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The Worlds of Ntozake ShangeAND DIGITAL STORYTELLING

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Who was Betty Granger?

by Danielle 0 Comments

During my second trip to the Schomburg, I looked through the radio collection in the digital archives. I found many stunning photographs of the late radio host Betty Granger Reid. Here is a couple:

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Betty Granger with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Betty Granger with Eartha Kitt

Reaction:

What I’ve gathered from the archives is that Ms. Granger was a radio personality and host for WLIB during the 1950s. I’ve scavenged the internet for information, but I was unable to find much more beyond what the archive details. Unfortunately, I think this speaks to how little information has been preserved regarding pioneering women radio deejays of color.

Access:

I received access to the photographs from The Schomburg Digital Archives.

Metadata:

The photographs list the photographer, Cecil Layne.

Quiet As It’s Kept

by Nicole 0 Comments

The internet has become an increasingly present source in the academic world. For students,the Internet is a great source of information but it is also sometimes viewed as a threat. We are warned about untrustworthy sites and unreliable information available online, but the web is also a powerful research and communication. I personally use the internet to quickly find bits of information and as a stepping stone for academic work.

We are not supposed to use Wikipedia for anything but sometimes you need a summary of a book or biographies of individuals. Sites like Wikipedia are useful for gathering background information about an author you are reading in class. Sometimes the references list at the bottom of a Wikipedia page is a useful place to find more readings. Professors do not think Wikipedia is always a reliable source, and they are right. There is no way to ensure that the individuals adding to pages have the correct information. I think that most students do not use Wikipedia for more than the quick acquisition of information and keywords for further research.

The Internet is sometimes a good place to find books and other required readings. Sometimes Google Scholar has entire books and articles available to read. CLIO is also useful for finding materials online. CLIO has many digital copies of books as well as the rest of the online articles for which it is often used.

I think Barnard attempts to encourage the use of digital materials in the sense that computer use is becoming increasingly essential. Barnard seems to be embracing the Internet as a source of education. Many professors use blogs and Wikipages as a platform for discussion posts and communication between students. Also, Professors sometimes send us links to additional articles that are relevant to class topics.

Reading Zake: Mental Movements (Earning Citizenship & Liberty)

by Yemi 4 Comments
Reading Zake: Mental Movements (Earning Citizenship & Liberty)
Ademola Olugebefola "Gateway to Atlantis"

For this post I wanted to read about Paulette L. Williams before “Ntozake Shange.” Much of the work I’ve been doing has been analyzing the effects, consequences, and partnerships that have come with Shange’s art, so I thought it well to go back to lost in language and sound to remember her thought processes before she came into her artistry.

“INITIALLY, I WAS DEMONICALLY TICKED AT THE NOTION that I, Ntozake Shange, a.k.a. Paulette Linda Williams, whose American birth certificate from an alleged Union state, New Jersey, read “colored” in 1948, was asked to write a piece about justice. This was truly laughable, since it is quite clear to me that “justice” as a fact, fantasy, or concept is so removed an actuality in my life, intellectually as well as visceral…

This idea is false. The general ideas roaming American minds — black, white, Asian, Chicano, Texan, urban, empty of truth whichever they are about who and what I come from is “just” for us — are scary as the bullet holes of Huey Long’s assassinations in Baton Rouge and as sad as the Trail of Tears, and I haven’t gotten to “the Negro” yet.(124)”

Next Steps: Domain Names & Personal Websites!

by Nadia 0 Comments

After completing 5 orisha inspired photoshoots in collaborative effort with Barnard student make-up artists, Simone Folasayo Ig, Annya Serkovic, Imani Bishop, and Ornella Friggit, and photographers, Dina Asfaha, Anta Touray, Ornella Friggit, Yemisi Olorunwunmi, and Valerie Jaharis, I had more content than I could fit into my final digital project. As a result, I decided to put the digital tools I learned at the ICP to use to create my own personal website: www.nadianaomi.com. In this blog post, I will breakdown how I made my personal website if anyone is interested in next steps after our year long class Ntozake Shange & Digital Storytelling comes to a close.

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Domain Names

Michelle Loo helped me obtain a domain name through www.godaddy.com. GoDaddy is a site through which you can buy your own personal domain name.

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  1. Search for a name you would want to use for your personal website and see if it is available.
    • A variety of domain name options will appear with different domain registers ( .com .org. us. .net etc. ). When picking my domain name and register, Michelle suggested knowing what I wanted ahead of time and selecting it right away  because searched names get taken very quickly once they are searched and are resold for exorbitant prices. 
  2. Once you are happy with your domain name and register you can go ahead a purchase it.
    • I purchased nadianaomi.com for the price of $11.99 a year. If you know you will be using your site for regular personal/academic/career/vocational use the investment may be worth it considering that the domain may only cost $1 a month.
  3. Create a GoDaddy account and purchase your domain name.
    • When your purchase your domain name you will need to create a GoDaddy account. This will allow you to maintain your domain name and apply to personal sites you create.

Personal Websites

I used Wix.com  to create my personal site for FREE. You can create pages and add content pretty smoothly and format your content for desktop/laptop and cell phone viewing. Once you have created your site, you can go to your GoDaddy account to apply your purchased domain name  to your site.

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LAST CLASS!

by Kim Hall 0 Comments
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What a gorgeous bunch!

Our last class will be a working class in the Digital Classroom at Barnard. After discussing Yemi’s post, we will be making some final design decisions, uploading individual projects and hopefully reading some poetry out loud. Please remember that some of the design elements are due in time for class (see below). Also Sarah will return the cameras to ICP for us.

 

To prepare for class, please do the following