About Lichen
Lichen Community Systems is a non-profit studio dedicated to growing the practice of community-led design. We do this by researching transformative technologies and methods, developing accessible tools, sharing our work through art and education, and supporting cultural change within organizations.
Lichen is dedicated to creating expressive technologies and systems that are designed by, accessible to, and ownable by communities. We work with everyone, but prioritize projects that support the arts, disability, non-profit, and cooperative sectors.
Lichen specializes in:
- Developing creative technologies for artists and cultural organizations, including accessible interactive audio, video, connected sensors, and haptics
- Supporting community-led research and co-design for complex, multi-stakeholder collaborative projects
- Providing training, mentorship, and education on community-led design, access technology, and accessible content creation
- Building arts platforms and collections publishing systems
- Designing and developing accessible web applications and mobile apps
- Identifying and addressing web accessibility barriers to meet accessibility standards
Our Team
Dana Ayotte is an artist and designer who has been working in the field of inclusive design for over 10 years. She has collaborated on a broad range of projects including: the design of an accessible museum kiosk; UI design for accessibility preference tools; community co-design of an ecocultural mapping tool; and the co-design of digital platforms with women's cooperatives in India. With a background in mechanical engineering and an active visual art practice, Dana brings a multi-faceted approach to accessible and inclusive technology design.
Colin Clark is an artist, researcher, and developer of community-led technologies. Since the 1990s, he has contributed to the growth of inclusive design in Canada and internationally. He has led accessibility teams in the research and non-profit sectors, architected large-scale assistive technology systems, and cultivated global open source communities. As an artist, he designs creative access technologies and composes haptics for live performance with the Kinetic Light Dance Company, mediates motion-media-robotic data flows with the Choreodaemonics Collective, improvises electronic music with Bitstance, and develops open source software and hardware frameworks used by artists worldwide.
Michelle D'Souza has been working in the digital accessibility and inclusive design field for over 20 years in many roles, including software development and project, product and team management. Her focus on collaboration and communication results in projects and products that meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and communities. Michelle is an artist at heart with a love of fibre and dance.
Avtar Gill has over 20 years of open source infrastructure, system design, and web accessibility experience. He creates solutions that are inclusive, secure, and cost effective. Avtar is passionate about work that contributes to creativity and human connection, and is informed by mindfulness and compassion-based practices.