I am a librarian, researcher, and technologist committed to enhancing the digital capacity of artists, researchers, and arts/community organizations. I collaborate with clients to create and manage digital collections, publications, and projects that meet the unique needs of their members and audiences.

I have always been interested in the role that infrastructures play in our encounters with culture online, whether through digital archives, library catalogs, or social networking platforms. These systems are not neutral carriers of information; they make propositions about what we should value and how. My research and practice seek to understand how these value propositions are produced and their impact on how we see our world and each other.

I have a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree from McGill University and I am currently a PhD Candidate in Communication Studies at Concordia University. My doctoral project explores the role of infrastructure in shaping relations of scholarly communication and academic labour.

Work with me

I love to explore archives, wrangle metadata, teach workshops, and build digital tools for research and publishing. You can see a selection of past projects on the WORK page.

I also produce and perform electronic music as CMD.

In my work I prioritize imaginative reuse, using open standards and technologies, minimizing dependence on big tech, privacy, sustainability and care.

Below are some projects that I have worked on over the years, including websites and publications, databases, conferences, workshops, and reports.

SpokenWeb research partnership [2022 - ]

Research Assistant working on tasks such as metadata analysis, migration, and documentation for a dataset of literary sound recordings.

SpokenWeb, Concordia University

FACTS 2022 and 2024 Reports [2022 - 2024]

community data project for a grassroots collective of DJs, musicians, composers, producers, visual artists, agents, journalists and researchers.

Female Pressure

AGAVF website [2023 - ]

provide maintenance, backups, and technical support for the association's website.

Association des groupes en arts visuels francophones (AGAVF)

The Silver Guide to Non-Monetary Transactions [2020]

developed an interactive guide for artist-run centres.

Association of Artist-Run Centres and Collective conference - Conférence des collectifs et des centres d'artistes autogérés (ARCCC-CCCAA)

Report on ARCA Web Renewal [2020]

produced a report with recommendations to improve the visibility and interoperability of ARCA's digital resources.

Association of Artist-Run Centres and Collective conference - Conférence des collectifs et des centres d'artistes autogérés (ARCCC-CCCAA)

Rappels [2016 - 2019]

developed an archival database of theatrical productions in Quebec.

Théâtres associés Inc

Refugee Boulevard [2019]

developed a website for a historical multimedia project.

Jewish Public Library Archives in Montreal, the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives, the Museum of Jewish Montreal, and Concordia University's Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling

Canadian Educational, Sponsored and Industrial Film Project (CESIF) [2019 - ]

maintained and improved a database of archival film holdings.

Concordia University

The Labour of Media Studies: Activism, Education, and Industry [2018]

organized a three day conference, Nov 15-17 2018.

medialabour collective

Nika Nishk [2012 - 2014]

Coordinator with the Nika Nishk research project exploring alternative avenues for the restitution/reappropriation of native heritage (Ilnu and Anishinabeg). I participated in an audio archiving workshop at Mashteuiash and a collection inventory and training at the Cultural Education Centre at Kitigan Zibi.

TSHIUE-NATUAPAHTETAU-KIGIBIWEWIDON Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) project

e-artexte [2011 - 2014]

project manager for the development of an open access repository, migration of bibliographic records, training and outreach.

Artexte

DOCAM Research Alliance [2007-2009]

As a Research Assistant I worked on the DOCAM Glossaurus, a bilingual terminological tool for new media art documentation.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

MacDonald, Corina. (2022). "Imagining networked scholarly communication: self-archiving, academic labour, and the early Internet". Internet Histories 6 www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24701475.2022.2103987.

Accepted manuscript: CMacDonald_Imagining-networked-scholarly-communication.pdf

medialabour collective. (2019). "Introduction: The Labour of Media (Studies)". Synoptique, 8(1). https://www.synoptique.ca/_files/ugd/811df8_cef8e56cbc59480c9ce4e96ad27020fe.pdf

MacDonald, Corina and Neugebauer, Tomasz and Latour, John. (2014). "The e-artexte digital repository: promoting open access in the Canadian contemporary arts research and publishing community". Art Libraries Journal, 39(1), 10-16.

Neugebauer, Tomasz and MacDonald, Corina and Tayler, Felicity. (2012). "Artexte metadata conversion to EPrints: adaptation of digital repository software to visual and media arts documentation". International Journal on Digital Libraries, 11(4), 263-277. spectrum.library.concordia.ca/973566/.

MacDonald, Corina. (2009). "Scoring the work: documenting performance and practice in variable media art". Leonardo, 42(1), 59-63. www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/leon.2009.42.1.59.

Dunn, Heather and MacDonald, Corina. (2009). "Information culturelle patrimoniale dans un environnement réseauté : Comparaison des normes et de l'organisation des connaissances dans les bibliothèques et les musées". Documentation et Bibliothèques, 54(3), 159-169.

