The IMA Lab is a team of diverse and creative minds—programmers, developers, designers, producers, videographers and communicators— with deep experience developing significant and cutting-edge projects. We’ve seen the benefits that vibrant collaborations can bring to bear on shared problems, and we’ve also had our share of frustrations with the resources available to the cultural sector. We believe that our community can do better… together. Team members of the IMA Lab are employed by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, an organization dedicated to transparency and innovative modes of engaging communities through art, design and the natural world.

Robert Stein - Deputy Director for Research, Technology, and Engagement

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

Making a Difference. It’s so gratifying to know that real people use and appreciate what you work so hard on. Life’s too short to waste time, I really want to make my work count while I can.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

No better way to beat the stress of a hard day than to drop the top on my Jeep and turn the music up loud! Followed by collapsing on the couch with the family for some serious chill time.

Robert Stein is the Deputy Director for Research, Technology and Engagement at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). In that role, Stein leads a wide range of activities for the museum including an extensive effort in media, web technology and software. Since 2006, he has shaped the way that the IMA has applied technology and media to the mission of the museum. As a result, the IMA is widely recognized as a leader among museums in the use of technology. In 2008, Arts and Culture blogger Tyler Green recognized the IMA’s efforts online saying, “The Indianapolis Museum of Art might be the web-smartest museum in America.”

Under Stein’s leadership, the museum launched the IMA Dashboard in 2007. A pioneering effort that supports and encourages transparency among museums, the IMA Dashboard has since been released under an open-source license for the benefit of other institutions. A long-time leader and technical innovator behind the Steve.Museum social tagging project, Stein continues to advocate for user-generated content that can be usefully integrated with museum practice.

In 2009, Stein and colleagues launched the streaming video website, ArtBabble.org. Awarded the 2009 American Association of Museums Gold MUSE Award for Best Online Presence and the 2010 Best Overall Site award from the International Conference of Museums and the Web, ArtBabble brings together 33 prominent cultural organizations to create a true destination for art video online. In 2011, Richard MacManus – founder of the technology blog ReadWriteWeb – said of ArtBabble, “Want to know some best practices for integrating video into your social media plans? Look no further…”

Stein currently serves on the Board of the Museum Computer Network, has been an active member of the International Program Committee of Museums and the Web since 2007, and sits on the advisory committee for the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report for Museums since its inception in 2010. In 2007, Stein was picked by Indianapolis Business Journal as one of their “Forty under 40”, and also as one of Indy’s Best and Brightest by Junior Achievement. In 2011, the New York Times named Stein one of “Four to Follow” in museum technology. He continues to be active in speaking and writing on topics related to museum transparency, technology and scholarly research.

Charles Moad - Director IMA Lab

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

The people. It's rare to find a work environment filled with such a large majority of motivated and passionate people.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

Nothing eases the soul like cooking and enjoying a nice dinner to wrap up a hard day's work.

Charlie leads the application development team towards providing open-source and reusable solutions for the IMA and the cultural community as a whole. His diverse programming background has helped the IMA provide internal solutions and bypass the communications barrier often experienced with museum consultants. He has been deeply involved in the integration of the museum's collection and digital asset management systems with other frameworks, including the IMA's main website.

Before coming to the IMA, Charlie was an Associate Developer for the Scientific Data Analysis Lab, a Pervasive Technology Lab of Indiana University. There he worked on visualization and web service applications in the bioinformatics and life sciences realm. Charlie holds a M.S in Computer Science from Indiana University.

Matt Gipson - Senior Digital Graphic Designer

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

Being able to work with such a diverse team of talent with access to many resources.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

At the end of the day, there is nothing better than enjoying the company of my wife and son, listening to dusty grooves and enjoying my at home petting zoo.

Matt is a Web Designer with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Graphics Technology from Purdue University. He discovered his love for pixels as a kid playing video games and combined that with his love for drawing to end up where he is today. As the Web / Interactive Designer at the IMA, Matt is responsible for the visual artwork and design across a variety of websites and interactives. Matt has designed a slew of IMA related websites including ArtBabble, Breaking the Mode, Adrian Schiess, Sacred Spain, IMA Blog, IMA Dashboard, Power and Glory, and To Live Forever just to name a few. Matt’s weapons of choice are Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Flash, Wordpress, and Drupal. Since working at the IMA Matt has designed a variety of web interfaces by taking them from the conceptual phase, to full creative mockups, and then into themes. Matt loves the process of building out websites using the latest front-end design techniques with HTML and CSS. Matt wouldn’t be caught dead designing a website using tables.

Edward Bachta - Application Developer

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of an organization dedicated to educating the public about cultures from around the world and the value of differing perspectives. It is increasingly important for us all to respect one another and find a way to live harmoniously on this planet.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

Cycling home through blooming trees in spring, a cool breeze in summer, or changing leaves in autumn. And in winter, a nice hot bowl of soup will do.

Ed is a software developer who enjoys designing and implementing effective and engaging interactive online experiences that empower website visitors to explore and learn about the world around them. At the IMA he has developed exhibition websites and interactive features such as Virtual Rome for Roman Art from the Louvre, the ArtBabble video player, the IMA timeline calendar, and visualizations for the IMA Dashboard. In graduate school at UIUC he specialized in computer graphics and virtual reality, and then worked in the field of scientific and information visualization at NCSA and IUPUI before entering the museum community.

