Dreamland pool
June 9th, 1961 Portsmouth, Ohio would see the tragic and senseless death of a young boy trying to beat the summer heat. 14 year old Eugene McKinley an African American living in a predominately white town had only one option for swimming in Portsmouth at that time. The local pool Dreamland which was accessible to whites only was not that option. Blacks wanting to swim during the hot summer months could do so at the Scioto River
Scioto River
at their own expense. It was a dangerous occupation, and most black parents did not want their children to do so at the risk of drowning. That day Eugene McKinley took that risk, and paid for it with his life. The black community had tried countless times before McKinley’s death to integrate Dreamland pool, an every attempt ended in failure. At the time Portsmouth was not 100% segregated, and blacks and whites went to the same schools.
It was not unreasonable to suggest that they also socialize at Dreamland pool as well. The unfair and unjust drowning of McKinley was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and a detailed strategic plan was put in place that would break down the doors of Dreamland’s segregation, and allow people of all races to have access to the pool. Eugene Collins Sr. was 26 years old at the time, and he was a member of the party that helped desegregate Dreamland pool. He has given a detailed account of how it all came to play, and what actually went down when the pool was integrated. Once Dreamland pool was integrated, it eventually closed its door due to a sharp decline in business. Several years later a new pool was built for everyone, and in honor of 14 year old McKinley, the pool was named after him.
Google Books: The Future is here
In Robert Darnton’s article Google & the Future of Books, Darnton explores the legalities of digitizing books for online access. Over seven years ago Google began digitizing books without the consent of the authors or publishers of the books. These authors and publishers in turn sued Google for violating copyright laws, and the battle began. The lawsuit against Google and the authors has since been settled, but the question remains as to what will happen to the future of books as Darnton’s article asks?
The idea that Google began digitizing books and putting them online for all to view is not really the issue according to Darnton, the issue is Google itself. The issue is that no one beat them to the idea first. “Looking back over the course of digitization from the 1990s, we now can see that we missed a great opportunity. Action by Congress and the Library of Congress or a grand alliance of research libraries supported by a coalition of foundations could have done the job at a feasible cost and designed it in a manner that would have put the public interest first.” Darnton’s article suggests that having access to mass materials digitally is really a great idea, having Google as the spearhead for that medium not so much. In his article Google & the Future of Books, Darnton makes a sound argument about how great this would be if digitizing books had been done by an organization that was not for profit like an actual library. He says “When businesses like Google look at libraries, they do not merely see temples of learning. They see potential assets or what they call ‘content’, ready to be mined” Google could care less about the public interest is what Darnton is saying.
Reading the article I get the sense that Darnton is conflicted about his feelings for Google, and digitized books in general. He says in the article “But those of us who are responsible for research libraries have a clear view of a common goal: we want to open up our collections and make them available to readers everywhere. How to get there?” Well I would argue that we are pretty much there with Google books. The collections have been opened up by Google, and they are available to readers all over the world via the internet. I do not know which road Darnton expected to travel in order for his goal to be realized, but I guess the road that leads to Google was not what he expected.
Well who cares about who will be the one to digitize these books and offer them online? Does it matter that Google is well fed power hungry monster with the capabilities of putting millions of books online whereas other companies or libraries may not have the means to do so? Almost all of the books offered through Google Books are offered at a price if you want to have access to the entire book. Google offers snippets of the book for free, and if you want the full version you have to pay the piper. As a part of the settlement between Google and the authors who filed the lawsuit against Google, Google is required to offer a link listing the nearest library where the book can be accessed free of charge.
I believe Darnton’s biggest fear with Google books lay in the unanswered questions that he himself has raises at the end of the article. He fears that Google will become a monopoly in the digitalization of books, and no one will be able to compete with them. He fears that Google may one day stop thinking with its brain, and start thinking with its wallet and begin to overcharge for access to its collection. If any of these scenarios were to play out, couldn’t we just go back to doing things the old fashioned way? Like actually going to a library, checking out books, and doing cumbersome research?
Of course it would not be as quick or as easy as accessing material from Google books, but the end results would still be the same right? If the internet were to breakdown for an unspecified amount of time isn’t that what would have to be done? Sites are down online all of the time. Servers crash from too much traffic, leaving people stranded for information. You would have no choice but to revert back to the old way of doing things until the new way is fixed.
