In my Social Justice ePortfolio (SJ-eP) I analyze existing diversity and inclusion responses to Black Women Artists, Cultural Workers, Organizers and their communities at Build Your Archive located in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Greater Metro Atlanta as part of CIS 668 (Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy) course during fall 2023. On this page, I provide my assessment and steps for moving forward.
Social Justice Project
As a Master's Student with a Liberal Arts foundation, I utilized my time in LS-500 Information Science and Technology to understand at a deeper level on how to build a database of text and books by Black Feminist authors both in the canon and contemporary. This is the first step in understanding what my library consist of so that can be searched to lead to the connections of relationships that occurred across the lifetimes of these authors. After the database is built then I will be able to move to the citation analysis.
I was able to learn and implement 6 data types which included: CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT, INT, FLOAT, DOUBLE, BLOB. While most of my information and data that I will be concerned with will be either CHAR or TEXT. In addition to the 6 types of data understanding how primary and foreign keys operate within the database. I have separated information in similar ways but have not referred to them as primary or foreign keys.
My Library is small and growing, this particular database only includes Black Feminist that I have acquired or inherited. Giving them individual ID numbers so that duplicates would have the same ID. Because ultimately I wanted my Foreign Key tables to show the Authors that were represented in this particular stack as well as how many copies of one book were included.
Primary Key: Book Title
Foreign Key: Author Key
Foreign Key: # of Copies
Foreign Key: Author Key
Foreign Key: # of Copies
While I did grasp the formation of the database, I will continue to work further to understand how custom IDs and data types can be used together to better search for information across the database. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1: In progress Database embedded from and operating on web platform airtable, last updated December 2023
Evaluation of Social Justice Project
Throughout the semester, I spent a bulk of the project time reading and adjusting to the work load. I was also ambitious in designing the scope of the project and scaled it more than I currently have the capacity to do.
In my Scope and Plan, I notated that “To consider growth as success, I would like to have a "proof of concept" for at least 5 Black Women Artists, Activist or Cultural Workers. I would like to ultimately publish this as a micro-site and allow it to be of reference for other artists who looking for models to design their pathways afterwards.”
I was unable to dedicate the time required to the build the library because I underestimated the backend work that was required to design it and understand the project within a working methodology and framework. Had I come to wanting to utilize Teacher Action Research sooner, It may have helped being able to synthesize the information and develop the database at the same time. (Parkhouse et al, 2023)
Although, I still consider the project a success because of the following:
1. I updated the mission, vision and values to reflect where I am currently as an archivist and have a better understanding how I would like to orient the organization in regards to information education, distribution and community
2. I secured a partnership to host a workshop / event in 2024 with one of the organizations that I was looking to collaborate with, Diaspora Solidarities Lab.
3. I was selected as by the Collection Builder LIS Student Program to participate in their learning community in January 2024. “CollectionBuilder uses the static site generator Jekyll, together with well documented workflows, to help users generate digital collections and exhibits from their own spreadsheets and digital media.” ( LIS Student Program | Collection Builder,n.d)
4. I was selected to participate in Highlander’s Southern Memory Workers Institute presented by Georgia Dusk in April of 2024 (Highlander Research and Education Center, n.d.)
5. I gained more confidence in working with my current clients and educating them on archives are built over time
Thematic Categorization
I recognized throughout the semester that I need more time to design and plan the work. To effectively produce the transformation that I would like to see and want for the Black Women Artists that I am working with either project management has to be refined or I would need to look into asking for additional support. As the organization grows and the community is demanding more, I would like to be of service without that placing a strain on my mental and emotional health.
The most immediate need to alleviating this would acquiring a significant amount of funding that is dedicated to planning and refining the programs that are currently being provided. In hindsight, Build Your Archive experienced philosophical growth in regards to development and execution that will impact its future. It would be ideal to be consulted by and work with The Shift Collective and utilize their framework that was developed at the Architecting Sustainable Futures Symposium (Jules, 2019)
Strategic Action Plan
Step One: Complete Library Database so that it can be embedded on the website as a resource.
Step Two: Look into developing an advisory board or additional persons for project support
Step Three: Develop funding model and budget for the upcoming year to execute desired projects
Step Four: Design financial deck to be able to set meetings with partners and network
Step Five: Re-design memory work labs with the approach and method of Teacher Action Research.
Step Six: Re-design website to reflect updated mission, vision, and values
Step Seven: Update and Notify current clients, community members, partners of philosophical shift via Newsletter, Social Media and Word of Mouth
Step Eight: Begin distributing education materials, information about upcoming work labs and co-archive builds by late February
Step Nine: Participate in Collection Builder LIS Student Program to learn how to build a digital repository
Step Ten: Facilitate scheduled archival workshop / event with Diaspora Solidarities Lab.
Projections
I project that Build Your Archive will move forward into the next year refining its relationships with existing clients, re-evaluating current offerings and designing new programs that apply Teacher Action Research.
I believe that Build Your Archive is striving to be an information organization that is community centered, conscious-raising and contributing to the archival field in such a way that will affect how archives are build for Black Women Artist, Cultural Workers and their communities.
I recommend developing, a solid project management plan for the beginning of the quarter that will implement the strategic action plan as well as be flexible within the current political moment.
Jules, Bergis. Architecting Sustainable Futures: Exploring Funding Models in Community-Based Archives. 2019, shiftdesign.org/content/uploads/2019/02/ArchitectingSustainableFutures-2019-report.pdf.
Highlander Research Center (n.d.). https://highlandercenter.org Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://highlandercenter.org/our-story/mission/
LIS Student Program | Collection Builder. (n.d.). https://collectionbuilder.github.io Retrieved November 30, 2023, from https://collectionbuilder.github.io/community/student-incentives.html
Parkhouse, H., Lyn, R., Severson-Irby, E., Drulis, E., Senechal, J., & Lozada, F. (2023). Mapping How Teachers Become Culturally Responsive. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(4), 383-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231168076