Conference Presentations and talks

MacDonald, Corina (2024). Evaluating the role of institutional repositories as sustainable infrastructure for multimodal scholarship , Canadian Society for Digital Humanities (CSDH-SCHN) Conference, June 21, 2024. csdh-schn.org/csdh-schn-congress-2024-sustaining-shared-futures/.

MacDonald, Corina (2021). From self-archiving to self-branding: visibility and value in knowledge infrastructures, Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) Conference, July 23, 2021. ach2021.ach.org/.

MacDonald, Corina (2020). Datafication and Scholarly Communication, Feminist and Accessible Publishing and Communication Technologies speaker series, McGill University, February 5, 2020. spectrum.library.concordia.ca/986417/. www.feministandaccessiblepublishingandtechnology.com.

MacDonald, Corina (2019). Academia.edu, institutional repositories, and trajectories of datafication in scholarly communication, Annual Meeting of the Canadian Communication Association (CCA), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 6, 2019.

MacDonald, Corina. (2018). Networking Knowledge: repositories, platform publishing, and research-creation scholarship, Digital Cultures: Knowledge / Culture / Technology Conference, Leuphana University, Luneberg Germany, September 22, 2018. digitalculturesconference.org/.

Neugebauer, T., Tayler, F. & MacDonald, C. (2015). Metadata as a Complex Network: A Case Study of Data visualization for Art Historical Research, Art History Graduate Student Association (AHGSA) Conference, Concordia University, Montreal, March 6, 2015. spectrum.library.concordia.ca/980078/.

MacDonald, Corina. (2014). The Open Access movement and arts publishing in Canada, Subtle Technologies Symposium, Toronto Metropolitan University, May 24, 2014. subtletechnologies.com/festival-2014/.

MacDonald, C., & Neugebauer, T. (2013). Depositing Visual Arts Publications into an Open Access Repository, Museum Computer Network (MCN) Conference, Montreal, November 22, 2013. spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978035/.

MacDonald, Corina. (2010). DOCAM Glossaurus, DOCAM Annual Summit 2010 organized by DOCAM : documentation and conservation of media arts heritage in collaboration with Hexagram, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montreal, March 3-5, 2010. www.docam.ca/en/annual-summits/2010-summit/415-le-glossaurus-de-docam.html.

MacDonald, Corina (2008). New Media, New Knowledge: A Knowledge Management Perspective on the Preservation of New Media Art, Media in Motion Symposium organized by Media@Mcgill and DOCAM, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal.

Other contributions

SpokenWeb Metadata Schema and Cataloguing Process. Version 4. 2025. https://doi.org/10.11573/spectrum.library.concordia.ca.00996470

female:pressure FACTS 2024 Survey on gender distribution of artists performing at electronic music festivals worldwide. femalepressure.net/FACTS2022-femalepressure-print.pdf

Open Access and the enduring myths of the long 1990s. LSE Impact Blog. September 14, 2022. blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2022/09/14/open-access-and-the-enduring-myths-of-the-long-1990s/

female:pressure FACTS 2022 Survey on gender distribution of artists performing at electronic music festivals worldwide. femalepressure.net/FACTS2022-femalepressure-print.pdf

Conference Organizer, The Labour of Media (Studies): Activism, Education, Industry. November 15-17, 2018 at Concordia University. website.

e-artexte: Introduction et démonstration, Open Access and the Fine Arts: e-artexte Launch and Round Table, Artexte, Montreal, February 9, 2013. e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/25118/.

Hogan, Mél. Opening e-Artexte with Corina MacDonald. nomorepotlucks 16: motive. July 2011. nomorepotlucks.org/site/opening-e-artexte-with-corina-macdonald

MacDonald, Corina. (2011). Video Cache - Activating the Archive: An interview with Mél Hogan, Artengine blog, June 29, 2011. artengine.ca/blog/?p=2365.

Tayler, Felicity & MacDonald, Corina. (2010). An interview with curator and CRUMB co-founder Sarah Cook, Artengine blog, October 10, 2010. artengine.ca/blog/?p=1318.

MacDonald, Corina. (2009). "Iteration, Infinity and Decay: New Media and the Practice of Documentation." art press 2: Conserving Technology-Based Art: Issues and Solutions, 12, January 2009.

MacDonald, Corina. (2010). Speculating in the network: Ian Wojtowicz's The Betweeners, Artengine blog artengine.ca/blog/?p=731, May 17, 2010. Reprinted in Tayler, F., Bertrand, A., & Lebedinskaia, Natalia. (2012). (Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire) On the Internet, we can all be making it (For Better or for Worse). Montreal, Qc: Centre des arts actuels Skol. e-artexte.ca/23681/.

MacDonald, Corina. (2007). Interview with Tara Rodgers, Vague Terrain 8: Process, November 2007. vagueterrain.net/journal08/tara-rodgers/01.

MacDonald, Corina. (2006). Interview with Monolake (Robert Henke), Vague Terrain 5: Minimalism, December 2006. vagueterrain.net/journal05/monolake/01.

Music Productions

See my Discogs profile.