Chris Pandza - Incite at Columbia University

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Portait of Chris Pandza

Chris Pandza is an oral historian and designer who joined Incite in 2021 as a Fellow on the Obama Presidency Oral History. He currently leads Incite's design activities.

Chris' work combines design thinking and natural language processing to develop techniques that make oral history archives more accessible, beautiful, and equitable. His most recent public-facing works include developing digital experiences for the Obama Presidency Oral History, Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project, and Movements Against Mass Incarceration oral history. He has been invited to share his work at Cornell University, Yale University, the Northeastern Public Humanities Consortium, and the Oral History Association.

Chris started his career in television marketing on networks including YTV, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network. After finally landing an on-screen appearance (albeit in a gorilla suit), he pivoted to telecom, where he led subscriber planning and analysis for a wireless brand. In 2022, he won a New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists for his work on the PBS podcast Hazard NJ, which explored the effects of climate change on New Jersey Superfund sites.

Chris holds a BA in Media from Western University and an HBA from Ivey Business School. Chris also graduated from Columbia’s Oral History Master of Arts program. His thesis, “Using Natural Language Processing to Organize and Analyze Oral History Projects” won a 2023 Brodsky Award.

Projects

  • go to Movements Against Mass Incarceration
    Movements Against Mass Incarceration
    Building the United States' first archive to center the political ideas and movement-building of incarcerated people. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
  • go to Obama Presidency Oral History
    Obama Presidency Oral History
    Creating a comprehensive oral history of the Obama years with over 450 officials, activists, organizers, and extraordinary people from all walks of life. Funded by Columbia University's Office of the President
  • go to The Elders Project
    The Elders Project
    Capturing the stories of elders who have shaped America—from Civil Rights activists to tribal leaders to survivors of Stonewall—before they’re lost to history. Funded by Emerson Collective

Related Works

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "Redesigning oral history archives with artificial intelligence", University College London, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, January 20, 2025

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, Madeline Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, Arek Romanski, Lukasz Knasiecki, Magdalena Kesik, et al., "Anthem Award, Gold", International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, November 19, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "Curating Oral Histories with Data", Oral History Association, November 1, 2024

  • open website

    Liz Strong, Chris Pandza, "The Obama Presidency Oral History", Extra! by Oral History Review, October 24, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, Madeline Alexander, "Curating Oral Histories with Data", DH 2024, August 6, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "AI's Role in Processing Oral Histories", Oral History Assocation, July 16, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "Webby Award Honoree", International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, April 23, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "Reimagining oral history archives with artificial intelligence", Northeastern Public Humanities Consortium at Yale University, April 13, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, Madeline Alexander, "Oral history and space", Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, February 28, 2024

  • open website

    Chris Pandza, "Using AI to analyze and organize oral history", Columbia University, October 5, 2023

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