Yo, I'm Keith

I am a multidisciplinary designer and researcher interested in how technology and design can be used within educational spaces to support and empower those at the margins. While my work spans across disciplinary boundaries, I am primarily interested in one central question: how can tech and design help enable more liberatory ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with the world?

Professional Experience

Communications & Events Coordinator
Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
2023 - Present
Graduate Research Assistant, Arts & Social Wellness for 2SLGBTQ+ Youth in Scarborough, Ontario
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
2023 - Present
Communications & Website Assistant
International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience
2023 - Present
Web Designer, PRECTISCE Justice
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
2024 - Present
Digital Archival Assistant, Treasury for Ethiopian Images
University of Toronto Scarborough
2020 - Present
Program Manager, Studio for Media Activism
Toronto Metropolitan University
2022 - 2023
Archival Assistant
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
2021 - 2023
Lead Research Assistant, Black Student Experience Project
Equity Diversity Inclusion Unit, Faculty of Information
2022
Research Assistant, Art History Anti-Racist Bibliography
Department of Art History, University of Toronto
2021
Archival Assistant
Sexual Representations Collection, University of Toronto
2021
Creative Director
The Varsity
2018 - 2019

Volunteer Work & Community Involvement

Co-Director, Black Digital Humanities Lab
Jackson State University
2022 - Present
Chair
The Diversity Working Group
2022 - 2023
Vice-President, Academic Affairs
Master of Information Student Council
2021 - 2023
Co-Coordinator
iSchool Peer Mentoring Program
2022 - 2023
Graphic Designer
Hardwire: Undergraduate Journal for Sexual Diversity Studies
2019 - 2021
Project Intern
The Arquives
2019 - 2020

Education

Master of Arts, Adult Education and Community Development
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
2023 - 2025
Graduate Level Coursework in UX Design & Archival Studies
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
2021 - 2022
Honours Bachelor of Arts, Art History & Sexual Diversity Studies
University of Toronto, Victoria College
2016 - 2019

Professional Affiliations

PI, "Archiving Queer of Colour Scarborough" Emerging Project
Queer and Trans Research Lab, University of Toronto
Graduate Research Assistant
FLOURISH Collective, University of Toronto Scarborough
Graduate Research Assistant
Mishritata Lab, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Student Trainee, International Student Training Network (ISTN)
International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR)
Alumni
Socio-Technical Resistance and Ethical Technologies (STREET) Lab, Knowledge Media Design Institute, University of Toronto

Publications

Petterson, A., Cheng, K., Chandra, P. (2023). “Playing with Power Tools: Design Toolkits and the Framing of Equity” in Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference.

Conference Presentations

"Digital Dialogues: Exploring Digital Humanities in HBCUs Through a Kitchen-Table Talk Approach" [Forthcoming, August 2024], DH2024: Reinvention and Responsibility, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations. Washington, D.C.
"Power to the People: Digital Humanities for/as Community Development," [June 17 2024], #OTESSA2024: Sustaining Shared Futures. Montreal, QC.
"Afro-Asian Solidarities: Designing Tools for Solidarity" [May 12, 2023], OISE Asian Heritage Month Symposium 2023. Toronto, ON.

Speaking Engagements

"Re-imagining a Community: Our Third Place" Zine Workshop [December 14, 2023], Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
"Prototyping for Black Queer Lives" [August 23, 2023], ISTN Canada-UK Regional Network Student Presentation Day
"The Activist-Academic: Resistance in/of the University"
[June 8, 2023], INQYR Rainbow Rendezvous: Queer Research Mixer
"Resistant Archives/Resisting the Archive: Zine Making as Anarchive" [March 23, 2023], Toronto Metropolitan University, RTA893: Social Justice Media