In addition to being fascinated with science, Ed is also interested in Edo-period and modern Japanese culture. He studied abroad in Japan for one year as an undergraduate and enjoys maintaining his language proficiency via Japanese media, from literature and news to anime and video games. Ed is also concerned about environmental sustainability, and has collaborated with the museum's sustainability team on projects covering topics from power monitoring and conservation in the machine room to environmental awareness in the Art and Nature Park.

Kyle Jaebker - Application Developer, Steve in Action Grant

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

My favorite part of working for an Art Museum has been the openness to new ideas. Many places I have worked in the past were set in the way things were done and did not allow for the freedom to try new ideas and technologies. I have found the IMA enjoys exploring new areas in technology to provide unique solutions to problems.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

After a good day of work I like to get home to relax with my wife and play with my two sons. They both have more energy than they know what to do with and it is infectious. Whether we are at the pool or just playing in the yard; it is great to be with family and to be outside.

Kyle is a new member of the IMA team but has been involved in professional software development efforts for the past seven years. He has worked on many different projects during that time including web survey tools and satellite ground systems. Kyle is also proficient with many different technologies including PHP, Javascript, MySql, Oracle, Java, ColdFusion, and others. Early in his career Kyle found that working on the web was where his passion was. To continue to grow that passion Kyle became involved as a developer with the PHP content management system MODx where he has been a core contributor for the past five years. Over that period Kyle has developed many add-on components for building menus, searching, and generating tag clouds.

This passion for the web led Kyle to his current position at the IMA. At the IMA, Kyle works as a developer on the Steve.museum social tagging project. With this project Kyle is developing software tools to provide museums a way to allow online tagging of their collections.

Outside of work Kyle enjoys running, biking, and just about anything outdoors. He is a huge Indianapolis sports fan and when time allows he likes to play some video games. Kyle has a wife and three boys who make coming home from work a joy.

Kris Arnold - Application Developer

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

Working in an environment that is mentally challenging and furthering my knowledge of development.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

99% of the time it is sitting down putting on some music or heading into my basement to make some music.

Kris’ interest in computer programming began around the age of 9 in his home town of Greencastle, IN. When the college let out for the summer Kris and his mother would go around the campus to go dumpster diving. One year someone left a Tandy 1000 next to the dumpster, which Kris immediately snatched up. Without money for computer games, Kris taught himself BASIC and started writing very simple text based games for something to play.

For many years, computers were only a hobby for Kris until a good friend suggested he take a job with him at IQuest internet doing technical support. In his time there Kris was promoted into the operations department and handled network infrastructure duties as well as building and maintaining internal websites until the company purchased a webhosting company.

After leaving IQuest, Kris took a year off to pursue his interests in photography. This eventually led him to the local alt-weekly newspaper, where he began working as a photographer. A few months later Kris applied for and was offered a position as IT Manager. Kris joined the IMA as a web developer in 2009 and spends his time writing software for the IMA’s online efforts.

Emily Lytle-Painter - IMA Lab Coordinator

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

I love being a part of Indy's art community and working somewhere that is free for everyone- art connects us to our humanity and should be available to learn from and enjoy. Take advantage of it, Indy!

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

I really enjoy any chance to curl up with a book, cook, paint or take a walk with my husband, Scott. Generally, though, I spend way too much time on Facebook. I also run an online vintage clothing shop with a friend and spend a lot of time looking for unique items for our loyal customers.

Emily Lytle-Painter is the coordinator for IMA Lab and is involved with a variety of the IMA's digital and media projects, including managing ArtBabble, working on video production and various IMA Lab projects. Emily moved to IMA Lab after a stint in Public Affairs, where she coordinated eCommunications, the launch of the IMA's new website, and PR and media events for the opening of 100 Acres.

Emily attended Pratt Institute of Design where she earned her B.F.A. in Fashion Design and Art History, and after a year of Production Design for Reebok found her calling in museum work. She began with the New Media and Web teams, which solidified a love of using technology and the web to engage visitors in new and exciting ways. She is currently in her last semester at I.U.P.U.I. for an M.A. in Museum Studies.

Gray Bowman - Application Developer

Favorite Part of Working at the Museum

I love working in an environment that promotes expression and creativity, and the museum grounds provide beautiful surroundings. As part of the Lab I have the pleasure of being part of a team on the forefront of web technologies. The work we do is both challenging and very rewarding.

Best Way to Unwind After a Hard Day

After a hard day at work, I like to spend time relaxing in the company of my family. I enjoy strategy games and tactical warfare simulators. I'm also a huge fan (read: nerd) of science fiction.

Gray has had an interest in computers and technology from a young age. In the early 1980s his father purchased a Radio-Shack Tandy TRS-80, affectionately known as the "trash-eighty", at the time a very reasonable piece of hardware. With it came a couple magazines containing the BASIC code for a handful of games, and all Gray had to do was type in the code and save it to cassette tape. His fate was sealed.

Since then he has worked in several areas of computer and network technology. He has built and maintained networks for both ISPs and one of the largest and most advanced data centers in Indiana. He has designed online banking interfaces, and even did a stint in the U.S. Army where he provided network and satellite uplink support in far away lands.

Gray just loves technology. He enjoys watching it advance over time, and he loves thinking about where it's going to take us tomorrow. Gray, for one, welcomes our new technological overlords.