The Geography of Slavery website review
The Geography of Slavery website is a comprehensive site that takes a look at runaway slaves, and captured ads for slaves and indentured servants in Virginia. The site offers extensive information on Virginia laws during slavery; newspaper ads placed in county newspapers, as well an essay detailing the makings of the site. The site is set up as an archive of primary sources, and would be useful to a number of audiences looking for information on slavery in Virginia. The site originated from a compilation of work by Lathan Algerna Windley, who compiled all of the Virginia runaway slave ads, as well as slave ads from other southern colonies. Windley’s collection amounted to a massive four volume work entitled Runaway Slave Advertisements: a Documentary History from the 1730’s to the 1790. The purpose of The Geography of Slavery website intends to take Windley’s work a step farther, and not only includes ads for runaway slaves, but also ads for servants as well which Windley left out of his works. Also, Windley’s ads dealt solely with the portion that pertained to slavery, and anything else was left out. This site gives complete transcription to every ad, so more information about the period of time is also revealed, not just the aspects pertaining to slavery.
The information derived from this website is extremely thorough and accurate. All of the information provided is copied directly from the primary source, so checking for any inaccurate information would not be impossible to do, but it would be time consuming. The site is strictly a source of information for Virginia slave ads, and I would say is unbiased in presenting the information. Since there is such an exhaustive amount of information available on the site, I do not know what else could be added. The site is strictly neutral, and as mentioned earlier just an archive of the information presented. Slavery can be a touchy subject sometimes, and whenever information about the subject is presented, a lot of times people will assume that the presenter is leaning one way or the other. This site simply states the facts, and presents them in a neat and orderly fashion.
The first page holds a mere five links which consisted of Advertisements, Documents, Explanatory Essays, Personal profiles, and Resources. Under the resources tab, there is a cool link about the currency used during the 18th century. Reading some of the advertisements I was a little confused about the rewards being offered, as some of them were listed as pistole. I ignorantly assumed they were offering guns for the reward. I thought to myself who would want that as a reward? Are people so hard up for guns during the 18th century that it would make a decent reward? Well I must not be the only clueless person in the world, because the nifty resource page handily explains what a pistole is. During the 18th century the colonist were not allowed to coin their own money so they used foreign coins. A pistole is an interesting coin that has origins in Spain and France. The coin pistole is the Spanish doubloon, but the pistole also referred to a French gold Louis d’or that was also being used at the time. The pistol was not a small amount of change despite it being a coin. The equivalent of a pistol today would be around $300 or so thus making it a very lucrative reward for most people in that time period.
The Documents tab has some really great material if you are looking for some information that is a bit more personal than the advertisements. The advertisements for the runaway slaves and servants are personal to an extent, but there are thousands of them, and they all start to feel a bit impersonal after awhile. Under the Documents tab you will find Official Records, Newspaper Materials, Slaveholder Records, and Literature and Narratives. Under Slaveholder Records there are links to letters from two families, the Carter family, and the Yates family. These letters give greater insight into what it was like during the times, and have a much more personal air about them, as they should since they are personal letters. The letters describe the buying and selling of slaves, troubles with runaways, and general day to day things.
Going through the ads, I almost expected to find a mumbo jumbo mix up of different ads in no particular order, laid out to peruse. I was pleasantly surprised that all of the ads were categorized first by decade beginning with 1730, and ending with 1800’s. Clicking on any of the decade links would then take you to a narrower search to look through each month within the decade. You could narrow your focus down even more by searching for a specific county, city, state, or country. The information presented for other countries does not give informational ads for those particular countries, but instead mention a runaway or a servant who happens to be from said country. Most of the countries are from the Caribbean, a few are from Europe, and some from South America. The site contains more than 4000 advertisements for runaway slaves and indentured servants. Compiling all of the information onto the website gives viewers a chance to access the different advertisements and other documents in a way that would have been impossible to do before now, so the website is doing a great service for anyone looking for this type of information.
The website alone without any written content to describe the purpose of the site would give away the authors intent. The pictures of bound slaves are a dead giveaway as to what the topic of the site will be. I am not sure how much I like the choice in design for the website.
