Digital Bricolage: Design Speculations for Embodied Approaches to Digitized Print-based Cultural Collections

Abstract: COVID-related closures of public and academic libraries have underlined the importance of online platforms that provide access to digitized print-based collections. However, they also have highlighted the value of in-person handling of print artefacts for sensing and making sense of them. How do existing dominant digital platforms invite and/or discourage embodied forms of exploration and sense-making? What opportunities for embodied experience might we discover if we embrace the material qualities of print-based collections when designing interfaces for digital access? In this paper, we present findings from a speculative exercise where we invited creative professionals and experts in curating and handling access to collections to reflect on existing approaches to digitized print-based collections and to speculate about alternative design opportunities and modes of engagement. We argue for digital bricolage-a design approach that values working with materials that are "on hand" and embracing our ability to "handle" them in ways that foster both casual and curious exploration.