We began by establishing a relationship with the museum to understand the needs and constraints of museums that are attempting to engage communities of color—especially those situated in majority-Black communities such as North Miami. Through several conversations, we understood that the core need of the museum was to engage community members using appropriate technology and by removing the barriers to entry to the museum building.

Our initial intention was to develop the methodology and collaborate with the museum to engage community using virtual means such as Zoom, AR, interactive web, etc. We soon realized that remote engagement of the community would be challenging since the surrounding community does not have widespread access to Wi-Fi, data, or equipment. Based on the needs and circumstances of the museum and the community we adapted the methodology for an appropriate technology implementation that could be used by a museum after COVID. We plan to partner with FIU to implement the methodology in the future and partner with the museum to showcase our findings. We understand what transpired to be a common equity issue whereby technological platforms are used for engagement without taking into consideration the realities of the communities that are already marginalized from the museum experience. This left us with the question, "How can a museum engage communities of color and poor communities across the digital divide?"

The best part of this project was partnering with Professor Ramsay to understand the landscape and the constraints of the museum, and then adapting the process to use appropriate technology. Through this, we realized that even our design research must be adapted and tailored to the realities of communities.

Since our project was mostly the development of a methodology, we don't have any concrete outcomes to share at this time, but we do hope to be able to share audience engagement metrics as well as audience reactions to prototypes, etc.

Partnership with Neil Ramsay and guidance from Kelsa Trom and Stephanie Pereira.

Museums are often ill-equiped to engage underresourced communities. A focus on technology often deepens the disparity experienced by communities of color and poor communities. How do museums truly become places where all people can make meaning of the past to shape the future? How do museums themselves become a truly public resource for catalyzing public imagination? We encourage the use of appropriate technology that is tailored to the needs and experiences of communities and not just the desire to experiment amongst technologists. Technology is an equity issue. Culture is an equity issue. The future is an equity issue. Imagination is an equity issue.

We absolutely plan to continue this project. We will be collaborating with Professor Ramsay at FIU to develop appropriate means for data collection, community engagement, design research, and prototype development within the community of North Miami.