I share ideas through speaking, writing, and teaching. My work explores how technology can advance institutional transparency, increase accessibility, and create environments where both people and systems thrive.
Increment, Issue 14, August 2020
Co-authored with Jennie Choi. An in-depth look at how The Met opened up access to its collection through a comprehensive public API.
Fine-Grained Visual Categorization Workshop 10, CVPR 2023
Invited talk exploring how open collection data enables new research and engagement opportunities.
See also: Google Scholar profile
Published in Increment, 2020
Recommended citation: Choi, Jennie and Spencer Kiser. "Connecting to Art: How The Metropolitan Museum of Art Used a Public API to Share 5,000 Years of Human Creativity with Audiences Beyond its Walls." Increment. Issue 14. August 2020.
Invited Talk, Fine-Grained Visual Categorization Workshop 10, organized in conjunction with 2023 Conference of Computer Vision Pattern Recognition, Vancouver, BC, CA
An update on Open Access and machine learning at the Met.
Invited Talk, Fine-Grained Visual Categorization Workshop 6, organized in conjunction with 2019 Conference of Computer Vision Pattern Recognition, Long Beach, CA, USA
Addresses the history of the Met’s collection in digital form and what makes it unique. Explores the quirks in the data, the categorization challenges, and proposes use cases for machine learning.
Case Study, Museum Computer Network Annual Conference 2015, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Way-finding is a common challenge for museums, often thought to require significant time and resources to solve. The Met’s complex floor plan made developing a useful mobile map for the Met App particularly challenging, especially given our small team and tight timeline. Rather than building an elaborate solution based on assumptions, we quickly developed an MVP that worked on both native platforms. Using a build-measure-learn feedback loop, we iteratively improved the Map based on visitor feedback, enhancing the overall visitor experience.
Masters course, Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 2008
An introductory course designed to provide students with hands-on experience using various technologies (online communities, digital imaging, audio, video, animation, authoring environments and the World Wide Web.) The forms and uses of new communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation and discussion. The technologies are examined as tools that can be employed in a variety of situations and experiences. Principles of interpersonal communications, media theory, and human factors are introduced. Weekly assignments, team and independent projects, and project reports are required.
Workshop, Museum of Modern Art, 2008
By focusing on the soundscape in which we are immersed, we can find new appreciation of our surroundings, as well as discover a pallette of material from which to create art. The soundwalk is an excellent method for exploring a space and collecting material for sound-based works. Students will learn audio fundamentals and recording and editing techniques, and will participate in listening and field recording exercises. We will also create a digital sound map using the recordings from our field trips.
