An Origin Story
Funded generously by Peter B. Wiley, the Digital Publishing Pilot began as an idea from Catherine Trujillo to continue her work to support and amplify underrepresented voices in their non-traditional formats of scholarship. Having managed the Faculty Exhibit Program for years in Robert E. Kennedy Library’s Creative Works department, Catherine saw the inequity of those exhibits and their associated publications credited as service projects rather than publications. Such ephemeral, important scholarship had a chance of being published – and published digitally.
From Creative Works, the Digital Publishing Pilot emerged.
Robert E. Kennedy Library’s Digital Publishing Pilot Program, of which poly publishing emerged from, aims to enhance access to Cal Poly scholarship through a digitally immersive, interactive system that focuses on collaboration, accessible approaches, and recognition of individuals’ places within structural systems. This structural solution brings inclusive practices, equity, and justice to the forefront of scholarly publishing at Cal Poly centering historically underrepresented identities, perspectives and creativity. Below, the Project Blueprint was published in the fall of 2020. It describes the beginnings, in progress, and goals of the Digital Publishing Pilot.
jaime ding found the position of the Digital Publishing Research Fellow, the person who would take on this project, through Catherine’s additional equitable efforts to reach people outside of the ‘normal’ job posting avenues: the posting on the Facebook group Museum Hue caught jaime’s eye, and wouldn’t have been found by her otherwise. Her research (and relationship building) began on August 1, 2019 on the fifth floor shared office space of Robert E. Kennedy Library, and concluded her work in March 2022 where she joined Tufts University as the Student Success Faculty Librarian.
Peter Booth Wiley
The pilot project is a project funded by the long-time supporter of Kennedy Library, Peter Booth Wiley. A parent of a Cal Poly alumnus and chairman emeritus of Wiley, a global leader in academic publishing, Pete has worked as a magazine and news service editor, journalist, and newspaper columnist. His writings have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines and he has authored five books, all of which focus on the American West and the Pacific Basin. Peter is a long-time member of the Robert E. Kennedy Library Dean’s Advisory Council and an advocate for exploring innovative forms of publishing. Peter’s commitment to this project stems from his long-standing interest and work on looking critically at the publishing ecosystem and he entrusted Kennedy Library with contributing to this work.
Creative Works
Robert E. Kennedy’s Creative Works supports alternative approaches to scholarship with a commitment to amplify underrepresented topics and voices. We do this by shaping, sharing, and fueling stories with collaborators in art, exhibits, and digital publishing. PolyPublishing emerged from the Digital Publishing Program: a brainchild of Catherine Trujillo that aims to enhance access to Cal Poly scholarship through a digitally immersive, interactive system that focuses on collaboration, accessible approaches, and recognition of individuals’ places within systems. This structural solution brings inclusive practices, equity, and justice to the forefront of scholarly publishing at Cal Poly centering historically underrepresented identities, perspectives and creativity.
Creative Works is run by a team of passionate, creative people:
STUDENT CONTRIBUTORS
CHINEME MADUNO
Chineme Maduno is a Senior Architectural Design Thesis student with a minor in Construction Management. She strives to use her understanding and lived experiences as a means to design spaces that are for everyone and that promote both social and spatial justice.
2021-2022
Emma Davis
Emma Davis is a fifth year Landscape Architecture major with minors in Ethnic Studies and Sustainable Environments. She enjoys working through an interdisciplinary lens and focuses on story-telling, imagination, and interactivity in design.
2021-2022
JETT WITLIN
Jett Witlin is a third year Art & Design major (Photography & Video Concentration) at Cal Poly. She grew up in the South Bay of Southern California. In the future, Jett plans to work as a fashion and editorial photographer building a diverse body of work, as changes in technology accelerates more opportunities for visual artists.
2019-2022
SOLENA AGUILAR
Solena Aguilar is a Graphic Designer who graduated Cal Poly, SLO in 2021. “I create designs and artwork meant to educate and inform the public about stories, events, and injustices that affect our communities. I hope to speak to diverse groups in ways that evoke passion and action.”
2020-2021
ISABELA PRESEDO-FLOYD
Isabela is a 2020 Art & Design graduate o Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and the inaugular Digital Publishing Student Assistant. On campus, she was involved in reviewing manuscripts for sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies, designing for Project Jupyter, or counting the number of Japanese magnolias on Cal Poly’s campus. She currently works for Quansight as a UX/UI Designer.
2018-2020
SASHA MENSHIKOVA
Sasha Menshikova is a Cal Poly 2020 Art & Design graduate from San Mateo, California. While at Cal Poly, she served as the Co-President of Cal Poly AIGA and was, and still is, passionate about using her position to support diversity in design. She is the executive producer for The Nightcap Sketch Comedy Team. Driven by an interest in thoughtful and helpful design, Sasha wants to design digital products that enrich life instead of cluttering and confusing it.
2018-2020
CATHERINE TRUJILLO
ctrujill@calpoly.edu| Office: 35-512 | 805-756-6395
Catherine Trujillo was guided into the arts by her maternal grandmother who raised her and who celebrated their ancestors and cultural heritage from New Mexico. She uses a Xicanisma and BIPoC feminist lens as a way to enact radical change. She does this work with collaborators and colleagues to name, question and intervene in racism within the arts, academia, and communities. Her lived-experiences and background in community engagement have shaped her academic career within museums, archives, and libraries growing her expertise in the stewardship of cultural histories, storytelling, publishing and design. Her work focuses on creating long-standing contributions to the cultural life of the community, with a commitment for the preservation and dissemination of underrepresented voices in history and art. She oversees California Polytechnic State University’s Robert E. Kennedy Library Creative Works, which supports alternative approaches to scholarship with a commitment to amplify underrepresented topics and voices.
JAIME DING
jpding@calpoly.edu| Office: 35-35-512 | Zoom: 202 815 7505
jaime ding loves trash in/and public spaces. She served as the Digital Publishing Research Fellow with Kennedy Library’s Creative Works department from August 2019 to March 2022, rethinking assessment and accessibility of non-traditional digital scholarship. Before Kennedy Library, jaime has learned and worked primarily with trash, beginning in the history and visual arts departments at Princeton University. She earned an M.A. in Decorative Arts, Design History at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City, learning from interdisciplinary questions about cleanliness, beauty and value in material objects and their relation to whiteness. She has worked in waste management, numerous museum education departments, and private corporate archives in Princeton, New York, LA, and Chicago, always working to rethink ideas about the “public,” accessibility, and circulation of knowledge. In March 2022 jaime joined Tufts University as the Student Success Faculty Librarian.
Written and designed by jaime ding, January 2021.