should be documented and addressed by governance teams to be reviewed during the review phase of this strategy project.

The third File Mainteance event will complete the inaugural cycle of the ongoing File Mainteance Project. Governance teams and department leaders will better understand the time requirements and challenges associated with central file management and digital resource risks and needs. A staff-wide annual event will be scheduled to continue this work and to commit to ensuring data consolidation and documentation updates happen regularly. With that next File Maintenance event scheduled a year out, the phase three File Maintenance work should now catch any last stragglers who still need to be moved to central servers. This is a good time to review the password policy and to consider if a password manager should be employed to help staff manage their passwords and to ensure that passwords are not being shared or stored in insecure ways. This is also a good time to review the use of personal devices and to consider if staff should be compensated for the use of their devices or if they should be provided with devices that are managed by SFU Galleries.

This phase might lull in places after the labour-intensive and needs-focused structure of the first few phases, but this is to allow for these processes to be put into practice and allow for time to integrate the new creative strategy into daily operations. When all departments can confidently say they have incorporated these strategies into their processes and have completed the bulk of their documentation, phase three can wrap up, and phase four can begin. As departments wait for their colleagues to wrap up work during this phase, a time for reflection and dreaming should be encouraged. What new tools have been released in the past quarter that you and your department wish to try?

The final proposed phase of this strategy acknowledges the need to look back and process the work done. During this shorter phase, governance should schedule time to collect feedback from all departments to learn what has worked, what has created or been blocked by unsurmountable barriers, and what has failed. Failure does not necessarily mean that systems require change, but in collecting data that records failure, accurate risk assessments can be produced with realistic solutions moving forward.

While most business strategies do not highlight rest, this author wishes to acknowledge SFU Galleries' history of innovation and experimentation and be mindful that sometimes the best way to reflect is to rest. Work will continue and is perpetually moving forward, but it is a valuable strategy to plan for time to rest. The opening of the new Museum, the integration of a new creative strategy, the expansion of services, and the process and content-driven work recommended in this digital strategy is huge. SFU Galleries is a small team with big goals and dreams. It is recommended that time be planned throughout any strategy for rest. Still, when SFU Galleries makes it to the phase four milestone, it is important to rest so that the reflection period isn't only focused on critical or negative feedback. As a socially and politically engaged institution to which many students, arts, and pedagogical organizations look, it is valuable to show that rest is respect and that hard work in community service should come with rewards beyond a project being completed.

The fourth File Mainteance event will complete the inaugural cycle of the ongoing File Mainteance Project, now an annual event programmed into the staff calendar. Governance teams and department leaders will better understand the time requirements and challenges associated with central file management and digital resource risks and needs. Process documentation will have been used for a year, and if not amended in real-time, time will be available to update the documentation to reflect the reality of the work. Any new technology projected or used by departments should be added to the documentation, and any costs associated with subscriptions should be provided to governance teams to budget for the forthcoming year. Documentation that needs to be created for new systems can be flagged as new projects, allowing for new co-learning opportunities with students, as needing resources and funding for the next year.

The first three phases focused primarily on existing or ongoing programs and content. Digital innovation will be woven into processes and exhibition offerings as visiting artists expose curatorial and preparatory teams to new media and tech as the professional sector adopts new technology. Inevitably, as personal devices become increasingly embedded in everyday adult use, the recommendation focuses primarily on housekeeping and best practices during the large change that will come with the new creative strategy and forthcoming Museum. Many new processes and opportunities will become available with the facility on Burnaby Mountain.By specifically working to add visual descriptions and captions to existing media, as well as practicing simple language translations, the new Museum and existing Galleries will open themselves up to conversations with Blind, Low-Vision, d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Neurodiverse communities, including those who are better served through assistive technology, regardless of how they identify or are identified. The opportunity to engage with AI content generation to create drafts for visual descriptions, transcripts, blog content, and summaries will open up opportunities for other integrations as they become more adopted by businesses across Canada. Canada has begun working more earnestly to create digital privacy, content and communications, and technology laws. While many of these laws do not have immediate and obvious implications for the SFU Galleries team, the most concerning priority is the data spread and casual use of personal devices while the threat of identity fraud and data theft loom. SFU Galleries staff will more readily be able to integrate AI solutions, cloud storage use and transfers, and personal device use after phases one and two of the digital strategy project because policy and process will be established. Governance teams will understand risk, and policy ensures that staff understand the importance of a separation of work accounts from personal logins and insecure passwords.