I will not go as far as saying that it looks unprofessional, but I think it is too closely linked to the subject of the site, and it is frankly what most people would expect from a site dealing with the topic of slavery.I would have preferred something neutral that did not give away the websites subject, and I think it would have been more refreshing, at least for me to see a modern design mixed with an older subject. That being said, it takes nothing away from the sites navigability. This is one of the best sites I have been to for academic subjects. Other sites that I have viewed have an overwhelming amount of information from which to choose, and it can leave you unsure of where to begin your search. There is not an overwhelming amount of links to choose from on this site, but that does not mean there is not a lot of information to be gleaned. Navigating the site I was extremely impressed at how the layout of the site managed to turn things around for me. Outwardly there are fewer links to click on, but once you start searching, you are immersed in a wealth of information that does not overwhelm.
The intended audience for this site is varied. It would definitely work for students in secondary, or post secondary school. The site can also be used for teachers and scholars in any field. If you did not know anything about American slavery I would not say this site would be the best to use for gathering information on the subject. This site goes above and beyond in the details about the ads of runaway slaves and servants, and you if you look through the Documents tab, you will get a better feel for the period of time, and what was important then. The author of the site intends that by looking through a lot of the articles, the viewer will get more than dates and names of runaway slaves and servants. By looking at specific dates, a pattern could potentially be found that would let the reader know specific dates that slaves ran away, or when slaves and indentured servants travelled together. This site is intended for the person who already has the aforementioned information and they are looking for some great pieces to add to what they already know.
The site is effective in bringing together the four volumes of Windley’s work, and compiling it all in an easy to navigate website. Without the site, anyone seeking this specific information would either have to look up the newspaper archives in Virginia, or go through the four volumes of Windley’s collection. Aside from that, there is no spectacular use of some new technology that would make the words shift into images or anything like that, and the information presented by this website does not call for anything like that either. It is all presented in such a matter of fact way that trying to add bells and whistles would be overkill. However anyone visiting this site should be able to get a sense of the geographical locations used in the ads, and be able to form some mental picture of a map of the locations.
The end is near. We are stupid!
I must admit, hearing the title of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr in class immediately put me on defense. Can Google or the internet make anyone stupid by being a great service? Stupid is something you learn, or something you are born with right? I will admit to being in love with all things internet. I love the fact that virtually anything I need to access is at my beck and call with a few clicks. Am I one of those people who want the human touch taken out of everyday activities? Not at all, I still love human interaction, and I would love to receive a real letter in the mail versus a status update on Facebook. But come on, who does not love easy?
After reading Carr’s article I could easily see the case that could be made for the internet changing the way we process information. Carr, and several of his colleagues profess that after spending a lot of time online doing research for various projects, they no longer have some of the abilities they had before. Being exposed to constant overstimulation on the internet has taken away the ability for some to be able to read books, articles, and other long pieces of written work in full length. The idea behind it all is that there is just too much going on online, and everywhere you go, you are being bombarded with flashing ads, and blinking lights. Too much of this apparently, and some synapse stop firing in your brain in one direction, and they head in another direction. Is this really a bad thing, I mean change is good right?
Before I finished this article, I did not see anything wrong with the reprogramming of our brains. Times are a changing, and we are an ever evolving species that has to grow and change to keep up with the times. To suggest that progressing is in actuality devolving us to beings no smarter than plankton seems to be contrary to evolution. If you could not tell, I was completely against the notions of the idea that we are becoming stupid with increased internet usage, or that our brains get reprogrammed with increased internet usage. I do believe that Carr and his colleagues’ feelings about being reprogrammed are valid, who am I to say that they are not? I just did not agree with him.
And then one of Google’s founders said something that totally turned the tide for me. Carr quotes in his article from Larry Page, one of Google’s founders ‘“The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” and “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”’ Wait a minute now, who says I would be better off? The idea of a machine thinking for me, or replacing my mind is more than unsettling as Carr says, and instead alarming. My mind immediately envisions some Matrix or Terminator type reality where humans are fighting a war against machines, machines who are frankly too darn smart for mere mammals, and need to take control.
Maybe I am being paranoid now, but I’m definitely seeing something in Carr’s idea. The internet may be making us stupid or at least changing the way be receive and process information. This will not be a good thing if the machines do take over, for who will be able to read the manual to shut them down?
OldSchoolIyawo 