This project evolved and got refined in both the design and development processes. The very first idea I had for the project was to simply create an online resource that presented various instruments in a multimodal way and the target audience would be children. My instructors recommended narrowing the focus and finding something more specific, such as indigenous instruments. I liked that idea, however, after doing some research on indigenous music and instrumentation I found it is also very broad and it was going to be difficult to achieve such a task. I still wanted to apply the principle of promoting multiculturalism and learning more about specific music cultures. This is when it occurred to me that Afro-Peruvian music would be a great fit. I was familiar enough with the genre but had always wanted to learn more about it. 

 

Once I began to research Afro-Peruvian music I was impressed to see how absent it was in the online world. This led to looking at the issue of Afro-Peruvian invisibility and the project acquired a whole new dimension of meaning and purpose, as it could be focused on not just the musical aspects, but also on promoting social justice and multiculturalism. While doing extensive research on Afro-Peruvian music and culture many interesting themes related to politics, culture, and sociology began to emerge. These themes added a particular social tone to the website. 

 

As the project came into development, I became more mindful of enhancing the educational usability of this resource. I begin to add some features that make the resource similar to an online course. For example, I created a “reflect” section in which users are presented with engaging activities to think critically about the underlying social, cultural, and economic issues found in Afro-Peruvian music. I also organized the content into clear and distinctive sections and added time calculations. 

 

Having done this project on my own, I had many roles throughout the process such as researcher, writer, editor, web designer, multimedia editor, etc. However, working on this project also felt like a collaboration because all the multimedia material consisted of works produced by artists, musicians, directors, performers, producers, etc. In this regard, one of the key roles I had throughout this project was being the project’s compiler.

 

The way I attempted to demonstrate and assess usability was through designing a tool that was highly interactive, easy to navigate, visually appealing, and multimodal. All sections of the website are interconnected and create a navigation path for users that allows them to have a seamless website experience. Similarly, from an educational usability perspective, I did my best to ensure that the content of the website is of high quality, comprehensive, and illustrative. To enhance the educational features of the website I created a “reflect” section in which users are presented with engaging activities to think critically about the underlying social, cultural, and economic issues found in Afro-Peruvian music. I also created a “feedback” section that consists of a survey to assess website performance and educational experience.

 

Creating this resource was challenging because of the invisibility factor. Constructing and presenting the history and culture of Afro-Peruvian music was something that couldn’t be done by exploring a couple of resources. Rather, I had to do extensive research of many multimodal resources and connect the dots to arrive at a comprehensive illustration of Afro-Peruvian music. This took me weeks of research, reading scholarly documents, watching videos and short documentaries, listing to music, and exploring images. 

 

I learned a lot about music while doing this project. I had been always interested in Afro-Peruvian music but only knew it on a surface level. It was interesting to learn about the unique characteristics of all the various Afro-Peruvian music subgenres, instruments, and artists listed on the website. I watched many videos and listened to lots of pieces (the best ones presented on the website) that allowed me to become more acquainted with the Afro-Peruvian sound and its musical spectrum. Also, what surprised me the most was learning about the political, cultural, and social initiatives that were necessary for Afro-Peruvian music (and culture in general) to ascend from total neglect to recognition and respect. I wasn’t aware of the efforts made by Afro-Peruvian intellectuals such as Nicomedes Santa Cruz and Victoria Santa Cruz to reconstruct Afro-Peruvian history and shift perceptions of identity among Afro-Peruvians and Peruvians. It was interesting to see how this was a world event, as the ascension of African-descendent was taking place in many parts of the world (the Afro-Peruvian revival in the 60s and 70s was influenced by the Black Power movement in the United States, for example.

 

I can confidently say that this is the most complete online resource on Afro-Peruvian music to this day and I am pleased that I was able to achieve one of the goals I had when creating this project, which was to reduce Afro-Peruvian invisibility on the internet. This along with the general usability features makes it a highly usable tool for the intended users, that is researchers, musicians, musicologists, artists, students, or anyone who is interested in learning about Afro-Peruvian or Afro-Latin music and culture. 

 

If I had more time and funding to keep developing this project I think it would be fantastic to contact some of the leading Afro-Peruvian artists and historians to conduct video interviews and add these as original material. So, even though I am pleased with the compilatory approach of the project and I think it works well, what I would do differently is to create a fully-original project. On the other hand, focusing more on educational usability, it would be great to create a curriculum that works alongside this website so teachers can use it in educational settings. 

 

I was able to make many connections with the course content while researching and learning about Afro-Peruvian music and culture, particularly the reading by Noble (2018) which expanded my understanding of discrimination, neglect, racism, and the perpetuation of oppressive systems. Likewise, the foundational ideas on usability by Issa & Isaias (2015) and Woolgar (1990) that we learned in this course were essential throughout the design and development stages of this project, as it allow me to assess usability more critically and carefully. Finishing this course with this project feels like a full-circle event because I’ve seen many connections between the ideas related to economics, politics and sociology discussed in this project and the ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ assignment

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Special thanks to my instructors Dr. Suzanne de Castell and Dr.Jen Jenson for allowing me to pursue my interests and offering support and insight throughout the process.