This does not mean that innovation and one-off projects to experiment and prototype digital experiences should be put on hold. In fact, with the exponential growth of technology, to pause and stand still would be in great conflict with SFU Galleries' goals to work alongside and within the SFU infrastructure and alongside students, faculty and professional artists pushing the boundaries of what is possible every day. Instead, this strategy suggests that the primary starting focus is data management, documentation, and best practices for accessible content to build a solid foundation.

As phase four wraps, documentation will provide a rich collection of content and rationale for sustained and growth funding. Resource needs will be clear, and the requests for support will be backed up by proof of concept in digital platforms and accessible programs. This phase will see SFU Galleries moving away from innovation and digital creation grants and into operational and seed funding. This will allow this work to continue as new programs are produced yearly. As this phase concludes, a new digital strategy will be developed, which surveys a different landscape shaped by new technology and new possibilities for accessible digital participation, all from the strategically strong vantage point of a new museum with an online presence that meets the needs and expectations of its audiences.

Administration and Governance:

• List of existing process documentation by department,
• List of necessary process documentation or processes to be created,
• Audit personal device use by all staff and teams to clearly understand risks associated with data security and privacy, as well as understand tools not being provided by SFU Galleries required or regularly used by staff,
• Announce the Project File Maintenance Project and set dates for data centralization,
• Oversee and approve the unpublishing of public assets,
• Prioritize the collections/offsite digital recommendations from the 2023 needs assessment report, and review safety and digital upgrades to allow for a safer, accessible, and more connected workflow,
• Coordinate conversations between curatorial, collections, and communications to discuss the implications of simple language translations and identify priority content translation*

Much of this work will build the case for special project funding, such as content and documentation writers.

Curatorial:

• List of existing process documentation,
• List of necessary process documentation or processes to be created,
• Centralize data on servers and identify duplicates, unnecessary clutter, and pending content updates.
• Identify digital tools and software in use, especially those installed on personal devices,
• Review existing processes and identify conflicts or potential challenges in adopting new creative strategy in ongoing work,
• Identify digital tools and software in use, especially those installed on personal devices,
• Participate in conversations between curatorial, collections, and communications to discuss the implications of simple language translations and identify priority content translation.

Collections:

• List of existing process documentation,
• List of necessary process documentation or processes to be created,
• Centralize data on servers and identify duplicates, unnecessary clutter, and pending content updates.
• Identify digital tools and software in use, especially those installed on personal devices,
• Identify priority collection items or collections that should be available publically to be updated.
• Unpublish (public facing) collections listings that are incomplete or contain filler information, and create a list of these assets
• Work with communications and creative strategy team on how listings can be published online, and how they can be cross-linked in exhibition and program listings, create documentation,
• Participate in conversations between administration and communications team on employing accessibility best practices within collection listings.

Communications:

• List of existing process documentation,
• List of necessary process documentation or processes to be created,
• Centralize data on servers and identify duplicates, unnecessary clutter, and pending content updates.
• Unpublish website articles, programs, and events that are incomplete or contain filler information, and create a list of these assets -- or create a content audit and create a list of assets to prioritize only complete records when launching the new website,
• Identify digital tools and software in use, especially those installed on personal devices,
• Work with collections and creative strategy team on how listings can be published online, and how they can be cross-linked in exhibition and program listings, create documentation,
• Participate in conversations between administration and communications team on employing accessibility best practices within collection listings.

Preparatory:

• List of existing process documentation,
• List of necessary process documentation or processes to be created,
• Centralize data on servers and identify duplicates, unnecessary clutter, and pending content updates.
• Identify digital tools and software, especially those installed on personal devices.

