Purdue News
Purdue News
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November 12, 1999 BCC sponsors cultural and technology symposiumWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A symposium about the roles of culture and technology in African and African-American communities will be conducted at 6 p.m. Thursday (11/18) in Multipurpose Room I of the Black Cultural Center Library at Purdue University. "Culture and Technology: Moving African Communities Toward a Position of Strength for the Next Millennium" will consist of a panel of scholars and professionals who have addressed various aspects of culture and technology in their research. The presenters include Esther Lwanga-Semakula, a visiting scholar from Kampala, Uganda; Rayvon Fouche, assistant Purdue professor of history and African-American studies; Grace Jackson-Brown, the librarian for the Black Cultural Center at Indiana University; and Aaron Tyson Sims, a doctoral student at Purdue. Lwanga-Semakula is coordinator of Uganda's Agricultural Research Information Service, one of the support service units of the National Agricultural Research Organization. She previously served in different capacities as an information professional in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries from 1974 to 1992. Lwanga-Semakula holds a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Makerere University in Kampala and a master's in information and library studies from Loughborough University of Technology in England. Her presentation will consist of a brief history of how scientists in Uganda have gained access to the basic resources needed to utilize the Internet: a computer, a telephone line, a modem and funds for subscription and operating costs. The discussion will focus on how this access has made a difference in the operation of research networks, and on the challenges still to be overcome. While at Purdue, Lwanga-Semakula will meet with interested faculty, staff and students in the School of Agriculture and other departments. Fouche will read a paper entitled "Theory and Practice? The Methodological Obliteration of African-American Technological Agency." Jackson-Brown's presentation will focus on developments in African-American journalism on the World Wide Web. She will examine companies such as the Indianapolis Recorder and American Vision, which publish in both print and in the Web. She will also examine electronic-only products such as Ethnic News Watch. Sims will read from his work entitled "Black Access: The Colorline, the Digital Divide and Coming From Behind." A video, "Culture or Technology," will be highlighted during the symposium. The video, which was originally aired on the popular television news program, Tony Brown's Journal, features a panel of African-American Studies scholars offering their opinions about balancing cultural considerations with the growth of technology. After the symposium, the video will be available to the public through the Black Cultural Center Library. The Black Cultural Center Library contains more than 7,000 volumes and also provides access to CD-ROMs and Web-based resources relating to the black experience. CONTACT: Dorothy Washington, BCC librarian, (765) 3093; dawashington@hfs.purdue.edu
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