Recording the History of African American Studies - Promotional Leaflet

published or submitted for publicatio

Rethinking Black Studies as a Freedom Project

Abdul Alkalimat discusses his new book, The History of Black Studies, exploring some of the complex and diverse historical origins that led to the emergence of Black Studies in the US as intellectual history, as a social movement and as an academic profession

Technological Revolution and the Black Studies Curriculum: A Course Proposal

A technological revolution is changing the world. The computer is fast becoming the universal tool in all aspects of work, production and communication, and innovations in bio-technology are fast transforming agriculture and health. The main impact of this technological revolution has been to restructure the economy, both the centers of accumulation as well as the labor process. It is also restructuring the methods by which people communicate, form and maintain communities. In general, the objective basis of social life is being fundamentally changed. This essay proposes a basic course that not only focuses on the technological revolution, but should be conducted in such a way that students become part of it. This means that the course will require the use of computers and be coordinated on the Internet utilizing listserv discussions and a course Web site

Networked cultural heritage and socio-digital inequalities: a case study in an African-American community

Digital technology facilitates the networking together of cultural heritage information held by multiple institutions and individuals. Yet socio-digital inequalities at the level of local communities shape how this possibility develops in places. This paper presents a case study of one project to network African-American community cultural heritage information in the contexts of collaborative digitization, community informatics, and the widespread use of commercial social networking services. Analysis occurs through the lenses of social capital theory and the eBlack Studies framework. Findings illustrate the critical dialectic between bridging/instrumental and bonding/affective social capital in community digitization: communities need bridging social capital to become aware of collaborative digitization projects and possibilities; they also need to invest bonding social capital into such projects to produce a self-determined collective digital representation. Flows of economic capital inform how these alignments of social capital inform the production of digital cultural heritage.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Webliography of African-American Champaign-Urbana

This Lab Note reflects one part of a year-long project called eBlackChampaign-Urbana. Our interest here is to provide better access to the dispersed documentation of local African-American history and culture in Champaign-Urbana, using digital technology to aggregate and enliven historical and contemporary information. Although this webliography focuses primarily on substantial, in-depth texts documenting local African-American life, we are also aggregating into the eBlackCU.net website URLs for local African-American websites, facebook pages, photographs, newspaper clippings, flyers, posters and other ephemeral documentation of Champaign-Urbana's Black heritage. All are welcome to help us fill in gaps in this webliography and in our website by visiting http://eBlackCU.net/portal/contribution and adding files, citations, photographs, movies and memories of African-American life in Champaign-UrbanaOpe

Raíces y flores: vida y obra de la bibliotecaria afrocubana Marta Therry

[ES] La biografía sobre Marta Terry recoge pasajes trascedentes de su vida profesional, tales como su paso por las bibliotecas de la Junta Central de Planificación (actual Ministerio de Economía y Planificación), Casa de las Américas y la Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba. De igual modo, el volumen ofrece una panorámica de sus años como integrante del ejecutivo de IFLA y, sobre todo, su labor como organizadora del Congreso Mundial de Bibliotecología y Documentación, celebrado en Cuba, en agosto de 199

Following the “community” thread from sociology to information behavior and informatics: Uncovering theoretical continuities and research opportunities

The authors review five paradigms from the discipline of community sociology (functionalism, evolution, conflict, interactionism, and exchange) to assess their potential utility for understanding everyday life information behavior and technology use. Their analysis considers the ways in which each paradigm defines the concepts of community, information, and technology. It also explores the insights offered by each paradigm regarding relationships between community and both information and technology. Accordingly, the authors highlight the ways in which existing information behavior and informatics scholarship draws from similar conceptual roots. Key insights drawn from this research, as well as remaining gaps and research questions, are examined. Additionally, they consider the limitations of each approach. The authors conclude by arguing for the value of a vigorous research program regarding information behavior and technology use in communities, particularly that which takes the community as the central unit of analysis. They consider key questions that could drive such a research program, as well as potentially fruitful conceptual and methodological approaches for this endeavor.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91098/1/asi21653.pd

Letter to the community: A Community Benefit Fund for Champaign-Urbana

UC2B, the Urbana Champaign Big Broadband project, plans to help our community more than just putting pipes in the ground or to our houses. We passed a community benefit fund resolution. Here are excerpts: A POLICY TO ACHIEVE DIGITAL EQUALITY The Policy Board hereby establishes a goal to achieved digital equality for all people in the UC2B service area, and adopts the following objectives to achieve the goal.... The Policy Board will convene an annual meeting of anchor social institutions to discuss the above report and set general goals for overcoming the digital divide. This meeting will be open to the public and scheduled as a regular meeting of all UC2B committees. The Policy Board sets a goal to allocate 5% of its annual revenue and no less than 2% to a community benefit fund as o line item in the budget. Money from this fund will be dedicated to overcoming the digital divide...Ope

Letter to the community: A Community Benefit Fund for Champaign-Urbana

UC2B, the Urbana Champaign Big Broadband project, plans to help our community more than just putting pipes in the ground or to our houses. We passed a community benefit fund resolution. Here are excerpts: A POLICY TO ACHIEVE DIGITAL EQUALITY The Policy Board hereby establishes a goal to achieved digital equality for all people in the UC2B service area, and adopts the following objectives to achieve the goal.... The Policy Board will convene an annual meeting of anchor social institutions to discuss the above report and set general goals for overcoming the digital divide. This meeting will be open to the public and scheduled as a regular meeting of all UC2B committees. The Policy Board sets a goal to allocate 5% of its annual revenue and no less than 2% to a community benefit fund as o line item in the budget. Money from this fund will be dedicated to overcoming the digital divide...Ope