A human-centered and values driven approach

Due to the interpretive nature of many humanities and qualitative methods, we feel it is important to be explicit about our values and principles. Our design methods, solution architecture, and community facilitation approaches are all seen through their lens and informed by them. The principles are in alignment with the LSA Technology Services values, and compatible with those of our partners at U-M Library.

• Accessibility and Openness — Adheres to or exceeds ADA Accessibility guidelines, and content is openly available where possible and desirable 

• Flexibility — Able to accommodate a wide range of publications and outputs; built in a modular way using commonly available existing software tools; linking to stable resources at other sites, not having to “own” every file

• Discoverability — Enables content and information to be searched and found through Google and library catalogs; enables responsible metrics of usage and engagement to be gathered and communicated

• Sustainability — Persistence that is mindful of ethical and reasonable labor practices; formal stewardship agreements that outlast grant funding 

• Durability — Separating content from engagement layers and using formats based on open standards to enable long-term preservation that ethically centers communities, such as those created by Documenting the Now or Archiving the Black Web

• Collaboration and care — Enhanced partnerships that recognize and credit contributions, and practices that support contributors from outside as well as inside the academy

• Consent — We prioritize the consent of involved parties and believe it is central to our service model. Informed by the Consentful Tech project, we employ an opt-in model, where staff may choose to work on projects, and are empowered to decline if they don't have the capacity. We prioritize projects that have mechanisms for community accountability. Our goal is to center human needs throughout the research process

• Antiracism — We commit to supporting the institution’s goals related to antiracism, and aim to support research that uses ethical approaches that do not further perpetuate harm on communities disproportionately affected by historic and systemic racism and neglect