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• 1 media/Header Photo.jpg 2019-02-28T12:34:10+00:00 About the iBlack Studies Project 29 Description of the origins, purpose and content of the iBlack Studies project. image_header 2019-03-29T17:17:45+00:00 iBlack Studies is a multimodal project that introduces readers to the interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary field of Black Studies. It is an archival base for digitized materials and publications that document the field and publications on the Black experience. Inspired by her work with Ronald W. Bailey, marilyn m. thomas-houston envisioned the site in a 1992 IT class at New York University while working on her doctorate in anthropology. thomas-houston took IT classes to augment her interest in using the tools of Visual Anthropology to enhance storytelling of the Black experience. Today, the proliferation of readily accessible digital technology has provided a more affordable means to accomplish that idea.
  
  Why iBlack Studies?  The study of the Black experience and scholars who study that experience have been, for the most part, marginalized in academic circles. That marginalization extends from academic appointments to library holdings, and from financial support for research to available resources to make that research available for use on a global stage. For decades, Black Studies scholars such as Ronald Bailey, Abdul Alkalimat, and Manning Marable have argued and pleaded for the digitization of datasets, databases, and archives that make accessible the rich resources within Black communities that contribute to an understanding of what it means to be human. This site is an effort to provide a no-cost open-access home for digitized and born-digital research and minimally distributed publications. 
  
  Project Design. The project is made possible through the collaboration of the AFRO PWW initiative at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for which Ronald Bailey is a co-PI; thomas-houston; and co-contributors Irma McClaurin and Joshua Lynch. It links open-source platforms hosted by IOPN. Through this Mellon-funded digital publishing initiative, the iBlack Studies project is the first in the AFRO PWW series to integrate three of its open-source platforms: Scalar, Omeka, and Pressbooks. This Scalar site serves as the hub for accessing each collection to be housed on the iBlack Studies site. Omeka is the location for the storage of datasets and databases, as well as a location for exhibits. Pressbooks holds long- and short-form publications created from projects’ primary data stored on the Omeka site.
  
  By design, the site is expected to grow as other scholars seek ways to make their work more accessible. Scholars with digital and born-digital research interested in creating an online presence in a new section of iBlack Studies can submit proposals to mthomash@illinois.edu for consideration. iBlack Studies offers peer review and assistance with copyediting and promotional services for those projects accepted for publication.
  
  iBlack Studies Projects
  "A Convening: Conversations for Sustaining Black Studies in the 21st Century" is the first collection of archival materials to populate the site. Click the link below to begin the journey. Future projects include research materials in "From These Roots: Black Nova Scotians and the African American Diaspora Archives," and an archive that contains commentaries and videos on the "HOPE VI" project and its impact on Black communities.