Chris Pandza

Chris Pandza is a Canadian curator and oral historian who led digital initiatives at the Columbia Center for Oral History Research from 2022 to 2025. He is now an independent scholar helping organizations and communities do more with their archives through computational methods and inclusive design. During his tenure at the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, Pandza spearheaded digital production for some of the world's highest-profile oral history projects. These include the Obama Presidency Oral History praised by MSNBC as the greatest presidential oral history of all time owing to its innovations in accessibility and usability and the Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project, winner of a 2024 Anthem Award, a 2025 Webby Award, and a 2025 Mason Multi-Media Award from the Oral History Association. Pandza's practice centers on using computational methods to make large-scale archives more navigable, equitable, and beautiful. He develops innovative approaches for organizing, visualizing, and curating collections enabling researchers and public audiences to discover overlooked content and engage more deeply with archival materials. His experimental work Nobody's Diary, which explored cloning his personal audio diaries, was honored by the Webby Awards in 2024. He has presented his methods at conferences and institutions, including the International Oral History Association, Cornell University, Yale University, and the Northeastern Public Humanities Consortium. His work has been featured in the New York Times, covered by the Society of American Archivists Archives in Context podcast, and highlighted in specialized design publications including It's Nice That.