Technology

Creating Black History One Wiki Page at a Time

Published

9 years ago

March 5, 2015

Oakland Post

Howard University fills in some historical blanks. (Courtesy Photo)

By Khari Arnold
Special to the NNPA from Howard University News Service

WASHINGTON – Though he was the first African American with a doctoral degree in educational psychology as well as editor of the Journal of Negro Education for 30 years, Charles Henry Thompson’s page on Wikipedia didn’t show much.

It didn’t include his rich background of innovation and scholarship or even photography. Instead, it was a mere two sentences.

That remained the case until Howard University students and faculty gathered at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center February 19 to rewrite his description and show others how to do the same for other important African American figures.

It was called an “Edit-a-thon.” Howard educators, historians and students came together to fill in gaps and add extensive information for significant African-American figures.

“When there are major historical and cultural figures that are not there, we’ve done them a disservice,” said Howard Dodson, the director of the Spingarn Center, who also served as an editor for the day.

Dodson was contacted in November by Wikimedia D.C., a regional branch of the foundation that operates Wikipedia and focuses on advancing its knowledge through the help of universities, libraries and museums. The foundation wanted Howard University’s help in advancing Wikipedia’s inclusion of more African Americans.

“Wikipedia is like the gold standard in the world right now of encyclopedias,” Dodson said.

“So, certainly when people go online looking for information about virtually anything, Wikipedia is one of the sources they rely on very heavily, and relatively speaking, a very small percentage of the entries deal with the Black experience.”

After an editing tutorial, the Howard team researched pages that needed sprucing up, gaps that needed filling and photos that needed placing.

While some gathered reference materials from the wide collection in Spingarn, others knew valid information from first-hand experiences with certain important African-American figures.

“I think the reason Howard is [ideal] is because we go to Wikipedia with knowledge,” said Greg Carr, the chair of Afro-American Studies at Howard.

“We’re not coming looking for knowledge. When you combine that with the holdings of Moorland Spingarn, then it makes it easy.”

Carr personally knew prominent figures who were missing information, such as Jacob Carruthers, one of the first Blacks to integrate the University of Texas law school and play an integral role in the U.S. Supreme Court case Sweatt vs. Painter, and John Henry Clarke, a historian and advisor to Malcolm X.

Carr said his library of nearly 40,000 books and other resources will be used as the Howard staff and others continue to process begun.

“I think it was important, because what this signals is that Howard is now engaged and that this is a beginning,” he said. “What I hope will happen is that a network of black institutions will join Howard. This is an opportunity for us to collaborate.”

Dodson suggested the “edit-a-thon” become an annual event and that it could also benefit as a classroom project, serving as a learning tool and possible catalyst to teach black history to Wikipedia’s global audience.

Though the digital encyclopedia raises questions in terms of veracity for many scholars, it makes readers aware of the existence of information that leads to further research, Dodson said.

“For young people especially, if it doesn’t show up in an Internet search, the perception is that it doesn’t exist, or it’s not important,” he said.

James Hare, president of Wikimedia D.C., said third-party and reliable resources, such as published books, journals and newspapers, is how Wikipedia prefers to gain its credibility. Its goal is to summarize existing research rather than to publish novel research on its own, Hare said.

Hare said Howard helped improve such credibility, and he “would like to work with Howard University more, especially in regards to topics in Black history that aren’t as represented on Wikipedia.”

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Attorney General Rob Bonta, Oakland Lawmakers, Introduce Legislation to Protect Youth Online

At a press conference in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, Attorney General Rob Bonta joined Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) to announce two pieces of legislation designed to protect children online. The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

From left to right: Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) at a press conference introducing legislation to protect young people online.

By Magaly Muñoz

The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Skinner authored SB 976, which addresses online addiction affecting teenage users, while Wicks’s bill, AB 1949, takes on big tech by proposing data privacy and children rights protections.

“Social media companies unfortunately show us time and time again that they are all too willing to ignore the detriment to our children, the pain to our children, the mental health and physical challenges they face, in order to pursue profits,” Bonta said.

SB 976 would allow parents to control the nature and frequency of the content their under-18-year-old children see on social media. Notifications from social media platforms would also be paused from midnight to 6 am and controls would allow parents to set time limits on their children’s usage based on their discretion.

Skinner stated that the longer that kids are on their phones during the day, the higher the risk for depression, anxiety and other related issues.

The bill would also push to get rid of addictive media that is harmful for young women and girls, specifically image filters that mimic cosmetic plastic surgery.

Bonta and 33 other attorney generals had previously filed a lawsuit against Meta, owner of the popular social media applications Instagram and Facebook. The filing claims that the company purposefully uses algorithmized content that harms younger audiences.

“Social media companies have the ability to protect our kids, they could act, but they do not,” Skinner said.

The Child Data Privacy Act would strengthen existing protections for data privacy under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The lawmakers argue that the law does not have effective protection for those under 18 years old.

Wicks stated that the bill would forbid businesses from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal data of anyone underage unless they receive informed consent, or it becomes necessary for the purpose of the business.

Wicks added that the acts would make it so that a search on the internet like “How do I lose weight?” would not result in dieting pill advertisements targeting youth, which, some experts report, could be harmful to their mental and physical health.

“In a digital age where the vulnerabilities of young users are continually exploited, we cannot afford to let our laws lag behind, our children deserve complete assurance that their online experience will be safeguarded from invasive practices,” Wicks said.

Supporters of the two acts say they have gained bipartisan support issue, but the authors and Bonta expect them to be met with pushback from the affected companies.

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Unleashing the Power_ Discover the The Thrills…F-TYPE Convertible

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Oakland Post

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The post Unleashing the Power_ Discover the The Thrills…F-TYPE Convertible first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Elevate Your Ride…

Join us for a virtual car’s best-detailed walkaround of the sleek and stylish 2024 Jaguar F-TYPE AWD convertible. Get an up-close look at the exterior design, interior features, and performance capabilities of this luxury sports car. From its powerful engine to its advanced technology, this video will give you a comprehensive overview of what makes […]
The post Elevate Your Ride… first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Oakland Post

Join us for a virtual car’s best-detailed walkaround of the sleek and stylish 2024 Jaguar F-TYPE AWD convertible. Get an up-close look at the exterior design, interior features, and performance capabilities of this luxury sports car. From its powerful engine to its advanced technology, this video will give you a comprehensive overview of what makes the F-TYPE AWD convertible stand out on the road. Unique to AutoNetwork.com.