2024 Smithsonian Excellence in Digital Awards
Earlier this month, Becky Kobberod, the Smithsonian’s head of digital transformation, announced the recipients of the 2024 Smithsonian Excellence in Digital Awards. For its inaugural year, the awards were presented in three categories: Digital Impact, Digital Innovation, and Digital Changemaker, in honor of Effie Kapsalis. These awards honor teams and individuals across the institution demonstrating meaningful audience impact, integrating innovative technologies and initiatives, and pursuing the Institution’s digital transformation from their unique perspective.
Kobberod invited staff to celebrate the awardees and nominees on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 16. “The program, which will include remarks by Secretary Bunch, will be held at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art’s Meyer Auditorium, immediately followed by a reception,” Kobberod said. “We will send more details in the weeks to come but do hope to see you there to support our Smithsonian colleagues.”
This year’s awardees are:
Digital Impact
- Conservation Classroom team at NZPCBI (Kaden Borseth and Laura Hernandez and former team members Erika Novak, Shellie Pick, Geneva Mommsen)
The Conservation Classroom suite is an innovative virtual school program designed to engage K-5 students globally in wildlife conservation through digital media.
- Digital Experience Team at NASM (Victoria Portway, Vanessa Pares, Kaylin Lapan, Steve Cherry, Chris Brown, Amelia Grabowski, Amanda Laughead, Marc Sklar)
NASM’s Digital Experience team’s ongoing efforts focus on a user-first content strategy, improved web accessibility, web products and workflows, and digital evaluation to provide a connected and seamless digital experience for an estimated 5+ million users.
- “Homecoming: A Celebration of HBCUs and Their Legacies” team at NMAAHC (Cynetra McMillian, Andrea James, Andrew Thompson, Jeannine Hunter, Thomas Mobley, Joanne Hyppolite, Steven Lewis, Teddy Reeves, Doug Remley, Damion Thomas)
Courtesy the National Museum of African American history and Culture
Celebrating the African American tradition of homecoming, “Homecoming: A Celebration of HBCUs and Their Legacies,” is a digital experience highlighting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), that has led to a 660% increase in HBCU-related pageviews, a 23% decrease in bounce rate, and improved Google rankings – with the site reaching #2 on Google search results for “HBCU homecoming.”
Digital Innovation
- Accessibility Metadata Fields Technical Implementation team at NMNH (Cailin Meyer, James Tiller, Rebecca Snyder)
The technical implementation of accessibility metadata fields established a pioneering framework and positions SI as a leader in embedding accessibility metadata while preserving image integrity and enhancing data quality.
- ArcGIS Field Maps for Digital Tree Census team at STRI (Milton Solano, David Mitre)
The team implemented a 100% digital solution using the ArcGIS Online platform and Field Maps to collect census data for over 350,000 trees, an innovation that enabled real-time data capture and drastically reduced census time from 8-10 months to 4 months with complete data verification.
- Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative (AVMPI) team at SLA (Alison Reppert-Gerber, Felicia Boretzky, Walter Forsberg, Siobhan Hagan, Kayla Henry-Griffin, Dan Hockstein, Brianna Toth)
AVMPI’s innovative approach to audiovisual preservation includes customizing digitization services for diverse museum needs, prioritizing preservation based on obsolescence, and sharing best practices through workshops and public events.
Digital Changemaker, in honor of Effie Kapsalis
Kapsalis family photo
- Kristi Delich, Director, Office of Visitor Services, OCEA
Kristi has significantly transformed audience engagement at the Smithsonian through innovative use of technology and collaborative leadership. Highlights of her work include an augmented-reality scavenger hunt at the Castle, leading SI’s use of the robot Pepper, creating a virtual visitor center for the Castle and serving as co-lead for the Digital: Audience and Data strategic initiative and the CRM team.
- Sai Muddasani, Social Media Specialist, NMAI
Sai has demonstrated social media’s role in achieving strategic goals through her advocacy for digital accessibility, her use of digital tools to enhance content creation and audience interaction and her ability to connect historical and contemporary contexts and address sensitive topics with nuance, fostering community connections and cross-unit collaboration.
- Eric Pugh, Web Developer, SAAM
Eric, the founder of the influential “SI Developer’s Meetup,” is known for his ability to unite independent software developers across disperse units, time zones, and technical environments. His efforts have led to a debugging module for Drupal, advocacy for Dev Ops best practices, and resolving critical issues for various SI units.
“We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our colleagues who have exemplified excellence in digital work and contributed to the Smithsonian’s strategic goals,” Kobberod said. “Please join us in congratulating the awardees and thanking them for their dedication and innovation. We look forward to recognizing more inspiring examples of digital transformation across the Smithsonian in the future.”
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Posted: 22 August 2024
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