Documenting Ferguson: Capturing History as It Happens

This poster chronicles a novel archive project—the Documenting Ferguson Project at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Our poster highlighted our steps in the documentation and preservation of materials created in the course of and surrounding events in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. WUSTL created a committee, consisting of University Archives and other library staff, faculty, and additional university staff, to coordinate the efforts to capture the history as it happened. The Documenting Ferguson Project Team was called together in August 2014, soon after the death of Michael Brown and the first protests in Ferguson, Missouri. It was immediately clear that the events unfolding in the St. Louis suburb were producing important records and required a specialized response to target the wealth of born-digital materials. Our poster will address the issues that arose and how the Documenting Ferguson Project confronted them. The approach includes web archiving, crowd sourced content, documentation of the project, preservation, and working with researchers. The events in Ferguson have grown to encompass and touch on many issues facing, not only residents of that community, but people from all walks of life in St. Louis and the rest of the country. As archivists, we are tasked with documenting these events and preserving the memory surrounding them for future generations.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1013/thumbnail.jp

Oral History Interview, Jen Kirmer (1317)

In these interviews, Jen Kirmer discusses her memories and thoughts as a graduate student at UW-Madison. She also speaks of the time periods from 2000s and 2010s, discussing topics such as LGBTQ Rights, and the UW-Madison School for Library and Information Studies. To learn more about this oral history, download & review the index first (or transcript if available). It will help determine which audio file(s) to download & listen to.In her April 2013 interview with Troy Reeves, Jennifer “Jen” Kirmer detailed her thoughts and memories as a graduate student on the UW-Madison campus. Kirmer spoke of the time period from 2000s and 2010s and on the following topics: Madison, WI; UW-Madison School for Library and Information Studies, LGBTQ Rights, Plan B (Madison nightclub), The University of Kansas. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program, specifically within the Madison’s LGBT Community, 1960s-Present oral history project

Implementing a Social Justice Framework in an Introduction to Archives Course: Lessons from Both Sides of the Classroom

Using the reflections of both the instructor and students on lesson plans from three course sessions, this paper argues that a social justice framework can be practically implemented in an introductory archives classroom such that students are imparted with both the rationale for classical Western archival concepts and functions and the modes to critique such functions from a social justice perspective. After a brief introduction summarizing course logistics and the action research methodology employed, this paper proposes a working definition of social justice and discuss in detail what constitutes a social justice pedagogical framework in archival education. Next, this paper describes and analyzes a small group exercise on the concepts of record, provenance, and creatorship, detailing ways in which students can be both taught prevailing archival concepts and encouraged to critique these concepts from a social justice perspective. This paper then addresses a group discussion concerning power, marginalization, and listening for whispers in the archives, revealing how records can be used in the classroom to illustrate complex theoretical concepts. This paper then discusses the effectiveness of an exercise using three real-life human rights case studies to impart the importance of ethical action in archival practice. In conclusion, the challenges of implementing this framework will be discussed as well as suggestions for future research

Documenting Ferguson: Building a community digital repository

An update on the activities of the Documenting Ferguson collecting initiative one year after the death of Michael Brown. The presentation highlights community contributed items in the collection, how to contribute to the collection, how this project is different from traditional archival and digital projects, and plans for the future.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1018/thumbnail.jp

Challenges and opportunities for grassland restoration: A global perspective of best practices in the era of climate change

Grasslands are ubiquitous globally, and their conservation and restoration are critical to combat both the biodiversity and climate crises. There is increasing interest in implementing effective multifunctional grassland restoration to restore biodiversity concomitant with above- and belowground carbon sequestration, delivery of carbon credits and/or integration with land dedicated to solar panels. Other common multifunctional restoration considerations include improved forage value, erosion control, water management, pollinator services, and wildlife habitat provisioning. In addition, many grasslands are global biodiversity hotspots. Nonetheless, relative to their impact, and as compared to forests, the importance of preservation, conservation, and restoration of grasslands has been widely overlooked due to their subtle physiognomy and underappreciated contributions to human and planetary well-being. Ultimately, the global success of carbon sequestration will depend on more complete and effective grassland ecosystem restoration. In this review, supported by examples from across the Western world, we call for more strenuous and unified development of best practices for grassland restoration in three areas of concern: initial site conditions and site preparation; implementation of restoration measures and management; and social context and sustainability. For each area, we identify the primary challenges to grassland restoration and highlight case studies with proven results to derive successful and generalizable solutions

Challenges and opportunities for grassland restoration: A global perspective of best practices in the era of climate change

International audienceGrasslands are ubiquitous globally, and their conservation and restoration are critical to combat both the biodiversity and climate crises. There is increasing interest in implementing effective multifunctional grassland restoration to restore biodiversity concomitant with above-and belowground carbon sequestration, delivery of carbon credits and/or integration with land dedicated to solar panels. Other common multifunctional restoration considerations include improved forage value, erosion control, water management, pollinator services, and wildlife habitat provisioning. In addition, many grasslands are global biodiversity hotspots. Nonetheless, relative to their impact, and as compared to forests, the importance of preservation, conservation, and restoration of grasslands has been widely overlooked due to their subtle physiognomy and underappreciated contributions to human and planetary well-being. Ultimately, the global success of carbon sequestration will depend on more complete and effective grassland ecosystem restoration. In this review, supported by examples from across the Western world, we call for more strenuous and unified development of best practices for grassland restoration in three areas of concern: initial site conditions and site preparation; implementation of restoration measures and management; and social context and sustainability. For each area, we identify the primary challenges to grassland restoration and highlight case studies with proven results to derive successful and generalizable solutions