A newsletter to learn about practical ways to decolonize your research and data work-lives with byte-sized drabbles about the daily life of a data professional.

Behind the Scenes: Doing Environmental Art in the Robot Party Game Jam

Hello hello! I joined a game jam—my first of the year—after one of my groups from last year poked around for interest. This jam is a bit weird in that the theme continues on each year with an overarching plot of bizarre interdimensional characters (this is unusual for jams). And this year it was a theme of some of my favorite things in media: mid-2000s aesthetics, a fake board/card/miniature game, and gross creatures.

I wrote for the group last year, but wanted to do art to practice. We’re making it in a game engine called GameMaker, which lets you make scenes with tile sets. I want to get good at making tile sets for games.

- Dana

Curated Content: Paid Art Critic and Writing Fellowship

This sounds like a great fellowship for US-based art critics, writers, digital asset managers, and archivists interested in art and material culture! Program runs January to April 2026; you attend EST lectures, get assigned a mentor, and publish an article in AICA-USA’s Magazine. The 2025 fellows collectively chose to write on environmental themes of climate and fascism. Seems like you can choose the theme with your cohort too.

--Hybrid but seems mostly remote with possible in person meet ups if local
--$750 stipend + $250 USD upon publishing your criticism
--App due October 13th.

Curated Content: Remote Collections Volunteers at the Museum of Cambridge

Data professionals should be paid for their labor. Period. But the reality is globally data work relies heavily on volunteer labor. If you join a working group/team project for professional organizations like SAA or museums, become a reviewer for a journal or conference proposals, mentor in a fellowship program, etc then you are volunteering your time and expertise.

The Museum of Cambridge is looking for:

• Disability Heritage Research Volunteer

• Cataloguing Volunteer

• Housekeeping Collections Management Volunteer.

Fully remote! And the call said “we welcome applicants with a lived experience of disability.”

Curated Content: Mutual Aid Networks

Resource: Historic Preservation & Cultural Resources Mutual Aid Network

I saw this website in my network and it’s a grassroots effort for data people in the historic preservation and cultural heritage fields to build community. The site says it is a “space to share resources, uplift one another, and directly support those hit hardest by funding cuts, job losses, and changing organizational priorities.”

Opinion Piece: Coping with Unemployment and Unexpected Career Shifting

I sometimes read Archival Outlook, a kinda informal publication by the Society of American Archivists. In their recent July/August issue I saw this piece and it made me think of how data work globally across all sectors is experiencing a pendulum swing where we all might need to confront unemployment and shifting career fields. It’s a good read if you’re feeling alone in your job search.