In the following phase, common tasks shared by all departments are now listed under the All Departments heading. Unique tasks for each department are listed under their heading.

• Participate in Process Documentation work, documenting major processes in simple language using Microsoft Word and using provided templates for accessibility and consistency.
• Participate in File Maintenance Project event, rename files and organize folders, focusing on identifying and removing duplicates.
• Implement creative strategy recommendations, ensuring updates such as email footers and logo use are consistent on all digital files.
• Segregate personal and institutional data usage, log into accounts using SFU Galleries emails, and reset all passwords. Install a password manager and review the password and app username policy (pending administration process documentation).
• Participate in the accessibility asset translation (alt tags, visual descriptions) to ensure context is accurately translated for these assets.
• Work with Collections and Communications to review artist and creator names. Generate pronunciation keys and output audio files (Speechify) with sound clips that accurately pronounce names. Continue with places, non-English terms, and complex or mispronounced art terms for the website and collections archive.
• Identify and prioritize audio/video files for captioning and transcripts, generate drafts using otter.ai, and schedule transcript and caption editing to provide access assets for online dissemination and archives.

Administration and Governance, phase 2:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Implement Process Documentation Project, set deadlines and working dates for all staff, begin documentation of staff-wide process documentation,
• Approve and disseminate style guides for tone and language (project/dept specific)
• Develop Digital Tech Use Policy; begin secreting personal and instinctual data usage, review telecommunication contracts, and consider wifi/data packages for staff
• Set up password manager for all staff,
• Introduce and model accessible online meetings with transcription,
• Collect departmental feedback on content updates and implementation of creative strategy recommendations, ensure updates such as email footers and logo use are consistent on all digital files,
• Approve launch of new website

Curatorial, phase 2:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Identify texts specifically for study guides or online dissemination. Work with the communications team to translate materials for academic and public participation.

Collections:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Prioritize writing a process and risk reduction document for working alone and offsite, focusing on emergency procedures.
• Unpublish or make private any incomplete Collections listings and flag for update.
• Prioritize collection data entry by artist.
• Work with the creative strategy, programming, and communications team to generate a list of broad tags for object listings to enhance discoverability,
• Implement alt tags, visual descriptions, name pronunciation guides, updated glyphs and text for non-English characters in Collection database/website listings,

Communications:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Identify texts specifically for exhibition or online dissemination. Work with the curatorial and program teams to translate materials for public participation,
• Implement alt tags, visual descriptions, captions, transcripts, name pronunciation guides, updated glyphs and text for non-English characters on website,

Preparatory:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Familiarize and use online assets for interactive objects in gallery and exhibition installation (QR Codes, Audio storage, etc).

In the following phase, common tasks shared by all departments are now listed under the All Departments heading. Unique tasks for each department are listed under their heading.

• Continue documenting the process, and take notes of challenging processes that need review.
• Archive old templates or content incongruent to new 2024 creative strategy and brand guidelines, tag any templates that are urgently in need of an update and prioritize before the end of phase 3,
• Review password policy, update any old passwords, ensure all passwords and logins are now logged in a password manager, and no passwords are shared or stored in insecure ways,
• Utilize new templates for email footers, downloadable PDFs, plain documents, video and audio content, and presentation decks.
• Publish assets that are now complete, accessible, and up to date,
• Complete the third File Maintenance event, focusing on centralizing data and reviewing file management practices.

Administration and Governance, phase 3:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Schedule an annual staff-wide event for ongoing data consolidation and documentation updates.
• Confirm that all department teams are producing content that now follows both creative strategy and accessibility commitments when producing public exhibitions and publications and when communicating with the public,
• Incorporate consistency checks during annual performance reviews to ensure departmental alignment with the new templates.

