Even during a pandemic, the Georgetown community continues to create amazing things using Library resources. Winners of the Fall 2020 Library Showcase—including a user-friendly redesign to Georgetown’s MyAccess portal, a promotional campaign to help reduce the amount of school missed by girls in Tanzania due to menstruation, and a history of Georgetown’s Nursing school activities during the 1918 influenza pandemic—all exemplify that creative spirit.
The Beeck Center Award for Social Impact + Innovation goes to "MyAccess Registration Subsystem Redesign." This website and presentation created by CCT students Zungui Lu (G’22) and Chuqing Wu (G’21) describes a redesign to Georgetown’s MyAccess system that could simplify course registration, integrate a course planning feature, and improve accessibility. “This is exactly the kind of work the Beeck Center is encouraging across the public sector—taking the time to really understand users by talking with them, then building systems that meet their needs, not the other way around,” said Ori Hoffer, Director of Influence and Communication for the Beeck Center. Hoffer also praised the project’s actionable solutions that administrators could use to improve the system in the short- and long-term.
The Beeck Center and the Library also recognized as Honorable Mentions "Duplin County, North Carolina: A Story of Environmental and Food Justice in the Hog Industry" by Victoria Smith (C’22) and "Feeding Birmingham, AL: Mapping Food Access, Food Sovereignty, & the Food Justice Movement in Birmingham, Alabama" by Jesse Ryno (C’24). These projects were created for Professor Yuki Kato's SOCI-274-01: Community-Based Learning, Environmental and Food Justice Movements course, with instruction on ArcGIS StoryMaps from Digital Scholarship Librarian Megan Martinsen. “The websites demonstrate how collecting data and showcasing it visually helps us easily understand important stories like these and are a key step to implementing change,” Hoffer said.
The Voters’ Choice Award goes to students Escadar Alemayehu (N‘22), Rhya Evans (N‘22), Mallory Hybl (N‘22), Peyton Luiz (N‘22), and Kiki Schmalfuss (N‘22) for their extensive compilation of promotional materials, "Menstrual Hygiene Management in Primary Schools in Kisarawe, Tanzania" created for a GLOH-281: Global Health Promotion course taught by Professor Myriam Vuckovic. The project relies on data as well as health promotion theories and techniques to create evidence-based interventions. The team created a poster, leaflet, a curriculum for a year-long girl’s club and a radio spot, all aimed to reduce girls’ menstrual burden and the amount of school missed due to menstruation. Students in the course received instruction from Gelardin New Media Center Multimedia Specialist and Graphic and Web Design Project Manager Mike Matason on how to design and create posters and flyers using Canva and how to record and edit radio spots using the audio editing program GarageBand.
The Staff Pick for Fall 2020 goes to the article "One Hundred Years Ago, GU Nursing Graduates Praised for Work During Flu Pandemic" written by Bill Cessato, Senior Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives at the School of Nursing and Health Studies. Bill’s article describes the activities of the nursing school’s Class of 1920 during the 1918 influenza pandemic and relies on an account from a contemporary article in the Washington Times. Georgetown University Archivist Lynn Conway reviewed a draft of the story, shared her expertise about Georgetown history, and provided helpful resources to review.
The Fall 2020 showcase featured 20 projects, including mapping projects, podcasts and documentaries, laser-cut artwork and quilts made in the Maker Hub, and several works pertaining to the pandemic including 3D printed art objects, videos about the impact of COVID-19 on the arts community in D.C., and a documentary about starting a small business during this difficult time.