Community storytelling,
place by place.

Community-Centered Heritage

My work focuses on using digital documentation and storytelling to support communities in protecting, interpreting, and sharing their cultural heritage. I have worked with Indigenous communities, heritage professionals, government agencies, museums, universities, students, and local organizations around the world to document places that are threatened by conflict, climate change, development, and natural deterioration.

I approach this work as a collaborative process. Rather than treating communities simply as sources of information, I work to involve local partners in deciding what should be documented, which stories should be told, and how those stories should be presented. This often includes recording oral histories and interviews, developing educational and immersive experiences, and creating opportunities for community members to contribute their own knowledge and perspectives.

Training and knowledge-sharing are also central to my work. I have developed and managed programs that train students, site managers, archaeologists, and cultural heritage professionals in photogrammetry, LiDAR, 3D documentation, digital storytelling, and heritage monitoring. My goal is not only to complete a documentation project, but to leave partners with the skills, equipment, workflows, and confidence to continue the work independently.

These collaborations have taken me from working with Rapa Nui site stewards at ‘Ōroño, to supporting heritage documentation and training in Ukraine and Bangladesh, to working with Tribal partners and federal land managers in the American Southwest. Across these projects, I am particularly interested in how digital tools can strengthen local stewardship, preserve community knowledge, make heritage more accessible, and create new ways for people to connect with places that matter to them.

Ultimately, I see technology as a means rather than an end. The most meaningful projects are those where documentation, storytelling, and community knowledge come together to create something that remains useful long after the fieldwork is finished.