About

John began his career in the visual resources/image management profession in 1982. He has a B.A. and M.A. in art history as well as formal training in art collections management. He has directed the image collections at George Washington University, Oberlin College, The Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan. Since 2000 he has been the Director of the Visual Media Lab at Duke University. During the past thirty years he initiated the digital imaging programs in the art and art history image collections at The Ohio State University (1994), University of Michigan (1999), and Duke University (2001). As the Director of the Visual Media Lab at Duke, he oversees all aspects of the digital and analog visual media collections (digital assets management, personnel, budget, facilities, user services, instruction), and also manages the department’s online and print publication and communication program and the department’s building exhibition spaces. He has been a member of the Duke Digital Art History & Visual Culture Research Lab (formerly Wired!) since 2011.

John served for ten years as editor of the VRA Bulletin, the journal of the Visual Resources Association, the international organization of image media professionals (1996-2005, 2010). He also served on four successive VRA Executive Boards from 1996-2003. In 2005 he received the VRA Distinguished Service Award and the VRA Nancy DeLaurier Achievement Award for his contributions to educational programs and publications.

In 2019, John published his 150-page Digital Humanities Bibliography. He is currently researching the history of Ohio’s major art museums (Akron, Butler, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Taft, Toledo).