Curatorial, phase 2:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Work with a clear understanding of the intended audiences for each writing piece, understanding the process for creating alternative texts for general audiences, and assisting in the creation of descriptions that are informed by context and the artist's intent

Collections:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Feature completed Collections on website and with communications dept support
• Continue adding objects and artists to the collection following the creative strategy and digital guidelines before publishing live

Communications:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Publish archive and historical data on the new SFU Galleries website.
• Announce a more integrated approach to the SFU Galleries websites and Collections database.
• Request assets and take charge of ongoing efforts to ensure digital content for the public has consistent alt tags, descriptions, pronunciations, and reading keys that work with assistive technology and benefit a general audience,
• Continue exhibition and programs, event listings, and social posts following the creative strategy and digital guidelines before publishing live
• Welcome public and student feedback on the updated systems.

Preparatory:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Test digital assets associated with exhibitions before launch. QR codes, audio players, and engagement assets associated with the exhibition should function seamlessly and without errors before the exhibition opens. Communicate with curation and communication teams for up-to-date links and help generate QR codes.

In the following phase, common tasks shared by all departments are now listed under the All Departments heading. Unique tasks for each department are listed under their heading.

• Create a list of processes that will need to be documented (new processes)
• Review existing process documentation (including encountered and projected risk or challenges), update with new technology and process changes
• Compile documentation and feedback to support future funding requests
• Review commonly used passwords, and consider changing passwords used by all staff, freshly logging into services that have been logged in cache or browsers
• Complete the fourth File Maintenance event, now solidifying best practices for file maintenance and folder management (reviewed annually).
• Reflect on the progress made and consider exploring new tools and technologies.

Administration and Governance, phase 4:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Designate time for rest and celebration to acknowledge the team's achievements
• Schedule the next annual staff-wide event for ongoing data consolidation and documentation updates.
• Plan to develop a new digital strategy based on the current landscape shaped by emerging technology and digital participation opportunities.

Curatorial, phase 4:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Provide a department-specific report and feedback to the administration on the implementation of this strategy and the creative strategy, identifying successes and challenges, as well as goals that remain unfulfilled

Collections, phase 4:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Provide a department-specific report and feedback to the administration on the implementation of this strategy and the creative strategy, identifying successes and challenges, as well as goals that remain unfulfilled

Communications, phase 4:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Provide a department-specific report and feedback to the administration on the implementation of this strategy and the creative strategy, identifying successes and challenges, as well as goals that remain unfulfilled
• Explore content generation automation for creating drafts of visual descriptions, transcripts, and summaries
• Continue to innovate and prototype digital experiences, keeping up with technological advancements and aligning with SFU Galleries' goals

Preparatory:

• All Departments, Common Tasks
• Provide a department-specific report and feedback to the administration on the implementation of this strategy and the creative strategy, identifying successes and challenges, as well as goals that remain unfulfilled

The following templates help departments and teams plan and execute projects related to the larger digital strategy. Each template includes a list of performance indicators to be used to measure success and a list of resources that will be required to complete the work. This list does not include project templates for all initiatives recommended in this report but give examples of how to write project templates with purpose, opportunity, and process in mind, while also giving SFU Galleries projects to focus on in phase 1 and 2 of the digital strategy project. In developing process documentation during phase 1, additional project templates will be developed to help focus projects and team leads to work towards specific outcomes by department.

All project templates have been written using simple language and scored at a grade 9 reading level for comprehension so that consultants and students who may not have a professional understanding of the systems at SFU Galleries can participate and bring their skills into this work.

Note: Project templates with an asterisk have been written using plain text formatted to be understood by screen readers. It follows the T3 technique for formatting plain text without the use of semantic headings (h1, h2, etc.). It can be easily copied into a Word Processor for use by sighted teams with the addition of letterhead and footers. This formatting allows contractors and community participants, specifically experts who use screenreaders or persons without access to proprietary word processing suites, to participate in implementing the SFU 2024 digital strategy.

• File Mainteance Project
• Process Documentation (Manuals Maintenance) Project
• Collections Vault Safety and Technology Assessment Project
• Asset Description Project*
• Personal Device Use Audit
• Accessibility Site Audit and Content Consolidation Project*

Download .zip of templates