Today we participated in a lecture about cyber racism and electronic lynching with University of Kentucky's archivist Stacie Williams.
She opened with illustrating the differences in these magazine covers that use the exact same photo of O.J. Simpson. She discussed how one cover capitalizes on the stereotypes that portray African Americans as savage and intimidating. She also discussed how these stereotypes and the propaganda about 'racial purity' are historically linked to lynching.
Williams also defined: lynching, cyber lynching and information architecture. Williams discussed how theories associated with information architecture may explain why some web search results display negative stereotypes about African Americans.
The lecture concluded by discussing boolean searching and how to avoid being bombarded by websites and links that may not address your information needs and academic research.
During the question and answer session, the class viewed a lecture about African Americans and Technology by Dr. Mark Anthony Neal. Then we discussed twitter and electronic archiving.
A Day In The Life: Blacks At
The Cutting Edge Of Innovation "NPR's Tell Me More is
again using social media to reach out to a new community of leaders — this
time, to recognize black innovators in technology. African-Americans represent
just 5 percent of America's scientists and engineers, according to a 2010 study
by the National Science Foundation."
Please take a moment to learn more about the #NPRBlacksinTech movement and participate in the twitter discussion #NPRBlacksinTech. Follow @blkintechnology @blackfemcoders @BlackGirlsCode @BWIcomputing @MyBlackTechnology @digifeminist @iainstitute
Stay in the 'know'. More links:
- Blacks In Technology on NPR #nprblacksintech#tellmemorenpr
- Getting To Know Black Innovators, One Tweet At A Time
- I’m the official ‘Hashtagologist™’ for #NPRBlacksinTech – Here’s how YOU can participate!
- Why Isn't Open Source A Gateway For Coders Of Color?
Please take a moment to reintroduce our class community to the terms and definitions that Stacie Williams used in her lecture when answering the following question. How did this lecture affirm, change or challenge your understanding of lynching, African American Studies and the connection between information architecture and web surfing?
